Principals Matter

A Guide to School, Family, and Community Partnerships

Steven B. Sheldon, Mavis G. Sanders

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781634507134
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Administration de l'éducation

Research has shown that strong principal leadership is critical to developing effective school partnerships that include diverse school, family and community members. This book provides administrators with a clear road map for initiating partnership programs that are goal-focused, equitable, and sustainable.
In this research-based resource, the authors highlight the work of principals who have cultivated successful partnerships across many settings to show other school leaders how they can develop the necessary supportive school cultures. Examining the administrator's role in the success and quality of home-school partnerships and student outcomes, this guidebook: • Synthesizes research on principal leadership, school and community partnerships, and urban education reform
• Discusses the role of fathers in children's learning and working with families that live in poverty, are linguistically diverse, or have children with disabilities
• Offers practical recommendations for evaluating and refining partnership programs to ensure they are linked with student achievement goals

PART I

Laying the Foundation

1

Policy, Theory, and Research on School, Family, and Community Partnerships

In this chapter, we discuss policy, theory, and research on school, family, and community partnerships. This chapter should provide you with a sense of the extensive literature on family and community involvement, and the different outcomes these behaviors affect.

Passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002 aimed, among other things, to raise overall student achievement and reduce ethnicity-and income-based disparities in school achievement. To accomplish these goals, NCLB mandates a wide range of mechanisms including regular standardized testing of students, the presence of high-quality teachers in classrooms, and increased parental involvement in students’ education. The law distinguishes between two forms of parent involvement, one revolving around school choice and the other focusing on improving home-school relationships.

Much of the educational research and discourse about NCLB has focused on the pros and cons of testing standards and requirements (Linn & Haug, 2002), teacher qualifications (Smith, Desimone, & Ueno, 2006), and school choice (Belfield & Levin, 2002; Goldhaber & Eide, 2002; Neild, 2005). The topic of school, family, and community partnerships, however, has generated relatively little discussion, despite surveys indicating that new teachers rate interactions with parents as one of the most stressful aspects of their jobs (MetLife, 2005). The part of NCLB mandating that schools and school districts receiving Title I funds set up processes and structures to include more families in their children’s education remains overshadowed in most discussions about the efficacy of this legislation.

Title I, Sec. 1118 of NCLB requires that schools receiving funds for serving students from low-income families implement activities to help foster greater family and community involvement. For example, schools are required to create policies stating that family and community involvement are valued goals at the school, to include families on school decision-and policy-making committees, to provide information that helps parents understand academic content and achievement standards, to train educators in how to reach out to parents and implement programs connecting home and school, and to communicate in languages and at reading levels accessible to all families. In addition, NCLB encourages schools to develop partnerships with community-based organizations and businesses to help all students learn and achieve in school.

The inclusion of family involvement in federal education policy is not new and is based on previous legislative efforts to incorporate decades of theory and empirical research. Since the mid-1960s, federal education legislation has included some language about the need for schools to involve families in their children’s education. As our theoretical and empirical understanding about the effects of family involvement has evolved, so has family involvement legislation.

Many theorists have long recognized the important role strong school-home connections play in child development and education. Bronfenbrenner (1979), for example, argued that children’s behavior and development are influenced by their interactions within their homes, schools, and communities, and also by the “social interconnections between settings, including joint participation, communication, and the existence of information in each setting about the other” (p. 6). Also, Epstein’s (2001) Theory of Overlapping Spheres of Influence argues that a child’s home and school environments each have a unique influence on her or his development. However, it is the degree to which adults in these settings maintain positive relationships with one another that is critical to her or his academic success.

Beyond theory, scientific evidence supports the inclusion of school, family, and community partnerships in efforts to reform education. Research on effective schools, those where students are learning and achieving at high levels despite what might be expected given family and neighborhood trends of low socioeconomic status (i.e., high performing-high poverty), has consistently shown that these schools have positive school-home relationships (Chrispeels, 1996; Hoffman, 1991; Purkey & Smith, 1983; Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 1999; Teddlie & Reynolds, 2000). More important, these high-performing schools put forth strong efforts to reach out and work with their students’ families.

Other studies looking at the ability of school reform to positively affect students have also demonstrated the need for school leaders to develop strong relationships with families and community members. Rosenholz (1989) found that schools “moving” in a positive direction were actively working to bridge students’ homes and schools. In contrast, schools that showed no improvement were characterized by a feeling among the staff that there was nothing they could do to engage students’ families. Similar findings have been reported in studies investigating school reform in Chicago (Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Bryk, Sebring, Kerbow, Rollow, & Easton, 1998). Effective and improving schools understand the important role parents play in teachers’ ability to foster student learning and academic growth.

The benefits of school-home relationships are based on the development of trust between parents and educators. Bryk and Schneider (2002) argued that schools are successful when there are strong and positive relationships among teachers, students, parents, and the community. They also argued that these relationships are especially important in urban settings, where trust across the school community is a critical resource allowing teachers, students, and parents to succeed. In areas where schools have not traditionally promoted student achievement and success, principals and other leaders need to build programs that bridge home and school, enabling families to have faith in their children’s school and to support academic excellence.

Even before children enter school, their interactions with their parents and other significant adults shape language and cognitive development. Families provide “environments for literacy” where children are engaged in literacy activities such as being encouraged to talk and sing, reading books with an adult, and writing letters (Edwards, Pleasants, & Franklin, 1999; Leichter, 1984; Taylor, 1983; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988). At the same time, children from different families have been shown to engage in different types and levels of literacy experiences (Heibert, 1980; Teale, 1986), providing them with different understandings of word and language functions (Heath, 1983; Purcell-Gates, 1996). These findings have contributed to the understanding that children arrive at school with different knowledge and skill levels as well as different understandings about education.

Still, despite existing differences on the first day of school, all students are more likely to experience academic success if they have a supportive home environment. Studies on family involvement during the K–12 school years have concluded that students’ home environments and family involvement are important predictors of a variety of academic and nonacademic outcomes (Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Ho & Willms, 1996; Jordan, Orozco, & Averett, 2001; McNeal, 1999; Reynolds & Walberg, 1992). In this chapter, we describe the studies showing the effects of family involvement on student outcomes. First, we summarize the extensive literature showing the effects of family involvement on students’ literacy development and reading. We then describe the more limited research on family involvement and students’ mathematics and science achievement as well as their school attendance, behavior, attitudes, and adjustment.

PARTNERSHIPS AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES

Effects on Literacy Development and Reading

Research provides overwhelming evidence of the connection between literacy resources at home and children’s literacy development. According to the U.S. Department of Education (Donahue, Finnegan, Lutkus, Allen, & Campbell, 2001), children from homes with more books and more reading by parents tend to perform higher on reading achievement tests than children from less reading-rich environments. Because so much research has looked at how family involvement affects children’s literacy development, it is beyond the scope of this chapter to present a full review. Instead, we provide a brief overview of the research, organized according to children’s age and grade level.

The Preschool Years

Most preschools provide reading and language experiences to help all students become “ready” for school, and many preschool programs include efforts to involve families with children in literacy activities. Two experimental studies conducted with families of preschool children in Early Head Start (a federal program for infants and toddlers in families with very low income) and Project EASE (Early Access to Success in Education) in Minnesota found that parents could be assisted to work with their children on literacy skills and book-related activities. Both intervention projects found that children in the treatment groups improved their pre-reading language skills compared to students in the control groups (Mathematica, 2001). The programs increased parents’ reading stories to children, reading at bedtime, and other reading and language-related activities. A study of the HIPPY (Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters) intervention to increase mothers’ reading aloud and working with children on literacy skills came to the same conclusion (Baker, Piotrkowski, & Brooks-Gunn, 1998).

Storybook Reading. Parent-child storybook reading is one of the most studied types of parent involvement in literacy. Storybook reading is also one of the most commonly encouraged forms of parent involvement by teachers and schools. In their review of thirty years of research on the impact of reading to preschool students, Scarborough and Dobrich (1994) concluded that there is a modest impact of shared storybook reading on students’ literacy development due mainly to the quality of that interaction.

Parent training workshops are a common strategy educators use to help parents improve the quality of their storybook reading with young children. In a study of the effects of parent participation in reading workshops, Jordan, Snow, and Porche (2000) compared the early literacy skills of about 250 kindergarten students whose parents received training versus those who did not. Parents receiving training were taught ways to increase the frequency and quality of parent-child verbal interactions and how to conduct structured activities provided by their child’s teacher. Students whose parents were in the training group showed significantly greater improvement on early literacy tests of vocabulary, comprehension, story sequencing, and sound awareness.

Interventions focused on parents with low incomes and limited formal schooling have demonstrated similar results. Lonigan and Whitehurst (1998) compared the effects of a shared reading intervention on preschool children’s early literacy skills. Students were randomly assigned to the following groups: (1) teachers reading to a small group of children, (2) parents reading to their children at home, (3) combined teachers and parents reading to children, and (4) a control group of children who received no special intervention. In this study, students who had shared either reading with a parent, small group reading with a teacher, or a combination of the two performed better on reading assessments than did students who experienced no shared reading experiences. In addition, children whose parents were involved in shared reading activities (either solely or in combination with teachers in small group reading) had higher vocabulary levels and oral language use than did children in the teacher-only group.

The results of studies of parent training workshops are important because they show that parents who are assisted to be effectively involved in reading-related activities conduct more and better literacy-focused interactions and that these interactions improve students’ reading and literacy skills (see also Faires, Nichols, & Rickelman, 2000; Leslie & Allen, 1999; Phillips, Norris, & Mason, 1996). In particular, Lonigan and Whitehurst’s (1998) study provides strong evidence that parents with low incomes and less formal education, who may have weaker reading skills than more economically advantaged parents, can effectively support their children’s reading and education.

The Primary Grades

Children’s entry to formal schooling marks an important transition in learning and development. The transition to elementary school also has important consequences for parents’ roles in their children’s literacy development. Although schools and teachers become significant influences on children’s learning to read, the transition to elementary school does not mean that parents cease to influence their children’s reading and literacy development. Purcell-Gates (1996), for example, found that in some low-income families, parent involvement in reading increased after their children began formal schooling.

Storybook Reading. Storybook reading continues to be an important activity for children after they have entered the primary grades. Studies suggest that there are long-term, multifaceted effects of parent-child storybook reading on children’s language development (Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002; Sénéchal, LeFevre, Thomas, & Daley, 1998). In one study, first-grade children whose parents read more storybooks to them during the preschool years (informal literacy activities) tended to score higher on vocabulary and listening comprehension assessments. Children whose parents used books more often to teach letters and words (formal literacy activities) tended to score higher on emergent literacy skills such as alphabet knowledge, decoding, and invented spelling. These studies showed that, over time, emergent literacy skills predicted children’s reading achievement at the end of first grade, whereas receptive language skills (i.e., vocabulary and comprehension) predicted reading achievement in the third grade. The complex results are consistent with other studies indicating that parental involvement with children on varied reading-related activities helps students develop a number of literacy skills important for later reading achievement. Moreover, the findings suggest that parents should be guided to engage young children in a variety of literacy activities.

Literacy activities experienced at home by children from middle- and upper-income families may more closely match the school culture than activities experienced by students from low-income or minority families (Cairney & Rouge, 1997; Heath, 1983). Based on her research about literacy classroom practices with low-income children, McCarthey (1999) suggested that teachers establish and maintain frequent and reciprocal communications with all families. She argued that, by developing a better understanding of children’s families and by helping them understand and use reading resources with their children, teachers will increase home-school congruence and continuity for all students.

In addition to training workshops to improve parents’ skills, other interventions designed to help teachers incorporate families in their classrooms and in students’ reading experiences have proven effective with culturally diverse families. Paratore et al. (1999) trained low-income parents who had immigrated to the United States to observe and become involved in their elementary schoolchildren’s literacy activities at home, to construct portfolios of their children’s literacy activities at home, and to bring these portfolios to parent-teacher conferences. The researchers also trained teachers to understand family literacy, how to collaborate with families, and how to use a family literacy portfolio to communicate with their students’ parents. Her analyses showed that, during conferences with their children’s teachers, parents who developed literacy portfolios with their children at home talked more and provided teachers with more information about their children’s literacy activities at home.

Reading Volunteers. Schools often try to bring parent and community volunteers into elementary schools to help children develop literacy...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Introduction: Standards for School, Family, and Community Partnerships
• Part I. Laying the Foundation
• Part II. Responding to Diversity
• Part III. Maximizing Outcomes
• Concluding Thoughts
• References