Parent and Public Involvement

Years of research by the U.S. Department of Education and other organizations has shown that greater family involvement in schools is a critical link in achieving high-quality education. The research shows that students are more likely to fall behind in academic performance if their parents do not participate in school events, develop a working relationship with their child's educators, or keep up with what is happening in their child's school.

"We have the wrong structures. We have structures that keep the public out." — Robert Sexton, Executive Director, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Urban residents included in the National School Boards Foundation's national poll joined the chorus of those asking for more meaningful involvement in their public schools, advising that school boards "go after parents more, get them fully involved, and make sure their voices and opinions count." The following tables show how the urban public and board members who participated in the national poll rated their school system's current performance with regard to parent involvement as well as how important they perceived parent involvement to be as a strategy for increasing learning.

Urban school boards must facilitate the participation of all the stakeholders in planning and making decisions regarding student achievement and advocate for the involvement of those stakeholders, whether parents, teachers, the business community, or representatives of local government. In some cases, professional development may be necessary to help school personnel learn how to work more effectively with parents and community members.

Involve Parents

Parents are an important constituency that should have a voice at the decision-making table as well as at the homework table. In this area, the first steps for school boards are to recognize the positive role of parents, facilitate meaningful parent involvement in school governance, and make the system more "user friendly" for parents. On a practical level, meetings about school issues should be made more accessible by providing childcare, recognizing language differences, and holding meetings in convenient locations at convenient times. In the longer term, school boards need to actively engage parents in shaping the district's philosophy, processes, and expectations.

School boards also should carefully analyze the needs of three groups of parents: those who are leaving the system; those who remain, but are critical of the system; and those who support the system. The data derived from such an analysis should be used to address the concerns of parents who are critical of public schools and to forge strong alliances with those parents who support public education.

Enlist the Broader Community

In the average community, 75 percent of the adult population does not have children in school.6 This means that school boards must build coalitions and teams with other community organizations if they are to strengthen their public school systems. Remembering that public education belongs to the public and that public schools are accountable to the larger community, school boards need to effectively enlist their communities in the governance and decision-making process. Too often, however, schools and school boards view community action groups as "education bashers," rather than potential allies in building a strong public constituency for public schools.

Not only must school boards educate the public about how the public school system works, but they also must actively engage the community in focused conversations about the vision for their children's education. In addition, school boards can forge powerful, collaborative relationships with other public institutions, such as local government or human service agencies, on after-school programs, preschool and other early intervention strategies, or sharing facilities.

Cultivate the Media

Community Involvement. When two outside organizations joined forces to conduct a Gallup poll and community summit on the state of Raleigh, North Carolina's Wake County Public Schools in the spring of 1998, school board members were admittedly nervous.... Click here to read full case study

It's critical that school boards know how to use the media in their efforts to educate and engage the public. Information about what is going on at school should be communicated meaningfully, and how well the school is doing in terms of student achievement, whether good and bad, should be publicly reported. But for school boards to be confident that the good news about their schools will be reported, or that the bad news might be characterized as a good try, they have to develop personal relationships with media representatives. This requires establishing a proactive approach that engages news organizations as partners, not just as vehicles for information. Instead of waiting for a crisis, school boards should nurture ongoing, collegial relationships with members of local media organizations.

Questions

1. How are we involving parent groups, the business community, organizations such as the local urban league, and other public opinion leaders in the development, implementation of, and accountability for our student achievement goals?

2. Do we have evidence that parents and community members know, understand, and agree with our district's academic goals?

   How well do parents and community members understand test results? Are specific areas of a student's strengths and weaknesses clearly identified and defined?

3. What does the business community think of the competency of our recent graduates? How can we find out if we don't know?

4. What percentage of our students are engaged in positive activities (e.g., volunteering) in the community?

5. How do we show that we truly welcome community input about our school system? What have we done to address barriers to involvement?

6. What vehicles do we use to report test results—good and bad—and other information related to student success to parents, the business community, the media? Are our reports clear and quantifiable, and do they promote understanding? How do we know? Do we offer opportunities for community discussion about these results?

7. In what ways does our school district reach out to various governmental and quasi-governmental agencies for their assistance and keep them abreast of current developments, trends, and practices in student achievement?

Recommendations for Urban School Boards

• View the role of the school board members as team leaders. Involve parents and community as important team members. Not only will this make use of the collective wisdom of the larger community, but it will lend credibility to the process as well.

• Spend time as a board discussing the reasons for, and ways of, engaging the community. Share school board goals with personnel throughout the system.

• Make the system more "user friendly" for parents and the broader community by, for example, making information available in a timely and accessible way. Work to address the concerns of those who do not support the system, and forge alliances with those who do.

• Actively engage parents and others in the larger community as team members in all aspects of public school governance. Promote the creation of strong local school teams that include teachers, students, and parents - and give them the authority to do their work.

• Educate and inform parents and the public, directly and through the media, and publicly report accurate, disaggregated assessments of school performance.

• Advocate for policies in the business community that facilitate parent and community involvement in public schools, such as parental leave to attend school activities or school-to-work programs that teach students about the requirements of the workplace and that make school more relevant to their lives.