Professional Documents
Culture Documents
academic performance (NEA, 2008). A schools commitment to partnerships with families and
their community directly impacts their level of involvement with students and their academic
success. During this course the opportunity was provided to assess how schools can actively
involve families and communities as well as develop a framework for strengthening the
partnership with both the families and communities. The following is a reflection on how I have
applied what I have learned during ED5053 Community and Engagement and how I can improve
Teachers Perspective
What happens before and after school can be as important as what happens during the school
day (NEA, 2008, p.2). Students need a rich learning environment outside of school to support
their daily learning activities. Building a trusting, respectful relationship with the community
and parents through interactions that demonstrate is necessary to be able to effectively support
parents with creating a learning environment at home for their child. Epstein asserted the
involvement of parents in their children's home-based learning activities is one of the six types of
parent involvement model in education (Karap, Akll and Aksu, 2016, p.59). Necessary
resources need to be provided to ensure parents can feel empowered to assist their children with
their schoolwork. Given the potentially limited home access to books and study support
materials, it is also helpful to offer parents access to libraries, labs, and other resources
(Panferov, 2010, p.111). Sixty three percent of the student body at the Arts High School qualify
for free or reduced lunch. Creating a learning environment at home on a regular basis can be
difficult, yet by simply providing access to a library or lab allows the parent and student to work
A partnership was developed in the course to address the minimal parent involvement
among the Hispanic subgroup. The Hispanic subgroup was selected based off of analysis of
school report card data from 2010-2014. The currently reality of the school is an evident
achievement gap in the Hispanic subgroup and this trend as has continued since 2010. The
partnership is designed to make involvement easier by providing the necessary resources and
services so that Hispanic parents can participate in the partnership activities. These activities
include workshops that will educate parents about college requirements, curriculum,
scholarships, literacy and math strategies. The goal is to build parent efficacy to be able assist
Resistance can arise when attempting outreach and encouraging involvement. This can
result from a difference in but not limited to cultural beliefs, socioeconomic backgrounds,
education level, language, childcare and conflicts with work. Hornby and Lafaele (2011) stated
that when parents perceive that teachers are not open to involving parents this acts as a major
barrier to parent involvement. Similarly, schools which are welcoming to parents, and make it
clear that they value parent involvement develop more effective parent involvement than schools
that do not appear inviting to parents (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011, p.40). All school materials,
announcements and resources should be available in all necessary languages. A translator should
be available and communicated to families that translation services are provided to ensure
demonstrates that the school is aware of who the stakeholders are and what is necessary to ensure
communication with all stakeholders. A new practice that will be implemented at the beginning
of the next school year will be the addition of a welcome letter with the syllabus that introduces
myself. The letter will include a brief introduction along with the research that parent
involvement contributes to student academic success. Parents will be asked to offer how they
can become and involved as well as what barriers prevent them from becoming involved.
Parents Perspective
A variety of factors are likely to inhibit parent involvement, including families difficult
circumstances (e.g., parents working multiple jobs, homelessness, uncertain immigration status),
parents negative education experiences when they were students, language barriers, and, for
some immigrant parents, cultural mores supporting the idea that they should not question
teachers (Department of Ed, 2007, p.5-6). Unfortunately, these barriers impose the perception
that the parents are not interested or want to be involved in their childs education. Parents have
academic goals for their children that include becoming an educated individual that can
contribute to society, which will graduate and be accepted to secondary education. However,
parents and community want to be involved but they need to feel welcomed and able to attend.
These factors need to be accounted for, for the partnership to have an impact on parent
involvement and student achievement. For example, services provided can include childcare,
transportation and translation and a suitable meeting time for the majority of the population or an
Rich and effective partnerships are built on a foundation of shared principles or values
that enable a healthy collaboration process among partners and lead to improved success and
access for students and their families (Bryan & Henry, 2012, p.409). The family-school
partnership will enhance the culture of the school. The goal is for Hispanic parents to feel
comfortable engaging with the school and acting as an advocate for their child. An open-door
policy where Hispanic parents feel supported and provided with the appropriate resources
necessary to be actively involved in the school and their childs education. Building the self-
efficacy of the parents can have a positive impact on student achievement. By teaching parents
how to create a rich learning environment for their child, students can have a productive place to
continue learning outside of school. Students can take their school work home and talk to their
parents about what they learned. Students and parents can create their own education goals
together and make progress towards their goals with assistance of the partnership.
Leaders Perspective
Weiss, Lopez and Rosenberg (2010) found that policymakers, researchers, and education
leaders agree that family, school, and community partnerships are a critical part of student
achievement. During the past 12 years the Arts High School involvement from family and
community has been minimal. A school wide goal has been developed to address this issue but
little progress has been made. A parent group was formed about six years, however the parent
members do not represent the demographic of the school. Forty five percent of the student body
is Hispanic, twenty five percent is African American and almost fifteen percent classify as
White. The parent group does not have any members from the Hispanic subgroup and two
members that have African American students. Parent involvement from all subgroups is
necessary to ensure that the needs of all students and families are being met. I would like to see
opportunities for more parents to become involved beyond attending back-to-school night and
open house. Parents need to be involved in addressing student success, making decisions about
interventions and necessary resources for both their students and their families.
Inclusive schools educate all students in learning environments that practice equity-
based inclusion of all children, where every student is valued as a member of his or her
neighborhood school and is provided the supports needed to achieve social and academic
success (Gross, Haines, Francis, Blue-Banning & Turnball,2015 p.10). In addition, an inclusive
school includes trusting partnerships with parents and the community. Partnerships between
school staff, families, and community members are vital for ensuring the success of all students
in inclusive schools. (Gross et al., 2015 p.1). The Arts High School is an inclusive school in the
fact that all students have equal access to education and are provided the necessary supports and
interventions. However, inclusion of family and community partnerships is minimal. The school
is inclusive in respect to educating students but not inclusive of family and community
members. The Arts High School is missing a key component that contributes to student
School factors that contributed to strong community partnerships were strong school
leadership, inviting school culture, teacher commitment to student success, and collaboration and
communication among partners (Gross et al., 2015, p.26). This course emphasized the
way the school can strengthen the inclusiveness of the parents and community. A teacher can
assume the role of a community liaison and reach out to local businesses and service
organizations to determine common goals and interests. These businesses and service
organizations can be invited to the school site for a school tour, celebrations, to participate in an
event or provide feedback on student work. The community can also have permission to utilize
the school site for community events. Ultimately, the goal is to foster an authentic, trusting
relationship among the school, community and parents to continually work towards student
success both inside the school and out in the community. A yearly evaluation cycle of the level
of involvement that exists among the parents, school and community is necessary to ensure the
Conclusion
The school, family and community can all work together to address student achievement.
This course emphasized the important of focusing on the strengthening relationships with the
families and communities to make a positive impact on student learning. A partnership provides
a platform for developing and growing these relationships and working towards supporting
Partnerships: Principles and Process. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 90(4), 408-420.
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lessons from five parental information and resource centers. Innovations in Education. US
Department Of Education,
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218509027?accountid=31683
Gross, J. j., Haines, S. J., Hill, C., Francis, G. L., Blue-Banning, M., & Turnbull, A. P. (2015).
Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: an explanatory
education. Washington, DC: NEA Policy and Practice Department: Center for Great Public
Panferov, S. (2010). Increasing ELL parental involvement in our schools: Learning from the
resources/browseour-publications/beyond-random-acts-family-school-and-community-