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FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 14, 2005
New Report Provides Guidance to Principals and School Councils on How to Stimulate Parent Involvement in EducationResearch Links School Councils to Higher Rates of Parent Participation in Some Types of Involvement.Gormley, November 14, 2005 The Ontario School Council Support Centre today announced the release of a new report that provides guidance to principals and school council volunteers on how to collaborate to stimulate parental involvement. “School councils have been advised to focus on stimulating parental involvement through several provincial reports, including The Road Ahead III by the Education Improvement Commission in 1998 and the Parent Voice in Education Project released in April of this year. However, few councils have been provided with guidance on how to stimulate parental involvement.” said Gord Kerr, Executive Director of the Ontario School Council Support Centre and one of 20 parents assigned to the Parent Voice in Education Project by the Minister of Education. "The Parent Voice in Education Project report earlier this year provided guidance to the Minister and Ministry about how to provide the supporting mechanisms to further encourage parental involvement in the Province of Ontario. This report provides guidance to school leaders, including principals and school council chairs, about how to collaborate to stimulate parental involvement," Kerr noted. Research included in the report indicated a 48.7% higher rate of volunteerism where the principal and school council demonstrated an established focus on parental involvement. "This research demonstrates that when principals and school councils collaborate on parental involvement, higher rates of parental participation in education are evident," said Kerr. The report organizes various types of parent involvement into eight strategic categories and provides both the strategic intent for each category along with numerous examples of specific activities. These strategic categories include; communicating, helping at home, attending school events, building parenting skills, volunteering, fundraising, participating in decision making and leveraging community resources. “The framework is based on the work of Dr. Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University and contains a few modifications for use in Ontario,” notes Kerr. “Attending school events and fundraising were added to the framework for Ontario to recognize high levels of parent participation in these categories of involvement.” The research report also identified a large body of parents who are involved in their child’s education by supporting their children primarily at home. 60.2% of parents in the study indicated that they are primarily focused on helping their children at home, although the majority also attend parent teacher interviews or school events involving their children. “These parents are definitely involved in their children’s education, although to many, their involvement is invisible and some might consider them uninvolved,” notes Kerr. “But I disagree with that assertion, by including home support activities in our definition of parent involvement, these parents are clearly involved parents.” The report recommends that principals and school councils collaborate to provide appropriate communications and support for those parents who prefer to support their children’s education in this manner. The report found that 39.8% of parents indicate that they support their children at home and are also willing and able to take on some volunteer duties at the school by supervising field trips, helping in class, assisting with fundraising or events for students, or becoming a member of a school council. The report recommends a focus on quality volunteer management to provide a supportive and productive working environment for school volunteers. This research was completed as part of Kerr’s requirements to complete a Master of Education degree at Nipissing University and is available for download at www.schoolcouncils.net. The report will be presented at The Quest for Communities That Work, on November 17, 2005, an international educational symposium organized by the York Region District School Board,. About the Ontario School Council Support Centre The Ontario School Council Support Centre was launched in June 2001 as a privately funded research centre focused on parental involvement strategies and advancing the effectiveness of Ontario’s school council system. Much of the centre’s material was written and produced by Gord Kerr, the centre’s volunteer Executive Director, while enrolled in the Master of Education program at Nipissing University. Support Centre materials are available at www.schoolcouncils.net. About The Parent Involvement Centre The Parent Involvement Centre was launched in October 2005 to spearhead new research and disseminate best practices for stimulating helpful forms of parent involvement in education. It is designed to serve principals, teachers, parent volunteers, school councils, trustees, school boards and authorities. The Centre will seek opportunities to collaborate with universities and teachers colleges, the Ministry of Education and the private sector to stimulate the development of practical strategies, resources and ideas for use by local schools and school boards. Centre materials are available at www.parentinvolvement.ca.
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