Parents as Partners in Shared School Decision Making

I truly believe that when parents are fully respected and engaged as partners with schools, schools do better. When our youngest was in elementary school I served on the school's Site Council for two years (2006-2008), elected through a representative process. Site councils give parents the opportunity to shape school policy by giving them an equal voice in school decision making, along with teachers, principals, and community partners. Serving on the Site Council was an engaging, pragmatic way to partner with the school in students' academic and social-emotional life.

Our Site Council was comprised of four parents whose children attended the school; each parent served overlapping terms of two years each, with two parents elected each year. Three school staff members were elected by staff. Then, one parent was nominated by members of the council to serve as Co-Chair; the principal served as the other Co-Chair and also appointed one member from the community at large.

We met monthly in a conference room at the school, before the start of the school day, and for about an hour. The issues we took up had an impact on the annual school improvement plan:

• the impact of class size on student performance;

• school safety and discipline;

• the school handbook;

• family engagement;

• enhancing the school grounds, and more.

HERE's what's on the DESE website about Site Councils. Among other things, the Massachusetts Education Reform law requires School Site Councils to:

• adopt educational goals for the school;

• review the annual school building budget;

• develop a school improvement plan which must correspond to the district improvement plan.

The relationship between School Committees and school Site Councils provides for a unique opportunity to improve and strengthen community engagement within public education governance. The law provides an oversight role for School Committees and further states that elected School Committees at the district level may grant additional authority to School Councils in the area of educational policy. During my years on the Lexington School Committee, and in partnership with MASC, we met with representatives from the Town's 9 School Site Councils twice a year to strengthen their awareness of their roles and responsibilities.

The most important work of the school Site Council is the development of the School Improvement Plan (SIP). In this work the entire school community develops goals and plans strategies to address identified needs. Parents can have an important impact in this process by making sure that issues important to them and their children are addressed. These might include:

• establish a welcoming school environment;

• training to help school staff work effectively with families;

• class size, its impact on student learning, and a plan to reduce class size;

• design and implement parent/family engagement activities;

• meeting the learning needs of diverse students, including students with disabilities and students who are English language learners.

Once developed (annually), a Site Council submits their SIP to the School Committee.

I learned a lot about our school during my time on the Site Council. I found it an informative and empowering way to take part in a collaborative process that had a positive impact on the students and school culture. The experience led to my running for Town Meeting, then the School Committee, where I ultimately advocated for all of the Town's public school children. 

If you're still with me here, having read this far, and it sounds even a tiny bit interesting, I encourage you to look into the process for serving on a local Site Council.

Community Matters

The link between breakfast and school performance is well documented. Even before the economic downturn of 2008, the face of poverty had changed, though most of America hadn't recognized it (The Rich and the Rest of Us | Tavis Smiley & Cornel West). The income inequality gap (already huge) is growing - homelessness and hunger are symptoms of poverty caused by many factors.

In Lexington, a working group of school and municipal staff (primarily) along with several community leaders, has been convening since late last fall to share information about the growing homelessness issue in our own community. 

• Working Group conversations led to a convening of the Lexington Interfaith Clergy Association (LICA) who hosted a meeting with the community to discuss the issue and consider concrete next steps. More than 50 people came out from at least 10 Lexington faith-based congregations. Breakout sessions focused on addressing steps necessary to aid individuals and families across Town in realistic, concrete ways. Teams focused on:
• food connection
• community meals
• social outings

• Addressing the lack of public transportation, especially for families housed longer than expected in emergency hotel/motel shelters: the use of church vans and deeply discounted rentals with a private bus company, as well as means available through the Town's Human Services Department, are narrowing that gap.

• The school department hired a social worker to assist school-age children of families in transition; initially hired half-time, it is now a full-time position. More thinking has gone into the possibility of piloting a summer program so students in transition won't experience academic regression over the summer. 

Working together, staff and faith- and community-based leaders have increased understanding and knowledge of hunger and homelessness on the ground right where we live. With the child at the center, schools, in partnership with families and the community-at-large, are making a substantial difference.

Family-School Partnership Models

In thinking about the type of partnership your school culture embraces, consider how well it engages families and the greater community in:

• Building Relationships
• Linking to Learning
• Addressing Differences
• Supporting Advocacy and
• Sharing Power

Bake Sale authors point the way with these four partnership models:

The Partnership School

This school's culture holds that all families and communities have something great to offer and the school will do whatever it takes to work closely with all stakeholders to make sure every single student succeeds. Home visits are common with new families. The building is open to community use and social services are available to families at all times. All family activities connect to student learning and parents and teachers look at student work and test results together. The parent group includes all families and there's a clear, open process for resolving problems. Student-led Parent-Teacher conferences are held three times a year for 30-minutes. In a Partnership School, the PTA is focused on improving student achievement and families are involved in all major decisions.

The Open Door School

Partnership is improving here: families can be involved in many ways and they're working hard to get an even bigger turnout for activities. Teachers explain test scores, if asked, and folders of student work go home occasionally. The school holds curriculum nights three or four times a year and families are knowledgeable of out-of-school classes in the community. Minority families have their own group and multicultural nights are held once a year. Regular progress reports go to parents, but test data can be hard to understand. Parent-Teacher conferences are held twice a year. Parents can raise issues at PTA meetings, as well as set its own agenda and raise money for the school. And, a Community Representative sits on the school-based site council.

The Come-if-We-Call School

The phone is used as a hotline by staff to invite parents in - but only when there are problems, because the school thinks there's only so much families can really offer. The school is the expert here and families are told what students will be learning at the Fall Open House. The school can't address differences when it's overwhelmed with more than twenty different languages, because they think immigrant families don't have time to come in or care to contribute. The principal sets the agenda for parent meetings - and the PTA gets the school's message out! If community groups have concerns, they are more than welcome to take them up ... with the School Committee.

The Fortress School 
By its very nature, a fortress is most difficult to access. There's a whole community up there behind those walls, but unless you work here, or go to school here, you are not welcome - and you will be seldom invited in. The school thinks that if students don't do well here, it's because their families aren't giving them enough support - because the school is already doing all it can. The principal will select a few "cooperative parents" to help out at times. And families are afraid to complain fearing reprisals on their child.

 A key to understanding partnership, is to see it along a continuum. Some schools may be Open Door Schools, yet still have some Fortress classrooms. How will you ensure your school's culture is open to embracing true partnership with families and the community?

As a first step, take a welcoming walk-through of your building with an eye for any unintentional barriers; consider how you will engage your families in that process. And then, once you identify barriers, what's your process for removing them?

In education, what will be effective depends on your goal and how it's measured. Schools cannot do this work alone - it's a shared responsibility of schools, families, and communities to ensure all students succeed. This means looking beyond parent volunteer and fundraising stereotypes to build inclusive and effective partnerships for student success.

Intro to What I Learned at #PTcamp

Sometimes we forget. We don't mean to, but we forget that our children are whole children who come to and from school from families and communities.

But what if we didn't forget? And what if we engaged parents as partners, allies, and advocates in children's education at home and at school?

Because more than 40 years of research shows that when families are engaged in their child's learning, that child does better. And this holds true regardless of a parent's level of education, country of origin, or socio-economic status.

So, why do so many schools struggle to engage families? And does it really matter how family-friendly your schools are?

These were some of the questions I had in mind this summer when I participated in #PTcamp: a free and open, virtual bookchat spanning 10 time zones and involving more than 100 educators and parents. Together we read Beyond the Bake Sale: the essential guide to family-school partnerships. Each week we read a couple of chapters, then using some digital tools (including blogs, Twitter, Voxer, and ApprenNet), we engaged, reflected, challenged, and provoked each other's thinking - for learning.

Bake Sale not only connected all of us globally, it got us thinking about the best ways to authentically engage families for student success. By placing family engagement at the heart of school partnerships, the authors promote these 4 Core Beliefs:

1. All parents have dreams for their children and want the best for them;
2. All parents have the capacity for supporting their children's learning;
3. Parents and schools should be equal partners;
4. Responsibility for building these partnerships rests primarily with school staff, especially school leaders.

Then, the authors point the way through an analysis of four partnership models, using five essential metrics by which to gauge how well schools:

• Build Relationships
• Link to Learning
• Address Differences
• Support Advocacy
• and Share Power

My next blog posts will outline the four partnership models discussed in the book - I am so curious to know what will look familiar to you!