Parent Involvement – A Core Educational Resource in Ontario

By Gord Kerr

On December 1, 2005, Education Minister Gerard Kennedy announced a new policy on Parent Involvement in Ontario, the formation of a new Office of Parental Engagement along with funding to support individual school councils and school boards and initiatives that foster parent involvement.   

While there are a number of details on these announcements yet to be clarified, this announcement represents a significant step forward for the education system in Ontario.  “Parents play a vital role in the development and education of their children and in the success of schools,” said Kennedy.  “We know that good schools are even better when they have engaged and involved parents – we’re setting the table for more parent participation to help reach our ambitious goals for student achievement.”

It may be easy to underestimate the significance of this new development.  After all, many parents have been involved in many ways for many years.  However, the creation of this policy formally recognizes the impact that parent involvement has on student achievement, and establishes a commitment to support, engage and monitor provincial progress in the further engagement of parents.  Parent involvement has moved from being an ‘add-on’ or an ‘optional’ resource for the education system to become a core educational resource to be supported and enhanced to further help our students succeed.

While the primary beneficiaries of helpful parent involvement are students, the Ministry also believes that the new Parent Involvement Policy will be an asset to the education system with benefits for teachers, principals, trustees and board officials.  In fact, research has identified that where strong, supportive and constructive relationships exist between parents and teachers, teachers tend to feel more supported and respected and indicate higher levels of job satisfaction.

The Minister is moving quickly to further define the policy and advance the process of implementation.  Members of the Parent Voice In Education project were recently recalled to act as members of an Interim Parent Involvement Advisory Board.  Between February and June of this year, this group will be advising Minister Kennedy and the Manager of the new Provincial Office of Parental Engagement on various elements of the new provincial policy and will help ensure continued progress towards implementation.

In his announcement on December 1, Minister Kennedy indicated that the longer term Parent Advisory Board will be representative, and that this new Board will replace the former Ontario Parent Council.  As the members of the Parent Voice in Education Project are acting as interim members, one of the issues that this group will likely deal with is how to develop a fair and transparent process for selecting new Board members.

Just prior to the Minister’s December 1 announcement, the York Region District School Board hosted a conference in Richmond Hill entitled The Quest for Communities that Work.  Much of the conference was focused on engaging parents and the community in supporting student success.  Dr. Joyce Epstein attended the York Region conference and inspired many attendees with her vast knowledge and practical approaches for engaging parents and communities in education.      

I had the privilege of presenting new research at this conference and a paper entitled Stimulating Parent Involvement to Stimulate Student Success.  The paper contains a Parent Involvement Leadership model built on the foundation of Dr. Epstein’s work and provides a strategic guide for Ontario’s principals and school councils interested in stimulating parental involvement.  The paper also highlights the need for collaboration, strategic planning and the need to remain committed over time to have an impact on stimulating parental involvement.