For decades now, communities, educators, policymakers, civil rights activists, philanthropic organizations, and others have launched numerous efforts to bring about improvement in our public schools. These efforts have focused on raising performance among student populations that have historically faced inequities in accessing quality education opportunities.
Research makes it clear that students perform far better academically and have fewer behavioral issues than their peers if their families are engaged in their schooling. I am certain that much higher levels of improvement can be realized through strategic parental involvement in their children’s education.
Even so, the sad reality is that significant impediments to achieving effective parent engagement occur in a disproportionate number of our schools. Reasons vary but often include parents’ work schedules, lack of information or language translation, transportation issues, and intimidating school system bureaucracies that drive down the likelihood of parents becoming engaged.
Correlations exist between strong student academic performance and meaningful parent engagement. When parents communicate with their children’s teachers, attend parent-teacher conferences, review and provide feedback on student report cards, and attend school sports, plays, and musicals, schools have a higher likelihood of performing well for their students. The students whose parents engage with schools often go on to college, have fruitful careers, join the military, and contribute to the better part of American society. Parent involvement often parallels a child’s life success.
In my career, I have worked on public and private partnerships to improve education. Many years ago in my hometown, I joined Cleveland Corporate Partners in Education, an entity established to engage the city’s corporate community to improve education outcomes and attainment levels in Cleveland Public Schools. At that time, the city’s corporations wanted to invest in strengthening public schools, in large part, because of the connection between the public schools and the corporations’ ongoing need for a well-educated workforce to meet hiring requirements.
I recall listening to a guest speaker proclaim that effective levels of parent engagement were impossible due to socioeconomic circumstances. His comment bore racial overtones, and I remember feeling somewhat offended.
Parent engagement in the Cleveland Public Schools, like so many other urban school districts that enroll students of color in large numbers, may share similar low parent-engagement rates than schools in more affluent communities.
Since strong parent interaction often correlates to well performing schools, I raised a question that remains valid today.
How can initiatives aimed at successfully increasing parent engagement be brought to scale where needed?
Raising the level of parent engagement is possible. Despite challenges, schools across the country achieve great success.
Take Greene County High School in Georgia, a Title I school in rural Georgia, where community members mentor students to help end the cycle of generational poverty. In partnership with the Thillen Education Foundation, the Greene College and Career Academy (GCCA) provides opportunity by pairing students and volunteers for career coaching appointments, work-based learning, and personal growth tasks. Students may earn financial assistance for college, a skilled career, or the military. Greene County parents attend sporting events, honors nights, interest-based open houses, and celebrations. To amplify parent engagement, GCCA CEO and Principal John Ellenberg uses social media and a state-of-the-art video board at sporting events to deliver informative videos for parents.
The Jackson Public Schools Parenting Program in Mississippi also connects with families by providing parents with the resources and equipment needed to empower enhanced learning and social and emotional growth for their children, both at home and at school.
Our world is changing, and as a nation we must remain competitive. To achieve global greatness and satisfy future human resource needs, no community or population can be left behind in preparation. As a society, we must employ a multi-layered approach that includes innovative and improved parent and community engagement strategies for student success.
Among all the other good strategies currently employed to improve public education, let’s not forget the parents.