Eight Key Strategies and Ideas for Engaging Parents in Education
These strategies are based on the work of Dr, Joyce Epstein and modified
slightly to address the needs of principals, teachers and parents in Ontario.
Dr. Epstein's framework includes six key strategies.
For each link, you will find the the strategic intent for the type of
involvement along with examples of several specific initiatives.
Communicating
Helping at home
Attending school events (new for
Ontario)
Building parenting skills
Volunteering
Fundraising (new for Ontario)
Participating in decision making
Leveraging community resources
For hundreds of additional ideas, please visit the 'Promising
Partnership Practices' listed by the National Network of Partnership
Schools at Johns Hopkins University.
Also download a copy of
Parent Inclusion Activities in Ontario published by People for Education,
containing a snapshot of recent activities from across Ontario.
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Eight Strategic Categories of Parental
Involvement (Strategic Level) |
Types of Parental Involvement Initiatives and
Programs (Program or Tactical Level) |
|
Communicating
Strategic Intent:
Establish an informative two-way dialogue between
home and school to:
 | Build a sense of school community |
| Exchange information about upcoming events in
the school or in a child’s life |
| Enable parents and teachers to monitor a
student’s progress and reinforce key messages |
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Elementary and Seconday
| School newsletters |
| Email |
| Class newsletters to keep parents up to date
on curriculum progress and how parents can help at home |
| Websites - schools, classes, departments |
| Use of a voicemail system to share information |
| School signs to announce upcoming events or
accomplishments |
| Telephone calls to home |
| A class parent telephone tree |
| Student ‘courier packs’ to get information to
and from home |
| Use of student agendas |
| Distinct communications initiatives to meet
address the informational needs of different types of parents |
| Mailing items to home when necessary |
| Handouts at curriculum nights or parent teacher interview nights |
This is the most important method for engaging parents as all other
types of involvement depend on a foundation of good communication - at
both the elementary and secondary levels. |
|
Helping at home
Strategic Intent:
Enable parents to provide helpful assistance to
their children at home including:
| Guidance and support to complete homework
assignments |
| Guidance on course selections when required |
| Support to prepare for and participate on
school teams, clubs and special events |
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Elementary and Secondary
| A clear school homework policy endorsed by the
whole school |
| Homework instructions that enable parents to
provide home support |
| Homework sign-backs |
| Homework assignments and due dates on a
website, in a class newsletter, an email or on a voicemail recording |
| Tips to enable parents to help students
(without doing the homework) |
| Information about the various extracurricular
school teams, clubs and events that students might participate in |
Secondary
| Course selection information |
| Career planning and post secondary
prerequisite information to enable informed course selections |
Although it is mostly invisible as most of it
occurs at home, research suggests that this is the most impactful method
for parents to be actively involved in helping children succeed as
students.
|
|
Attending school events
Strategic Intent:
Encourage parents to attend activities at the
school to:
| Learn about ways to further support the
learning and development of their children |
| Be welcomed as important contributors to the
vibrancy and effectiveness of the school community |
| Demonstrate an active interest in the
activities of the school to their children, which reinforces the
importance of the school and learning to their children |
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Elementary and Secondary
| Create a welcoming and memorable meet the
teacher night |
| Provide advance notice for key events |
| Encourage all parents to attend parent teacher
interviews, and reach out to those who cannot attend |
| Encourage both parents and students to attend events together or
create events for both parents and students |
| Concerts |
| Academic nights (e.g., Science, literacy or
music nights) |
| Sporting events |
| Seasonal events |
| Leverage some events for participation first
and add a component of fundraising |
This is an important method for parents to reinforce how important
the school is. Students receive the message that "I am important,
and this place is important."
While many secondary students won't admit it, they still appreciate
it when their parents come to the school for events. |
|
Building parenting skills
Strategic Intent:
Build the confidence and capacity of parents by
providing access to resources to:
| Support the growth and development of their
children. |
| Gain knowledge and skills to remain resilient
in the difficult task of raising a child |
| Become aware of issues facing their children,
and how they might recognize and deal with those issues (e.g.,
bullying) |
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Elementary and Secondary
| Establish a parent resource centre within the
school with books, DVDs etc. either within the library or within a
dedicated Parent’s Room |
| Organize guest speaking events to cover topics
of interest to parents (helping children at home, building literacy
skills at home, bullying, etc.) |
| Partner with other schools to expand available
range of topics. |
| Announce other events occurring in the
community that might be of interest to school parents |
Until kids come with instruction manuals, everyone in the business of
helping children succeed needs to recognize the need to continuously
build skills in dealing with children. Teachers need teaching
skills, parents need parenting skills and resilience!
People like Barbara Colorosso and
Dr. Karyn Gordon, can help
parents help their children.
|
|
Volunteering
Strategic Intent:
Increase the capacity of the school to support
student learning by:
| Providing volunteers with opportunities to
develop and contribute |
| Encouraging parents and members of the
community to volunteer in a variety of activities of their choosing |
| Supporting volunteers with training, direction
and appreciation |
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More elementary than secondary
| Actively welcome volunteers into the school |
| Recruit, provide instruction and direction and
recognize volunteers for their contributions |
| Encourage teachers to identify key roles for
volunteers to assist with key curriculum goals (e.g., literacy),
class field trips or special events - parents who want to volunteer
want to know how they can help |
| Field trip supervisors |
| Class readers |
| Math or Science helpers |
| Library or office assistance |
| Establish a joint parent/teacher leadership
team to coordinate volunteering activities within the school |
| Hold volunteer meetings separately from the
school council (many volunteers are not interested in school council
issues) |
Board level and school level
| Leverage resources from Volunteer Canada,
including the Canadian Code for Volunteering to assist in creating
rewarding experiences for school volunteers |
|
|
Fundraising
Strategic Intent:
Enhance the financial resources of the school with
additional funds to:
| Support student learning through support for
the school plan for continuous improvement |
| Provide additional educational resources or
opportunities for teachers, students and parents |
| Support children and families with programs to
enhance a healthy learning environment |
Focus on raising money for a specific
purpose, which brings meaning to a fundraising drive - and helps
avoid conflicts over how to spend the money after it is raised.
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More elementary than secondary
| Invest in education program (a one-time annual
contribution rather than a continuous stream of piecemeal
fundraising initiatives) |
| Magazine sales |
| Book fairs |
| Flower or tree sales |
| Bake sales |
| Organized charity events such as Jump Rope for
Heart, Hoops for Heart, the Terry Fox Run |
| Hot lunch programs (which can also double as a
service to parents and to children within the school) |
| Golf tournaments |
| School events |
| Guest speakers (can be no charge, cost
recovery, or profit making) |
| Easter egg hunts |
| Fireworks displays |
|
|
Participating in decision
making
Stimulate a sense of partnership and ownership in
decisions that support students and the school by:
| Providing parents with the timely information
they need to make decisions or assist their children with decisions
regarding school affairs |
| Establishing conditions for an effective
school council |
| Inviting parents and the community into a
dialogue on major issues or decisions facing students or the school |
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Elementary and Secondary
| Provide parents with the information they need
to make informed decisions with or for their children |
Create conditions for an effective school
council
| Council training sessions |
| Planning nights |
| Guest speakers |
| Share school budget information |
| Share the school plan for continuous
improvement, seek input and the support of the council |
| Encourage school council members to network
with others in the board or elsewhere in the province |
| Encourage skills in teamwork |
| Establish a method for resolving conflicts |
| Build the skills of the school councils and parent leaders to
reach out to other parents |
|
|
Leveraging community
Strategic Intent:
Mobilize community resources to enhance student
learning and:
| Help address task of teaching all students
within a community environment |
| Foster community responsibility, participation
and interaction |
| Embed the school as an increasingly integrated
part of the community |
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Elementary and Secondary
| Seek out community resources helpful to the
school to support curriculum, fundraising or to become more
integrated within the community |
| Bring organizers of community groups and clubs
and providers of learning opportunities to the school for a
“community fair” event |
| Bring a Junior Achievers program into the
school |
| Establish a music lesson service through the
school |
| Encourage parents to take advantage of
community sports teams, clubs, Cubs, Scouts, Brownies, Guides,
Sparks, Beavers, church groups |
| Fill the Community Representative position on
the school council |
| Bring local business owners into school events |
| Form relationships with local services, eg. Police,
Firefighters, Ambulance Services and have them speak to students
before there are emergencies |
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