Parent Engagement Literature
A rich array of literature exists offering evidence of the impact of parent engagement as well as helpful strategies for how to expand parent involvement in their children’s education. Below is a short list of the resources we found to be especially helpful.
A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement
by Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp (Austin TX: Southwest Educational Development Lab, 2002) This report is a comprehensive review of research on the relationship between family involvement and student achievement: (It is part of the “Connection Collection” from the Southwest Educational Development Lab, a helpful series of reports on family and community engagement)
Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships
by Anne T. Henderson, Karen L. Mapp, Vivian R. Johnson, and Don Davies, (NY: The New Press, 2007). The book, based on the research in A New Wave of Evidence, is a practical, user-friendly guide. Chapter Seven: Supporting Advocacy, covers helping families understand how to solve problems; monitor their children’s progress and steer them toward more challenging programs; make a smooth transition from elementary to middle, and middle to high school and on to college; and plan collaboratively for their children’s future. Chapter Ten is loaded with resources; there is also an extensive bibliography.
Creating Partnerships, Bridging Worlds: Family and Community Engagement
, (2004) by the Center for Collaborative Education, offers research-based tools and strategies for helping schools, teachers, families and communities partner to deepen student learning and engagement. The guide is part of the Turning Points program for middle school reform, developed by the Carnegie Corporation.
Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE) A program of the Harvard Family Research Project, the FINE Web site contains a wealth of information about family involvement in education. Two reviews are especially helpful: Family Involvement in Elementary Children’s Education and Family Involvement in Middle and High School Students’ Education. A third, especially important publication is Seeing is Believing: Promising Practices for How School Districts Promote Family Engagement. It spotlights how six school districts across the country have used innovative strategies to create and sustain family engagement “systems at work.” Findings point to three core components of successful systems: creating district-wide strategies, building school capacity, and reaching out to and engaging families.
Hoover-Dempsey, K, et. al, (2005). Why do Parents Become Involved? Research Findings and Implications. The Elementary School Journal, Volume 106, No. 2. University of Chicago. This article describes three factors that Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey and her colleagues have identified in determining parent involvement. The first is whether parents believe they should play an active role in their children’s education and have a positive sense of self efficacy for helping their children learn. The second is whether the school welcomes and invites their involvement. The third is whether parents’ life context (socioeconomic situation, knowledge, skills, time and skills) supports involvement.
Making Data Work: A Parent and Community Guide
(2004) Education Trust, Washington DC. This easy-to-use guide gives parents and the public the tools to collect and analyze school data to improve student achievement.
National Network of Partnership Schools
(Web site) . Run by the National Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University, this website is loaded with research-based ideas and examples for family-school partnerships from member schools and districts. It is organized according to Joyce Epstein’s framework of six types of parent involvement: parenting, communicating, supporting learning, volunteering, decision-making, and collaborating with community. An especially helpful resource is the newest edition of the NNPS handbook: Epstein, J. L. et al. (2009). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action, third edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
No Child Left Behind: Using the Parent Involvement Requirements to Build Partnerships with Families Is this still timely as NCLB gets updated in the near future?
No Child Left Behind: What’s in it for Parents (2002), a handbook on the parent involvement requirements in NCLB, includes empowering tips on how to make them work and leverage points that parents can use to have a greater voice in the program and in improving student achievement.
Office of Head Start, Administration, Youth and Families (Web-Site). The Head Start Office operates an on-line early childhood and knowledge center including a section on Family and Community Partnerships that is designed to inform, provide strategies, and support the Head Start and early childhood communities in their continued commitment to build strong and supportive relationships. Its site links users to a broad array of literature (as well as other resources) related to parent involvement among young children.
PTA’s National Standards for Family-School Partnerships (Web site)
National PTA has created new standards for family-school partnerships and an assessment guide that parent and school leaders can use to review their current programs and activities for families. The standards are: creating a welcoming school community, effective communication, supporting learning, speaking up, sharing power, and collaborating with community.
Steinberg, Laurence, Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do, Touchstone, New York, NY 1997. With an emphasis on student engagement in learning, Steinberg uses the results of a 10 year longitudinal study and other available research to examine factors causing low student achievement, especially issues beyond the school walls including parenting strategies, the influence of peers and extracurricular activities.
Wilmhurst, Linda and Alan Brue, A Parent’s Guide To Special Education: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child Succeed, AMACOM, New York, 2005. The term 'special education' encompasses dozens of learning challenges: developmental delay, learning and physical disabilities, emotional disturbance, retardation, language impairment, autism, and others. Navigating even well-run, well-funded special education programs can be daunting. A Parent's Guide to Special Education offers guidance to parents and their children about how to handle a wide variety of issues ranging from diagnosis to program eligibility and communications with schools.