WE ARE FAMILY: PARENT ENGAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR MENTORING/AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMSUnited Way of Palm Beach County

West Palm Beach, Florida

August 28th

Thank

Gary GrahamMentoring Initiative DirectorUnited Way of Palm Beach CountyCountess de Hoernle Community Campus2600 Quantum Blvd. | Boynton Beach, FL 33426O: 561.375.6638 | M: 561.715.5514 | F: 561.375.6666

Learning Objectives

Objective 1: to identify organizational challenges with engaging parents of clients/customers

Objective 2: to learn theories about parental engagement

Objective 3:to learn and share cross-sector promising practices

Objective 4: to demonstrate practices that improve parent engagement at their respective programs

Introductions

Welcome Introductions who you are what organization job title what is the one thing you would like to

learn

What do you want to learn?

Parking Lot Questions

Finish the sentence -Go around the room and

complete one of these sentences (or something similar): The best job I ever had was..The worst project I ever worked on was.The riskiest thing I have ever done was.

This is a good technique for moving on to a new topic or subject. For example, when starting a class and you want everyone to introduce themselves, you can have them complete "I am in this class because..." You can also move on to a new subject by asking a leading question. For example if you are instructing time management, "The one time I

felt most stressed because I did not have enough time was."

Challenges

List the challenges that your organization has with engaging families?

Take 10-15 minutes with group?

What is Parent Engagement?

How does your organization define parent engagement?

What does it look like?

How does your organization define engagement?

What does it look like?

Mentoring After-school

Definition

Parent engagement is ____________?

Each organization must define this for itself and ensure that all staff internalize these core values

PARENT ENGAGEMENT

Parent engagement is not a single event but a process that evolves over time. Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey and her colleagues have identified three factors in determining parent involvement:

Whether parents believe they should play an active role in their children’s education and have a positive sense of self-efficacy for helping their children learn

Whether the school welcomes and invites their involvement

Whether parents’ life context (socioeconomic situation, knowledge, skills, time) supports involvement. (3)

Parent Engagement Challenges Staff perceptions of parent disinterest Parent schedules—work hours, 2-3 jobs Parentification of older youth Meeting fatigue Poor alignment of parent-staff of

program/school event times

Parent Blaming-Disconnect

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/07/30/stop-blaming-black-parents-for-underachieving-kids/

Are Parents Disengaged?

Are Programs/Schools Disengaged?

DISCONNECT???

What is Parent Engagement? Define for each program Sign contract to attend several events Availability Phone, lunch break, home visit on weekend, weekend activities,

(parenting classes-teach how American educational system), check homework, encourage children to check the locker

Helping staff understand the challenges of low income/working class/immigrant

For example, Salvadorean immigrant takes kids to their jobs to keep out of trouble, or to finish work and be safe---take and do homework, go to sleep working

Parent advocate, using the system, authentic voice, parent panel—credible messenger

Henderson & MappA New Wave of Evidence, 2002

Effective programs to engage families and community embrace a philosophyof partnership. The responsibility for children’s educational development is a collaborative enterprise a among parents, school staff, and community members...a comprehensive approach to improve student achievement is key.

What does the research say? Research findings Most of the literature is focused on

school-parent engagement Very little in mentoring and afterschool But some information is transferrable

WHY DOES PARENT ENGAGEMENT IN SCHOOLS MATTER?

No matter what their family income or background may be, students with involved parents are more likely to:

Earn higher grades and test scores Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn

credits Attend school regularly Have better social skills, show improved

behavior, and adapt well to school Graduate and go on to postsecondary

education.

3 Types of Parent Engagement Practices

Involving

Engaging and Serving

Collaborating

What type of practice is your organization using?

Why?

Chronicle on Youth Mentoring

One of the more complicated aspects of running a youth mentoring program is figuring out how and when to engage parents and other family members.

Parents can play a crucial role in supporting the relationship between a mentor and mentee, but programs often struggle to facilitate their authentic engagement and define parent roles and responsibilities.

Some programs offer a wealth of services and supports to parents to nurture their engagement, while other programs don’t ask parents for much beyond just allowing their child to participate

Afterschool Program Engagement

A research review examining the characteristics and activities that effectively support parent engagement found that the most successful programs share a number of key characteristics.  Many successful afterschool programs:

Promote a welcoming environment

Address misconceptions that may be held by teachers and parents about the role of parent engagement

Use resources toward supporting increased parent involvement,

Understand the effect of children's home environment on their academic performance,

Organize the program structure to encourage parent engagement, and

Provide parents with the information and tools to support their children's academic success

Parent Engagement Research Best Practices--Findings

Spencer and Basualdo-Delmonico, A.

Engaging and serving families: This approach is characterized by “…active effort on the part of the staff to incorporate parents in the mentoring process in meaningful and productive ways that were attuned to both the strengths possessed by the family and the challenges they faced” (pg. 79).

 Staff engage in practices that serve to strengthen the relationship with parents including home visits to get to know the family system.

Staff convey value and respect for parents including communicating the value that parent check-ins/reports add, and the understanding that mentors are added support rather than replacements within youth’s existing family system.

Programs adhere to the philosophy that “healthier families lead to healthier mentor-youth matches” and thus use their community connections to broker access to resources for families when possible.

Programs create opportunities for families to learn from and support one another (e.g., parent advisory councils and parent only social nights).

Collaborating with families: This approach is characterized by an “…articulation of a team approach to promoting the youth’s development and supporting the mentor-youth dyad, with the parent serving as an equal and significant member of this team” (pg. 79-80).

Parents are experts of their child’s needs and are enlisted as assets/allies with a voice within the mentoring process.

Staff engage parents in a respectful and non-judgmental manner in order to facilitate bidirectional communication and perspective taking between parents and mentors.

Program practices acknowledge parent’s decision-making power (e.g., parent-mentor meeting prior to match initiation).

P.E. Toolkit

Building a parent engagement toolkit?

What does your program do currently that works or doesn’t work?

Spend 10-15 minutes writing down how your organization “connects with parents.”

What do schools do?

http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Other-Resources/Family-and-Community-Engagement/Getting-Parents-Involved/Sample-Best-Practices-for-Parent-Involvement-in-Sc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiHMZuxsgUw

Target Marketing

Know your audience Strategies that work for middle class

parents don’t work with low-income families and vice-versa

Parent Engagement Research http://www.albany.edu/chsr/

UnderstandingParentEngagementtoEnhanceMentoringOutcomes.shtml

Parent Engagement

Reunification—parent and child

Partner with InMed

Parenting Skills Discipline with

Dignity

Parent Advocacy in system/schools

Best Practices

Accommodate parents' work schedules. Accommodate language and cultural

differences.

- See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr200.shtml#sthash.1BicxfKz.dpuf

Scenarios

Develop scenarios for training Mentoring After-school

Scenario 1

Mentoring or Afterschool Program is organizing a Parent Orientation to explain program details

Research has shown that engaging families through youth development and after-school programs may benefit children.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Family PLUS initiative.

Review Parent Engagement Topics http://www.practicalparent.org/toc-

english.html

Challenges

Yet families and programs face numerous challenges to implementing family strengthening and engagement efforts. Parents’ work schedules and time con- straints, transportation and child care needs, family culture and language, and residence outside of the neighborhood create obstacles to family engagement (Debord, Martin, & Mallilo, 1996; Weiss & Brigham, 2003). Inadequate staff- ing and funding as well as negative staff attitudes towards families or an overall unwelcoming atmosphere prevent some programs from effectively attracting families (Intercultural Center for Research in Education, 2005; James & Par- tee, n.d.; Robinson & Fenwick, 2007; Weiss & Brigham, 2003).

Section 3. Communicating within the Family 3.1 Communicating effectively with children at all

stages 3.2 Developing Digital Responsibility 3.3 Expressing and communicating feelings and

emotions 3.4 Identifying family communication patterns 3.5 Communicating with children about sexuality 3.6 Dealing with anger in the family 3.7 Helping children learn to manage and resolve

conflict peacefully 3.8 Defusing family disagreement

RULES FOR REACHING OUT TO PARENTS Be positive. Focus on the child. Emphasize their child’s strengths. Be sincere. Don’t talk down to parents. Don’t talk over their heads...watch the jargon. Don’t criticize their parenting skills. Avoid touching or being overly familiar with parents who don’t know you. Never assume parents don’t care about their children. Be aware of cultural stereotype statements, such as: “you people”

“you’re different from other _______ people” “many of my friends are __________”

Don’t blame or point out their weaknesses.

BENEFITS OF PARENT/FAMILY INVOLVEMENT HIGHER STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Students achieve more, regardless of socioeconomic status, ethnic/racial background, or the parents’ education level.

Students have higher test grades and test scores, better attendance, and complete homework more consistently.

Students have higher graduation rates and greater enrollment rates in postsecondary education.

Student achievement for disadvantaged students improves dramatically.

STUDENT BEHAVIOR Students exhibit attitudes and behaviors that are more positive. Students have more self-confidence and feel school is more important. Student behaviors such as alcohol use, violence, and other antisocial

behaviors decrease.

CULTURE Children from diverse cultural backgrounds tend to do better

when parents and professionals work together to bridge the cultural gap between home and school.

The school’s practices to inform and involve parents are stronger factors in whether parents will be involved in their children’s education than are parent education, family size, and marital status.

Successful schools engage families from diverse backgrounds, build trust and collaboration, recognize and respect and address family needs, and develop a partnership where power and responsibility is shared.

For low-income families, programs offered in the community or at a faith-based organization or through home visits are more successful than programs requiring parents to come to the school.

AGE • Parent involvement clearly benefits students in the early years, but

continued parental involvement shows significant gains at all ages and all grade levels.

• Middle school and high school students make better transitions, maintain the quality of their work, and develop realistic plans for the future.

SCHOOL QUALITY • Schools with parent-teacher organizations have higher student

achievement. • Improved teacher morale and higher ratings of teachers by parents. • When schools are held accountable, school districts make positive

changes in policy and practice, improve school leadership and staffing, secure resources and funding to improve the curriculum and provide after school and family support programs.

• Schools have more support from families and more respect in the community. • Schools make greater gains on state tests.

WRITE DOWN Ten things

Programs want parents to do

Parents want programs to do

Parents/Mentors/Afterschool

Access Improve Acquaint Individualize Communicate Inform Conduct Initiate Coordinate Involve

Develop Organize Encourage Prepare Establish Respect Identify Trust Implement Stimulate

Helpful Materials

Parent Engagement Handbook

http://massmentors.org/sites/default/files/Parent%20Engagement%20Handbook%20MMP%20Web.pdf

(1)Henderson, A, & Mapp K, A (2002). New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement, Southwest Development Lab, Austin Texas.

(2)Go to the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University for further information and resources ( www.cjos.jhu.edu/p2000/index.htm ).

(3)Hoover-Dempsey, K, et. al, (2005) Why do Parents Become Involved? Research Findings and Implications. The Elementary School Journal, Volume 106, No. 2. University of Chicago.

http://www.americaspromise.org/parent-engagement-toolkit

BGCA Family Plus http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ908207.pdf

Organizational view

How does your organization view parents and families?

Create a parent survey to determine “parent satisfaction” as customers

Create a parent advisory board made up of credible messenger from the parents and let the parents lead/organization just facilitator

What organizations can do

Focus programs to support parents as advocates for change and partners in school improvement as well as programs that support parents as helpers at home.

Educate and support parents with courses and training on specific topics (GED, college credit, family literacy) and general skills (effective communication, decision-making, negotiation, mediation) so they can support their children’s education.

Sponsor workshops to improve parent knowledge of school policies, procedures, graduation requirements and post secondary school preparedness.

Provide activities that promote fellowship and leadership – parents building relationships with people like them will help with their own role construction and sense of efficacy.

Recruit parent leaders who are representative of the student population to attend conferences and trainings on education issues.

Parent Engagement

Scenario (for training) Handbook--elements Orientation—parent orientation