“There is no topic
in education on which there is greater agreement than the need for parent
involvement. Everyone wants more and better involvement, but most educators
need help in how to develop productive programs of school-family-community
partnerships.”- Joyce Epstein
Developed by Maine’s Parent Information and Resource Center
(Maine PIRC), this resource book is designed to help Maine schools use research
and proven practices to develop strategic plans for better parent and community
engagement. It contains the most current state and federal guidelines for
family involvement in Maine schools, and suggests a process that schools can
use to develop compliant, meaningful parent involvement programs.
Maine PIRC has worked for over a decade with schools across
the state to develop policies and programs that will increase the level of
family involvement in education. The process outlined in this resource book is
guided by federal and state regulations, and informed by the local experiences
of Maine PIRC Regional Involvement Coordinators.
Maine PIRC staff worked closely with the Maine Department of
Education to edit and review all information and materials contained in this
document.
The U.S. Department of Education created the first Parent
Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) in 1995 to provide parents and schools
with training, information, and technical assistance to understand how children
develop and what they need to succeed in school. Today, more than 70 PIRCs
operate in almost all of the states across the nation. They work closely with
parents, educators and community organizations to strengthen partnerships so
that children can reach high academic standards.
Maine’s Parent Information and Resource Center (Maine PIRC)
is a project of the Maine Parent Federation and has been providing assistance
to Maine schools since 1995. Maine PIRC offers free technical support to
schools as they work toward building family involvement in education. PIRC staff
can help with all aspects of involving families, from planning a one-time
parent night to developing your district’s long term parent involvement plan.
Maine PIRC collaborates regularly with the Maine Department of Education to
assist Title I schools in meeting the parent involvement requirements of
Section 1118.
A quick phone call or email to
Maine PIRC can get your school:
·
Printed materials for parent resource shelves
·
Workshops for families on educational topics
·
Facilitation of strategic planning sessions for parent
involvement committees and other stakeholders
·
Guidance on updating parent policies and compacts
·
On site technical support for parent involvement program
development
Maine PIRC currently focuses on providing on-site technical
assistance to schools on the state’s Continuous Improvement Priority and
Monitor Lists, those receiving Title I funds, and schools with Gear Up
programs. We provide printed materials to all schools at no cost. There is no
charge for any of Maine PIRC’s services.
The Federal Department of Education says that parent
involvement in education is the participation of parents in regular, two-way,
and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other
school activities. Schools with a strong commitment to involving families
ensure that:
· parents
play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning.
· parents
are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school.
· parents
are full partners in their child’s education and are included in decision
making.
· parents
are represented on school advisory committees.
Over twenty years of research and hundreds of scientific
studies have consistently shown that families have a major influence on their
children’s achievement in school. In the 2003 publication, A New Wave of
Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student
Achievement, Anne Henderson and Karen Mapp
examined multiple parent involvement studies and developed the following
conclusion.
Taken as a whole, these studies
found a positive and convincing relationship between
family involvement and benefits for
students, including improved academic achievement.
This relationship holds across
families of all economic, racial/ethnic, and educational
backgrounds and for students at all
ages.
Many of the studies included in A New Wave of Evidence found that students with involved parents,
regardless of income or background, were more likely to:
· earn
higher grades and test scores
· enroll
in higher-level programs
· pass
their classes
· attend
school regularly
· have
better social skills
· graduate
and go on to postsecondary education.
Research shows that parent involvement programs can make a
big impact on school improvement. Schools seem to have nothing to lose, and
everything to gain, by including parent involvement initiatives as an important
part of the school improvement plan.
Recent studies by researchers with the National Network of
Partnership Schools (NNPS) have shown a direct correlation between active
parent involvement programs and improved student performance. For
instance, when educators focused on effective communication, and involved
families and community members in activities regarding student behavior, schools reported fewer disciplinary actions with
students from one year to the next (Sheldon & Epstein, 2002). Another study
showed that when educators communicated clearly with families about specific attendance
issues, schools’ rates of average daily
attendance increased and chronic absence decreased from one year to the next
(Epstein & Sheldon, 2002; Sheldon & Epstein, 2004).
School improvement was not limited to behavioral issues.
NNPS researchers also found a direct link between parent involvement and
improved academic achievement. Schools
implementing math programs that included parent-child homework and materials to
take home increased the percentage of students attaining math proficiency from one year to the next (Sheldon
& Epstein, 2005a). A review of literature on family involvement with
students on reading indicated
that specific family involvement interventions positively impacted students’
reading skills and scores (Sheldon & Epstein, 2005b).
Increased parent involvement can also lead to greater
resources for schools. In A New Wave of Evidence, Henderson and Mapp note the impact of parent and
community organizing on school resource improvement, and cite the following
positive effects for schools:
• Upgraded school facilities.
• Higher-quality learning programs
for students.
• New resources and programs to
improve teaching and curriculum.
• New funding for after-school
programs and family supports.
The
research indicating the connection between parent involvement and student
achievement has been so compelling that parent involvement requirements have
been written into many regulations guiding the school improvement process. The
No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools receiving Title I funds meet a
number of different involvement requirements, including having parents on
school improvement committees. The 2005 Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act (IDEIA) includes new indicators for parent involvement in the
state performance plan. The Maine Department of Education includes parent and
community involvement indicators in the Learning Results Implementation Self-Assessment Tool.
This handbook will guide you through all of Maine’s mandates and
recommendations for parent involvement in schools. It will also provide you
with the tools you need to turn the suggestions into comprehensive programs
that will benefit all students in your school.
There are three sets of formal parent involvement indicators
currently being used by the Maine State Department of Education. These
indicators measure evidence of parent involvement in Title I programs, Special
Education programs, and in all districts as part of the Learning Results implementation process. Maine’s Parent Involvement
Indicators can be found in the following documents, which are available with
citations at the end of this handbook.
· Coordinated
NCLB program pre-review report from Maine DOE Title I, p. 36
·
Special Education Part B State Performance Plan and Parent Survey
SY05-06, p. 32
·
Maine DOE Learning Results
Implementation Self-Assessment Tool indicators 4 and 9, p. 26
· Annual
parent meeting to discuss Title I program
· Parent
notification of rights
o
Rights regarding student directory information
o
Right to request qualifications of teachers
o
Notification if child is taught 4 or more weeks by teachers who
is not “highly qualified”
o
Child’s selection/qualification for Title I services
· School
and district parent involvement policies
· School
and district parent compacts
· Regular
progress reports
· Parent
involvement in development of Title I policy and plan
· Training
programs for parents based on parental needs assessment
· Title
I services integrated with preschool/Head Start, LEP, Special Ed, Homeless
services
· Special
assistance (i.e. childcare) to participate in IEP
· Information
given to parents about support organizations
o
Provide information on transition agencies
· Regular
communication regarding child’s progress
o
Evaluation reports are understandable
o
Written information is understandable
· Variety
of ways to communicate with teachers
o
Teachers are available to speak to parents
o
Teachers treat parents as team members
o
Teachers seek out parent input
o
Staff person available to answer parents’ questions
· Parent
training about special education issues
· Parents
are full members of the Pupil Evaluation Team
· Information
provided on parent options in the event of a disagreement with a decision
Learning Results Implementation Self-Assessment Tool: Parent
Involvement Indicators
Family and Community Support
· Parent-teacher
organizations
· Home-school
compacts
· Attendance
at school events
· Translated
communication
· Community
advisory meetings
· Volunteering
· Parent
educational activities
o
Broad representation across community
· Ongoing
family/community communications
· Families
involved in governance of schools
Planning for Continuous Improvement
· Numerous
stakeholders involved in improvement process
· Communicate
with community about improvement
Community Connections
· Public
forums/community dialogues
· Parent-Teacher
organizations
· Cable
TV
· Newspaper
articles
· Bulletin
boards/exhibits/displays
Communication to Stakeholders
· Parent-student-teacher
conferences/goal setting meetings
· School
website
· School
newsletters
· SAU
newspapers
· SAU
communication plan
· Standards-based
report cards
· Brochures/pamphlets
· Parent
education on curriculum, expectations, and assessment system
|
INDICATOR
|
IMPLEMENTING
LEARNING RESULTS
|
TITLE
IA
|
SPECIAL
EDUCATION
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
COMMUNICATION
|
|
|
|
|
School newsletter
|
|
|
|
|
Standards based
report cards
|
|
|
|
|
Regular progress
reports
|
|
|
|
|
Student eEvaluation
reports understandable
|
|
|
|
|
Written materials
easy to understand
|
|
|
|
|
Variety of ways to
communicate with teachers
|
|
|
|
|
Ongoing two-way
communication
|
|
|
|
|
Translations/Respect
for Cultural Heritage
|
|
|
|
|
Newspaper articles
|
|
|
|
|
School/district
website
|
|
|
|
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Parents notified of
rights and options
|
|
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|
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Parent-teacher
conferences
|
|
|
|
|
Brochures/pamphlets
|
|
|
|
|
Annual Parent
Meeting
|
|
|
|
|
Staff available for
questions
|
|
|
|
