Community Engagement & Student Achievement

Parent, family, and community involvement in education correlates with higher

academic performance (NEA, 2008). A schools commitment to partnerships with families and

their community directly impacts their level of involvement with students and their academic

success. During this course the opportunity was provided to assess how schools can actively

involve families and communities as well as develop a framework for strengthening the

partnership with both the families and communities. The following is a reflection on how I have

applied what I have learned during ED5053 Community and Engagement and how I can improve

my practices in the classroom and as a leader to promote these important relationships.

Teachers Perspective

What happens before and after school can be as important as what happens during the school

day (NEA, 2008, p.2). Students need a rich learning environment outside of school to support

their daily learning activities. Building a trusting, respectful relationship with the community

and parents through interactions that demonstrate is necessary to be able to effectively support

parents with creating a learning environment at home for their child. Epstein asserted the

involvement of parents in their children's home-based learning activities is one of the six types of

parent involvement model in education (Karap, Akll and Aksu, 2016, p.59). Necessary

resources need to be provided to ensure parents can feel empowered to assist their children with

their schoolwork. Given the potentially limited home access to books and study support

materials, it is also helpful to offer parents access to libraries, labs, and other resources

(Panferov, 2010, p.111). Sixty three percent of the student body at the Arts High School qualify

for free or reduced lunch. Creating a learning environment at home on a regular basis can be
difficult, yet by simply providing access to a library or lab allows the parent and student to work

on school work in a quiet, focused place.

A partnership was developed in the course to address the minimal parent involvement

among the Hispanic subgroup. The Hispanic subgroup was selected based off of analysis of

school report card data from 2010-2014. The currently reality of the school is an evident

achievement gap in the Hispanic subgroup and this trend as has continued since 2010. The

partnership is designed to make involvement easier by providing the necessary resources and

services so that Hispanic parents can participate in the partnership activities. These activities

include workshops that will educate parents about college requirements, curriculum,

scholarships, literacy and math strategies. The goal is to build parent efficacy to be able assist

with their students learning outside of the school day.

Resistance can arise when attempting outreach and encouraging involvement. This can

result from a difference in but not limited to cultural beliefs, socioeconomic backgrounds,

education level, language, childcare and conflicts with work. Hornby and Lafaele (2011) stated

that when parents perceive that teachers are not open to involving parents this acts as a major

barrier to parent involvement. Similarly, schools which are welcoming to parents, and make it

clear that they value parent involvement develop more effective parent involvement than schools

that do not appear inviting to parents (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011, p.40). All school materials,

announcements and resources should be available in all necessary languages. A translator should

be available and communicated to families that translation services are provided to ensure

quality two-way communication. These resources should available immediately because it

demonstrates that the school is aware of who the stakeholders are and what is necessary to ensure

communication with all stakeholders. A new practice that will be implemented at the beginning
of the next school year will be the addition of a welcome letter with the syllabus that introduces

myself. The letter will include a brief introduction along with the research that parent

involvement contributes to student academic success. Parents will be asked to offer how they

can become and involved as well as what barriers prevent them from becoming involved.

Parents Perspective

A variety of factors are likely to inhibit parent involvement, including families difficult

circumstances (e.g., parents working multiple jobs, homelessness, uncertain immigration status),

parents negative education experiences when they were students, language barriers, and, for

some immigrant parents, cultural mores supporting the idea that they should not question

teachers (Department of Ed, 2007, p.5-6). Unfortunately, these barriers impose the perception

that the parents are not interested or want to be involved in their childs education. Parents have

academic goals for their children that include becoming an educated individual that can

contribute to society, which will graduate and be accepted to secondary education. However,

parents and community want to be involved but they need to feel welcomed and able to attend.

These factors need to be accounted for, for the partnership to have an impact on parent

involvement and student achievement. For example, services provided can include childcare,

transportation and translation and a suitable meeting time for the majority of the population or an

alternative mode of receiving the support.

Rich and effective partnerships are built on a foundation of shared principles or values

that enable a healthy collaboration process among partners and lead to improved success and

access for students and their families (Bryan & Henry, 2012, p.409). The family-school

partnership will enhance the culture of the school. The goal is for Hispanic parents to feel

comfortable engaging with the school and acting as an advocate for their child. An open-door
policy where Hispanic parents feel supported and provided with the appropriate resources

necessary to be actively involved in the school and their childs education. Building the self-

efficacy of the parents can have a positive impact on student achievement. By teaching parents

how to create a rich learning environment for their child, students can have a productive place to

continue learning outside of school. Students can take their school work home and talk to their

parents about what they learned. Students and parents can create their own education goals

together and make progress towards their goals with assistance of the partnership.

Leaders Perspective

Weiss, Lopez and Rosenberg (2010) found that policymakers, researchers, and education

leaders agree that family, school, and community partnerships are a critical part of student

achievement. During the past 12 years the Arts High School involvement from family and

community has been minimal. A school wide goal has been developed to address this issue but

little progress has been made. A parent group was formed about six years, however the parent

members do not represent the demographic of the school. Forty five percent of the student body

is Hispanic, twenty five percent is African American and almost fifteen percent classify as

White. The parent group does not have any members from the Hispanic subgroup and two

members that have African American students. Parent involvement from all subgroups is

necessary to ensure that the needs of all students and families are being met. I would like to see

opportunities for more parents to become involved beyond attending back-to-school night and

open house. Parents need to be involved in addressing student success, making decisions about

interventions and necessary resources for both their students and their families.

Inclusive schools educate all students in learning environments that practice equity-

based inclusion of all children, where every student is valued as a member of his or her
neighborhood school and is provided the supports needed to achieve social and academic

success (Gross, Haines, Francis, Blue-Banning & Turnball,2015 p.10). In addition, an inclusive

school includes trusting partnerships with parents and the community. Partnerships between

school staff, families, and community members are vital for ensuring the success of all students

in inclusive schools. (Gross et al., 2015 p.1). The Arts High School is an inclusive school in the

fact that all students have equal access to education and are provided the necessary supports and

interventions. However, inclusion of family and community partnerships is minimal. The school

is inclusive in respect to educating students but not inclusive of family and community

members. The Arts High School is missing a key component that contributes to student

achievement: partnerships with families and the community.

School factors that contributed to strong community partnerships were strong school

leadership, inviting school culture, teacher commitment to student success, and collaboration and

communication among partners (Gross et al., 2015, p.26). This course emphasized the

importance of engaging families and the community in collaboration and communication as a

way the school can strengthen the inclusiveness of the parents and community. A teacher can

assume the role of a community liaison and reach out to local businesses and service

organizations to determine common goals and interests. These businesses and service

organizations can be invited to the school site for a school tour, celebrations, to participate in an

event or provide feedback on student work. The community can also have permission to utilize

the school site for community events. Ultimately, the goal is to foster an authentic, trusting

relationship among the school, community and parents to continually work towards student

success both inside the school and out in the community. A yearly evaluation cycle of the level
of involvement that exists among the parents, school and community is necessary to ensure the

school complies with federal mandates for parental involvement.

Conclusion

The school, family and community can all work together to address student achievement.

This course emphasized the important of focusing on the strengthening relationships with the

families and communities to make a positive impact on student learning. A partnership provides

a platform for developing and growing these relationships and working towards supporting

students academic achievements.

 References

Bryan, J., & Henry, L. (2012). A Model for Building School-Family-Community

Partnerships: Principles and Process. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 90(4), 408-420.

doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.2012.00052.x

Department of Education, W. D., & WestEd, S. C. (2007). Engaging parents in education:

lessons from five parental information and resource centers. Innovations in Education. US

Department Of Education,

Epstein, J. L. (1995). School/family/community partnerships. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), 701.

Retrieved from http://ezproxy.ace.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218509027?accountid=31683

Gross, J. j., Haines, S. J., Hill, C., Francis, G. L., Blue-Banning, M., & Turnbull, A. P. (2015).

Strong School-Community Partnerships in Inclusive Schools Are "Part of the Fabric of

the School....We Count on Them". School Community Journal, 25(2), 9-34.

Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: an explanatory

model. Educational Review, 63(1), 37-52. doi:10.1080/00131911.2010.488049

National Education Association. (2008). Parent, family, community involvement in

education. Washington, DC: NEA Policy and Practice Department: Center for Great Public

Schools. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/36073.htm

Panferov, S. (2010). Increasing ELL parental involvement in our schools: Learning from the

parents. Theory Into Practice, 49(2), 106-112. doi:10.1080/00405841003626551

Weiss, H. B., Lopez, M. E., & Rosenberg, H. (2010). Beyond random acts: Family, school, and

community engagement as an integral part of school reform. Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-

resources/browseour-publications/beyond-random-acts-family-school-and-community-

engagement-as-anintegral-part-of-education-reform (Links to an external site.)