Four Steps to Increase Parent Involvement in Schools

Parental involvement is a key to a child’s academic success. And one reason charter schools help kids so well is because they make parental involvement the center of instruction. After all, Mom and Dad are around their young scholars more than anybody.  An effective charter school communications plan recognizes this key component.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education just published a guide to four steps schools can take to advancing parental involvement: Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success. The education website The 74 provided a convenient summary for school management, teachers and parents. It was written by guide co-author Jessica Lander, a high-school teacher in Massachusetts. The four steps:

Step 1: Examine biases. Every family is different, so “it is essential to recognize the assets that families bring to such partnerships.” Make sure to appreciate “families’ many strengths” to create “strong working relationships.”

Step 2: Build trust. “Powerful partnerships require trust on both side,” but “families often have many reasons to distrust schools. From the education hierarchy to all-too-common histories of disrespect and racism toward certain demographics of students, barriers stand in the way.” Indeed, we would add, charter-school families especially have suffered from abuse from traditional school administrators. Which is why the small-scale, nurturing environment of charters is so precious.

Step 3: Take the first step. Teachers need to reach out first to children and families to establish the right tone for the whole year. “The first contact should not wait until a child acts out. Rather, schools should reach out and invite families to engage as full partners.”

Step 4: Follow through. Such existing events as open houses, meetings to discuss students’ Individualized Education Programs and parent-teacher conferences are crucial. But they need to be structured to “invite families to be equal partners.” Restructure them “to allow for two-way communication, rather than being one-sided opportunities for school staff to share rules, knowledge, or opinions.”