Family-School Partnerships Promote Student Achievement

Faced with a budget crisis in their school district, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in Salisbury, Maryland, raised $135,000 from July 2006 to June 2007 by raffling off a Ford Mustang, selling gifts, recycling cans, saving box tops, writing grants and holding craft and book fairs, ice cream socials, a spring fling dance charity bowling events.

During the current school year, the Salisbury PTA again has raised more than $100,000. The money has been used for classroom and teaching supplies and equipment, enrichment programs, class events, teachers' luncheons, student publications, books and materials for the school library, and printers and equipment for the school.

At Fair Oaks Elementary in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where 92 percent of the students are ethnic minorities, mainly Hispanic or Hmong, the parent-teacher organization (PTO) meetings usually are packed. There are cookies and punch, speakers, door prizes, baby sitters and lots of laughter. "The No. 1 thing is getting parents involved," Ana Markowski, PTO co-president, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune after a recent meeting. "Most of the parents here are very concerned about their kids' education."

In Palo Alto, California, 15 Duveneck Elementary School students held a fashion show and tea party May 4 to raise money for the school's PTA, which will use the $800 raised to buy school supplies.

Meanwhile, also in California, members of four different PTA's are planning a May 16 protest march to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office to mark their opposition to impending cuts in the state's budget for education.

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT

None of these activities is unusual for the parents of American schoolchildren. Since the National Parent Teacher Association was founded in 1897 in Washington as the National Congress of Mothers by Alice McLellan Birney, Phoebe Apperson Hearst and more than 2,000 other mothers, parental involvement in education has seemed as American as voting.

A new research report says that parental engagement in schools "is critical to student achievement and success."

The new report confirms earlier research such as the 2002 research review A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement, which found a positive relationship between family involvement and student success - regardless of race, ethnicity, class or parents' level of education. A New Wave also found that parent involvement contributes to better school attendance, improved homework completion rates, decreased violence and substance abuse and higher graduation rates.

The National PTA recast the findings of this review as six National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. The standards require welcoming all families into the school community; engaging families and school staff in regular, meaningful communication about student learning; collaborating in support of student learning and healthy development both at home and at school; empowering parents to be advocates for their own and other children; making families and school staff equal partners in decisions affecting children; and connecting students, families and staff to expanded learning opportunities in the larger community.

The new research "helps to underscore the critical link between the parents, the school and student achievement," says Warlene Gary, chief executive officer of the National PTA. "It is essential that all elements of the community are invested and aware of what is going on in our schools."

FOUNDATION OF TRUST AND RESPECT

A large majority of parents (84 percent) feel they can trust the teachers at their child's school, according to the report, released April 30 by the National School Boards Association's Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE). The overwhelming majority also feel respected by the teachers (87 percent) and respected by administrators at their child's school (83 percent).

President Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires that schools and school districts provide funding and other resources to increase parent involvement in education and improve communication between schools and parents.

Chicago public schools, for example, have a PTA Outreach Unit that focuses on encouraging parents at every level to be involved in their child's education and fostering contacts with the Chicago Region PTA and community-based organizations through workshops and training "in order to create family friendly schools."

Maryland recently named Larry Walker the first statewide winner of an award for parental involvement for launching a Saturday morning mentoring and homework session for African-American males. Walker also reached out to the Asian and Hispanic parent populations and helped them form parent groups to work with the school's parent teacher student association, according to a statement by the Maryland Department of Education.

"Larry Walker exemplifies the work of thousands of parents taking place in schools throughout our state," said State Education Superintendent Nancy Grasmick. "Parents, guardians and other volunteers have a clear impact on the success of our schools."

"[The principal] knows that I am going to be the one who is going to roll up my sleeves and be in the cafeteria and walk the hallways," Walker told Education Week. "I do what I do because there is a need. The award I get is when you see kids who make different decisions because of some of the influence that you've had."

The PTA is a nonprofit organization composed of 6 million volunteers in 23,000 local units and a national organization headquartered in Washington. Members pay dues, and the National PTA acts as an advocate for national education policies. It proudly cites school lunch programs, after-school care, immunization programs, school bus safety and television rating standards as achievements in which it played a prominent role.

Parent-teacher organizations, or PTOs, include a variety of groups other than PTAs, each independent and generally focused exclusively on the needs of the local schools. The 50,000 PTOs do not have a national organization or political agenda.

Source: U.S. Department of State

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com