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ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate that a link does appear to exist between a principal and school council focused on stimulating parental involvement and the rates of parental involvement within the school. A school principal and school council working collaboratively to stimulate programs and activities within eight categories of parental involvement may be a method for school council participants to make a meaningful contribution within a school community in support of student learning and work towards achieving the purpose identified for school councils by the EIC (1998) and in Regulations 612 and 613 (2000). Results from this study also confirm the existence of two distinctly different types of parents including those who primarily help their children at home and those who are willing and able to engage in various types of volunteer activities within the school. There are many individual factors involved in a personal choice of this nature including available time, work schedules, the presence of other children in the home, etc. (Epstein, 2001b). Both types of parents are involved in supporting their children’s education at home in a variety of ways and with participation rates that might be considered to be fairly high. A vast majority of parents indicate taking an active role in: 1. Communicating, 2. Helping at home, 3. Attending school events, and 4. Building parenting skills. The problematic element inherent in these kinds of involvement for organizers and promoters of parental involvement programs is that, for the most part, participation can be either “invisible”, as they take place primarily at home, or, in the case of attending school events such as parent-teacher interviews or the annual meet-the-teacher night, they take place so infrequently that they do not provide organizers and promoters of parental involvement programs with a sense of progress or accomplishment. Without data or visible proof of parental involvement, principals, teachers, parent organizers, and school council organizers may perceive parents to be apathetic or disinterested, causing organizers to become discouraged and demotivated (Lasky & Moore, 2003) and withdraw effort or support to actively promote parental involvement. Despite a potential absence of feedback, organizers and promoters of parental involvement should remain confident that the majority of parents are interested in helping their children, as evidenced by the participation rates shown in this and other studies (Canadian Teachers’ Federation, 2004; Epstein, 1995). It may take a variety of approaches, different communication strategies to reach the different types of parents, and the resilience to continue without the benefit of obvious or positive feedback. Organizers may also wish to consider developing a mechanism to monitor participation rates over time. Such a mechanism could become a valuable source of feedback to determine if initiatives are making a difference and identify areas where organizers might need to focus in order to further support parents and students. This study also demonstrated that a principal and school council leveraging a modified version of Epstein’s (1995) framework over a period of time, as was the case for Alpha school in this study, can positively influence rates of parental involvement. Evidence in this study confirmed an ability to generate a significantly higher rate of volunteerism, and among volunteers, significantly higher rates of parental participation in a variety of activities to support their children’s learning. |
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