By Rick DuFour

Journal of Staff Development, Spring 2000 (Vol. 21, No. 2)

One of the most important alliances a school can foster is a partnership with parents. As the U.S. Department of Education (1995, p.19) concluded, "Thirty years of research make it clear: Parents and families are pivotal to children’s learning."

That study found: "The most accurate predictor of a student’s achievement in school is the extent to which that student’s family is able to:

• Create a home environment that encourages learning;
• Communicate high, yet reasonable, expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers; and
• Become involved in their children’s education."

Yet despite these consistent findings regarding the important role that parents can play in the educational process, both educators and parents continue to struggle to define exactly what that role should be.

Educators often appear schizophrenic on the topic. Teachers in urban and rural areas are likely to complain of parental indifference, while teachers in suburban areas tend to complain of parental overzealousness or undue influence. A recent survey of teachers and parents revealed confusing results. While 90 percent of teachers agreed that parent involvement was needed in their schools, only 32 percent of the teachers felt it was their responsibility to involve parents. Only three percent of the teachers felt parents were genuinely interested in being involved in the educational process, but 80 percent of the parents surveyed indicated that they would like to be more involved in the school (Center on Families, 1994, pp. 2-4).

Furthermore, educators often define their partnership with parents in narrow terms: "It is our job to make the decisions; it is your job to support them." Not many people will be attracted to a "partnership" that calls upon them to provide the finances for the operation, and demands their unquestioning support of all decisions made by their partner, yet offers them no voice in discussions of key issues. Good partnerships are supposed to be mutually beneficial. Defining the possibilities and parameters of a meaningful, mutually beneficial partnership with parents certainly represents a significant challenge for schools, but schools that operate as professional learning communities will respond to that challenge.

The National Parent-Teacher Association has used a framework developed by the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University to identify national standards for parent involvement that have been endorsed by more than 30 professional organizations.

One of these standards calls for schools to ensure that "parents play an integral role in assisting student learning." Schools that hope to meet this standard must go beyond encouraging parents to assist students in learning. Instead, schools must give parents some direction about how to be most helpful. When schools present parents with an explanation of the skills children are to learn, along with specific strategies that enable a mother or father to participate in their child’s development of those skills, everyone benefits.

Parents can be more productive partners if schools:

• Inform parents of the specific learning expectations for students in each subject at each grade level;
• Provide parents of elementary and middle school children with school-developed curriculum guides and learning packets for each course or grade level, which suggest how parents can foster learning of particular concepts at home;
• Develop procedures that enable parents to monitor homework, provide appropriate assistance, and give feedback to teachers. For example, schools can provide parents with instruction about what they are to look for in each assignment and offer a quick check-off response such as:

• Assign interactive homework that will require students to discuss what they are learning in class and interact with their parents;
• Involve parents in setting student goals each year and in planning for post-secondary education and careers;
• Provide parents with scoring rubrics and examples of outstanding student work that parents can use in reviewing the work of their students;
• Suggest recommended books that parents might read aloud to their children, or inform parents of assigned books they might read and discuss with their older children;
• Develop routine procedures to allow parents to review the work of their children on a regular basis – for example, a folder to send student work home each week with a place for parent comments on the front cover;
• Use technology such as e-mail and voice mail "homework hotlines" that offer parents reminders of the homework that has been assigned and suggestions for helping students complete the homework; and
• Provide frequent, timely communication on student progress so parents can respond promptly to student difficulties.

There are clear benefits in creating an effective partnership in the business world. A partner can bring specific skills and expertise to the enterprise, offer a different perspective on issues, increase available resources, provide support in difficult times, and help achieve mutual goals. Parents can fulfill all of these roles in an effective partnership with schools. Certainly, students benefit from parent involvement; but schools benefit as well. While educators may have expertise in content and pedagogy, parents have knowledge of their own children that can be extremely helpful to teachers in meeting the needs of students. Parents can also help educators view their schools from a different perspective: the perspective of the paying customer. Finally, while there may be differences of opinion from time to time, parents and educators share the same goal: the eventual success of the child. Thus, schools interested in forming effective partnerships will start by making a conscious effort to forge a partnership with parents. Michael Fullan (1997, pp. 42-43) said it best:

U.S. Department of Education. (1995). An invitation to your community: Building community partnerships for learning. Washington, D.C: Author.

Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children’s Learning. (1994). Research and development report. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University.

Fullan, M. (1997). Broadening the concept of teacher leadership. In S. Caldwell (Ed.), Professional development in learning-centered schools. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council.