Improving Your Child's Achievement By Building Stronger Home-School Connections

Loreena Parks and Karen Schulte Assistant Professors Department of Special Education Eastern Michigan University

INTRODUCTION
Educators often lament the lack of parent involvement in children’s educational programs. Parents, particularly those of children with disabilities, often express frustration over the lack of options available to them for meaningful involvement. The discrepancy between these perceptions is a strong argument for developing meaningful ways to build stronger connections between home and school. No Child Left Behind recognizes this by requiring schools to develop written plans for increasing parental involvement. IDEIA 2004 affirms the importance of parental input and participation in the development of educational programs for students with disabilities. Research indicates that almost all families care about their children and want them to be successful in school. Additionally, almost all educators want to involve parents and families but many don’t know how. Despite the good intentions of parents, educators, and legislative mandates, finding meaningful ways for homes and schools to collaborate on student learning remains a difficult task.

“Not every teacher is a parent, but every parent is a teacher. The most important thing a parent can give a child is the sense of the importance of education.” —William Bennett

Dr. Joyce Epstein, Director for the Center for School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University, identifies six types of parent involvement schools should consider:

• Parenting – helping families create home environments that encourage children to be successful students (parent workshops, lending libraries)
• Communicating – implementing effective ways to communicate with parents about a child’s progress and general school information (newsletters, report cards, conferences)
• Volunteering – recruiting and organizing parent volunteers in school settings
• Learning At Home – providing parents with information and ideas for helping children with curriculum-related activities at home (parent handbooks, curriculum information, suggested home activities)
• Decision Making – including parents in school decisions (school improvement teams, parent-teacher associations, individual educational planning team meetings)
• Collaborating with Community – identifying resources and services from the community to strengthen both school and family practices (counseling services, referral to community agencies)

For parents of students with disabilities, we believe that “learning at home” and “decision making” are perhaps the most important home-school connections. Research indicates that the more parents talk with their children about classroom learning, the greater the improvement in student achievement. Dr. Mel Levine often sites the role of parents in providing opportunities for children to practice and extend their learning, as well as in developing those work habits necessary to be successful in school. Certainly no one can argue with the importance of developing strong relationships to support parent participation in decision making regarding a child’s school program and in reviewing progress and problem-solving difficulties. We believe that although schools and families have separate and distinct roles, it is important that these roles are developed with the same goals in mind and aligned in their efforts to improve learning.

What are some ideas for parents and schools to develop stronger home-school connections in the areas of “learning at home” and “decision making”?

LEARNING AT HOME: SOME IDEAS TO GET STARTED

What Schools Can Do
• Let parents know, clearly and regularly, what students are learning about in school
• Provide specific suggestions for home activities to support
classroom work
• Provide a calendar for parents at the beginning of each semester listing readings, assignments, projects, and assessments
• Call parents to introduce yourself at the beginning of the school year
• Develop additional methods of regular communication after initial phone call (newsletter, website, periodic phone calls)
• Set up homework buddy systems – when a child is absent the buddy helps get homework and important information to the absent student
• Seek out parent volunteers for in-class and out-of-class assistance
• Hold workshops to introduce curriculum materials and approaches (Everyday Math, Balanced Literacy, etc.)
• Develop lending libraries of materials parents might find useful to use at home (leveled reading books, extra textbooks)

What Parents Can Do
• Provide a well organized work space for your child at home
• Develop a schedule for after school time that includes time to talk about school, time to have fun together, and time to do homework
• Ask about specific things you can do at home to support what is going on in school
• Ask questions whenever you don’t understand any of the work your child is assigned
• Read to and with your child often
• Visit the school regularly
• Attend school functions with your child
• Keep the teachers informed of anything unusual that has happened at home that might affect their child’s behavior and performance in the classroom
• Talk about education and learning positively
• Visit the library regularly to seek out resources that compliment topics being taught in the classroom
• Talk to the teacher to find out how you might be of service to them
• Support the buddy system if one has been set up in the classroom
• Know and communicate your child’s strengths and areas of interest

DECISION MAKING: SOME IDEAS TO GET STARTED

What Schools Can Do
• Schedule all meetings at a time that is convenient for the parents
• Make sure to give lots of advance notice when scheduling meetings
• Make sure parents know the purpose of meetings and ask them if there is any information they would like ahead of time
• Be sure to let parents know it is alright for them to bring someone with them to meetings
• Keep parents informed concerning all of the positive things a child is doing in school
• Discuss any problems with parents as they arise; don’t wait until problems get serious
• Ask parents for their ideas and input, and then really listen to what they say
• Include the child, whenever appropriate, in decisions
• Remember that information needs to be heard or seen at least seven times before it is fully understood and remembered; don’t assume parents know something just because you’ve said it once or twice
• Be sure parents know it is not only acceptable, but also wonderful, for them to ask questions
• Be professional – don’t gossip or “carry tales” about families

What Parents Can Do
• Ask how and when it is best to contact teachers and then do so whenever you have questions
• Request information you would like with enough “lead time” so educators have time to gather it
• Ask educators what information you could gather that would be helpful in making decisions about your child
• Come to meetings organized and well-prepared; bring written notes and a list of questions
• Share resources you have found helpful (articles, books) with school personnel
• Be honest about your child with school personnel; share his or her strengths, weaknesses and affinities, as well as your hopes and dreams
• Be professional – don’t gossip or “carry tales” about teachers and other educators

CONCLUSION
Richard D. Lavoie has spent three decades working in the field of special education. Many people have seen his video, “How Difficult Can This Be? The F.A.T. City Workshop”. His new video, “Beyond F.A.T. City: A Look Back, A Look Forward,” identifies things that parents wish teachers would do and things that teachers wish parents would do (Viewer’s Guide, page 25).

10 Things Parents Wish Teachers Would Do

The following list reflects the top ten most important wishes of parents who have children with learning disabilities:
1. Build student’s self-esteem.
2. Become familiar with each child’s needs.
3. Communicate honestly and openly with parents.
4. Assign effective homework.
5. Set reasonably high academic standards.
6. Care about kids.
7. Be fair.
8. Enforce positive discipline.
9. Use a variety of teaching methods.
10. Encourage parental participation.
10 Things Teachers Wish Parents Would Do

Teachers also have identified their top ten list:
1. Be involved in your child’s education.
2. Provide resources at home for reading and learning.
3. Set a good example.
4. Encourage your children to do their best in school.
5. Emphasize academics.
6. Support school rules and goals.
7. Use parental pressure positively.
8. Be proactive.
9. Accept parental responsibility.
10. Inform school of situations that may affect school performance.

It is clear that both educators and parents have the best interests of children at heart. Perhaps the first steps in building stronger home-school connections are to learn to trust each other and to truly believe that our goals are the same. Building trust often begins with acting as if trust already exists. Stephen Covey uses the idea of an “emotional bank account” to describe the process of trust building. Each time we make a “deposit” in the form of a positive action or behavior, trust increases. “Withdrawals” occur when there is a negatively perceived behavior or action. The authors believe that the ideas described in this article represent deposits to the emotional bank account between educators and parents and that as this bank account grows the home-school connection is strengthened and a child’s learning improves.

References
Allen, R. (2005). New Paradigms for Parental Involvement: Stronger Family Role in Schools Seen as Key to Achievement. ASCD Education Update, 47(3), 3-5.

Covey, S. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Epstein, J., Coates, L., Salinas, K., Sanders, M., Simon, B. (1997). School, family, and community partnerships: your handbook for action. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc.

Lavoie, Richard D. (2005). Beyond F.A.T. City: A Look Back, a Look Ahead Viewer’s Guide. Melbourne, Florida: PBS Video.

Levine, M. (2002). A Mind At A Time. New York: Simon and Schuster.