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National
Standards for Family-School Partnerships
A
new way of leading: Building family-school partnerships for student
success
In
the 2002 research review A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact
of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement,
Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp conclude that there is a positive
and convincing relationship between family involvement and student
success, regardless of race/ethnicity, class, or parents' level
of education. To put it another way, when families are involved
in their children's learning both at home and at school, their children
do better in school. The report also points to specific types of
involvement as being especially beneficial to children's academic
success.
Finding
1:
Involvement programs
that link to learning improve student achievement.
It's simple: The more parent and community involvement activities
focus on improving student learning, the more student learning improves.
Learning-focused involvement activities may include:
- Family
nights on math or literacy.
- Family-teacher
conferences that involve students.
- Family
workshops on planning for college.
Finding
2: Speaking up for children
protects and promotes their success.
Children whose parents are advocates for them at school are more
confident at school and take on and achieve more. The more families
advocate for their children and support their children's progress,
the longer their children stay in school and the better their children
do. Families should:
- Become
knowledgeable about the operations of schools and the laws that
govern those operations.
- Be
confident about their ability to work with schools.
- Expect
only the best from their children and for their children.
- Join PTA.
Finding
3: All families can contribute
to their children's success. Family involvement
improves student success, regardless of race/ethnicity, class, or
parents' level of education. For involvement to happen, however,
principals, teachers, and parents themselves must believe that all
parents can contribute to their children's success in school. Parents
can promote their children's academic success by:
- Teaching
their children the importance of education.
- Finding
out what their children are expected to know and to be able to
do and reinforcing lessons at home.
- Sending
their children to school ready to learn every day.
- Principals
and teachers must support parent involvement by
- Making
parent involvement a priority.
- Recognizing
and removing barriers to parent involvement.
- Sharing
decision-making power with parents and community members.
- Working
to understand class and cultural differences.
Finding
4: Community organizing gets
results. Engaging community members, businesses,
and organizations as partners in children's education can improve
the learning community in many ways. For example, community partners
may be able to:
- Provide
expanded learning opportunities.
- Build
broad-based support for increased school funding.
- Provide
quality after-school programs.
The
findings presented by Henderson and Mapp provide a framework for
strengthening parent/family involvement programs. PTA, working with
leading experts on parent involvement and school-community partnerships,
has updated its National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement
Programs to reflect recent research and improve parent and community
involvement practices. The updated National Standards shift the
focus from what schools should do to involve parents to what parents,
schools, and communities can do together to support student success.
To reflect this change, the standards
have been renamed the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships.
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Standard
1: Welcoming all families into the school community
Families
are active participants in the life of the school, and feel
welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff,
and to what students are learning and doing in class.
Standard
2: Communicating effectively
Families
and school staff engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication
about student learning.
Standard
3: Supporting student success
Families
and school staff continuously collaborate to support students'
learning and healthy development both at home and at school,
and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge
and skills to do so effectively.
Standard
4: Speaking up for every child
Families
are empowered to be advocates for their own and other children,
to ensure that students are treated fairly and have access
to learning opportunities that will support their success.
Standard
5: Sharing power
Families
and school staff are equal partners in decisions that affect
children and families and together inform, influence, and
create policies, practices, and programs.
Standard
6: Collaborating with community
Families
and school staff collaborate with community members to connect
students, families, and staff to expanded learning opportunities,
community services, and civic participation. |
Parent Involvement
School of Excellence Certification Program
Excellent Schools Dont
Just Happen
THEYRE CREATED! A program
established by National PTA to help every school evaluate its
own parent involvement practices and make improvements where needed.
Does your school qualify? For more information and a complete
self-assessment click
here.
All
Pro Dad
Georgia PTA has partnered
with All Pro
Dad, a program funded by Family First. All Pro Dad is the
ultimate resource for men who want to become better fathers and
features over 30 NFL players and coaches who want to help connect
dads and children. Their website offers free daily e-mail service
called the Play of the Day and provides dads with hard-hitting
information, advice and inspiration to help make them better husbands
and fathers.
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