Better Bridges: Improving Parent Involvement for Struggling Families

Better Bridges: Improving Parent Involvement for Struggling Families in the New York City Department

of Education

May 14, 2013

Vandeen Campbell PhD Student of Sociology

The Graduate Center, CUNY 365 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10016 [email protected]

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Introduction

As a New York City Department of Education teacher in a struggling school district, I

have closely noted the issues of parents. Parents care about their children’s education. But there

are several points of difficulty that prevent parents’ general care for their children to translate

into actions that yield educational success. With increasing complexity in the public education

system, low-income parents are often disenfranchised.1 They are often not savvy about the

important questions to ask, and how to hold schools and the system accountable for their

children’s education. There is an information divide. A second issue is the weight of poverty and

economic struggle that limit parents’ ability to be frequently and meaningfully involved.2

Thirdly, there is cultural divide, often linked to differing conceptualizations of the education

process. This cultural divide is also connected to the mechanism of concentrated poverty where

destructive practices become normalized as a result of economic crisis, crime and violence,

deprivation, and social isolation. These are complex problems for many inner city communities.

To what, for example, do we attribute students not having supplies for school, not

completing homework, or not having the behavioral approaches necessary to undertake focused

work? These may appear trivial, but think about a scenario where students in a classroom

overwhelmingly have no sharpened pencils and spend valuable work time acquiring a pencil.

This creates a disruptive culture in the classroom. Such realities reflect entrenched issues of

families’ prioritizing. They are indicators of barriers to learning and multiplicatively account for

enormous gaps in learning. I would argue that overcoming these issues are the prerequisites for

parents to have real voice and be truly involved. Therefore, it is imperative that the New York

1 Joan Hanafin and Anne Lynch (2002). “Peripheral voices: parental involvement, social class, and educational disadvantage.” British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23 (1), 35-49. 2Carey Cooper et al. (2010). "Poverty, race, and parental involvement during the transition to elementary school." Journal of Family Issues, 31(7), 859-883.

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City Department of Education (NYCDOE) deliberately promotes initiatives and policies that are

better bridges between struggling families and educational success.

This is not another note of victimizing low income families but one of empowerment as

bridges are erected to help families overcome profound challenges. This paper offers

recommendations for the new mayor and chancellor to strengthen parent involvement. To be

clear, the recommendations specifically target struggling schools that serve low income families.

Current NYCDOE Regulations, Initiatives, and Policies

The Division of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) is the primary NYCDOE

department overseeing parent involvement programs and responding the parents’ concerns. Most

of the programs discussed below belong to this division. In addition, parents can communicate

with the parent coordinators (a position established during Bloomberg’s administration) in their

schools and raise issues. The parent coordinator works with school principals to support parents

and involve them in the school community3.

Opportunities for Parent Leadership

Beyond FACE and the parent coordinator, parents have other opportunities to influence

school policy and practice.4 In the Chancellor’s Regulations, “The chancellor recognizes that

parent leadership is the cornerstone of successful public schools. School officials’ oversight of

parent associations or parent teacher associations (PA/PTAs) and President Councils is limited to

what is necessary to implement and enforce laws, policies, rules, and regulations and to protect

3 http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/FACE/default.htm 4 There is current criticism of Mayor Bloomberg and his chancellors’ multiple reorganization of the NYCDOE. Critics argue that parent voice has been silenced given the centralization of power. This discussion is beyond the scope of this paper. This discussion examines the stated goal of each program or document.

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the rights of students, parents, and staff”.5 The Chancellor’s Regulations on parent organizations

have created a space for parents to become leaders in schools. Whereas Section A660 offers rules

on how to operate parent associations, there are no regulations addressing or anticipating the

need to address deeper parent involvement issues.

The regulations however provide an illustrative list of topics for quarterly meetings

between the PA/PTA executive board and the principal.6 In consultation with the principal, the

regulation recommends topics such as setting school and PA/PTA goals, planning fundraising

activities, and reviewing interim and Annual Financial Reports. Although vague, the clause “to

set school and PA/PTA goals” places the onus of action on the specific officers in the parent

association, the principal, and the vision they create. One goal could purpose that the school and

the PA/PTA will deliberately pursue policies that help parents become involved. In sum, the

chancellor’s regulations allow parents to truly be engaged if they choose. It gives parent

associations the space to operate, adequate rights, and establishes mechanisms for support from

the school and the principal. For example, the regulations state that PA/PTAs must elect parent

representatives to serve on the School Leadership Team (SLT) as full members of the team.

Other opportunity for parent leadership is provided through the Presidents’ Councils

which “are independent parent leadership organizations that empower parents and provide

assistance to PA/PTAs on a district, borough, or citywide level”.7 President’s Councils

representing school districts, for example, are organized to include one representative from each

PA/PTA in the district and operate under similar conditions as the PA/PTA. As parents are

involved in the PA/PTA, their voices are heard in the Presidents’ Council. Finally, the

regulations also establish a chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council (CPAC). CPAC “is a citywide 5 Chancellor’s Regulations A660, June 27, 2012 6 Section I.G.2.b, p. 12 7 Section II, p. 16

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organization that advises the chancellor on issues of importance to parents that affect New York

City public school students”.8 CPAC also supports Presidents’ Councils by providing

information on important issues affecting the schools and guidance in the development of local

parent leadership.

Community and Citywide Councils

Other opportunities for parent leadership are the community and citywide councils.

Community Education Councils (CEC) represents a community school district that includes

public elementary, intermediate, and junior high schools. There are also citywide councils on

special education (CCSE), English language learners (CCELL), high schools (CCHS), and

District 75 (CCHS). In each council, the greater proportions of voting members are parents. Of

the eleven voting members in each CEC, for example, nine are parents. The councils have an

obligation to consult and communicate with parents through widely-advertised monthly public

meetings and in consultation with their constituent PA/PTAs on at least a quarterly basis. In

addition, it is the responsibility of CECs to advocate on behalf of district schools regarding

educational issues that impact the district and maximize local opportunities for parent

involvement. Councils can accomplish this by having public discussions through public hearings

and liaising with school leadership teams9.

The councils hold extremely important powers and duties. CECs, for example, approve

zoning lines, hold public hearings on the district’s annual capacity plan, submit a plan to the

chancellor, and prepare a district report card. CCELLs and CCSEs make recommendations for

8 Section II. F 9 http://www.learndoe.org/face/files/2012/10/CCEC-ROLES-AND-RESPONSIBILITIES-webinar.pdf

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special education and English as a second language (ESL) programs. These bodies are essential

checks and balance to the NYCDOE and parents have direct influence upon them. Further, laws

such as Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Public Officers Law, Open Meetings Law, and the

Chancellor’s Regulations ensure that these councils remain democratic. To summarize, Figure 1

below shows the context within which parent involvement is located. It demonstrates that parents

have the opportunity to be involved in decisions affecting their children. But do they get

involved? Or can they be involved?

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Figure 1. Current Context of Parent Leadership in the NYCDOE

Schools serving students with

parent coordinators

PA/PTA Associations

Parents of students/ direct

contact to FACE

CECs

CPACs Presidents’

Councils with representative from PA/PTAs

Chancellor

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The NYCDOE Parent Academy The NYCDOE’s Parent Academy is an essential part of the DOE’s parent involvement

plan. It “is a collaborative citywide program dedicated to supporting student achievement by

creating and enhancing partnerships within school communities and strengthening parent

involvement.10 The Parent Academy’s main goal is to get parents involved in school processes

and to guide parents to better support their child’s learning at home. This initiative is funded

through a three year grant from Title I funds. It is targeted to recruit 80-100 schools. To date, the

Academy has recruited 160 schools, and engaged about 1,800 families and 300 staff members.11

Parent involvement is achieved through two components—citywide training sessions

spread across the boroughs for parents, and school-based training sessions for staff. The parent

workshops cover topics such as how to get the most out of parent-teacher conferences, strategies

for working within a team (for example IEP or School Leadership Teams), identifying resources

to support the child’s learning, the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS), college and

career readiness, understanding special education, and technology training. The Academy also

allows parents to set the priorities at the workshops. Its ultimate goal is to establish a parent

university of support services such as offering credentials and help with financial issues.

The Parent Academy is a valuable resource that the NYCDOE has initiated because it

targets Title I schools. Generally, it is a bridge at the interface between families and a complex

educational organization. Nevertheless, it has reached too few families relative to the hundreds

of thousands that need this type of training. It is also limited because it is a citywide initiative

and sustainability becomes an issue. In addition, since it is funded through a time-bounded grant,

continuity and scaling up of the program is questionable.

10 http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/FACE/parentacademy/ParentWorkshops/default.htm 11 NYCDOE Parent Academy source

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More importantly, large proportions of parents from low-income backgrounds struggle

with harnessing fundamental parenting practices that promote success. These include the

language and nature of conversation with the child, prioritizing academic achievement, and

taking advantage of the rich learning resources throughout the city (for example, museums, zoos,

and historical cites). I would argue that parents in these situations are not in a position to

capitalize of parent leadership opportunities or citywide programs such as the Parent Academy.

Other parents in the same schools, having social and cultural capitals that are beneficial for

educational success will take advantage of these opportunities to further benefit their children.12

1314Consequently, low income families struggling with effective parenting are not likely to

benefit from current NYCDOE programs. Therefore, borough-wide workshops will not get deep

enough to bridge the parent involvement gap for these families.

DOE Documents for Families

The NYCDOE has also created important documents to help keep parents informed. Two

primary documents are “Expect Success: A Family’s Guide to Preparing Students for College

and Careers” and “Partnership Standards for Schools and families.” The partnership standards

delineate the roles and responsibilities of the school and families. They establish standards for

schools to foster communication, encourage parent involvement, creating welcoming schools,

partnering for student success, and collaborating effectively.

The following are examples of activities that the standard suggests: 1) School hosts

weekly or bi-monthly meetings for the parents to sit with school and ask questions or have

12 Ralph B. McNeal Jr. (1999). “Parental involvement as social capital: Differential effectiveness on science achievement, truancy, and dropping out”. Social Forces 78 (1), 117-144. 13 Annette Lareau (2000). Home advantage: Social class and parental intervention in elementary education. Rowman & Littlefield Pub Incorporated.

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conversations about the school and student achievement. 2) School offers age appropriate

activities to get students and families college and career ready such as career days. 3) School has

a volunteer directory with names of parents who have time to give to the school. 4) School hosts

curriculum events for parents to visit classrooms, meet with staff and learn about what children

are studying. 5) School hosts community-wide events such as festivals, cultural activities,

academic fair and showcases. These are notable standards that are supported by the literature on

parent involvement.1516 But how widely are these being implemented? Are they making a

difference for families who are struggling the most to master parenting styles that yield

educational success? How strong is the bridge between the document and the reality?

Recommendations

An Aggressive Parent Involvement Initiative

To truly bridge the gap in parent involvement, the NYCDOE will need to move beyond

citywide programs and adapt an aggressive parent involvement initiative that is school-based and

specifically target parents of schools with concentrated poverty. The NYCDOE currently has

structures established to support parent leadership, supply information, and to allow motivated

parents to have a voice. But what about families who cannot overcome the trap of unsuccessful

parenting styles in order to capitalize on these opportunities? Specific policies should target this

population.

To begin, the NYCDOE should use existing measures to identify these schools.

Demographic data from the United States (US) Census can quickly identify neighborhoods in

15 National Committee for Citizens in Education Special Report (1987). “The evidence continues to grow: Parent involvement improves student achievement. An annotated bibliography.” 16 Joyce L. Epstein (2001). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools. Westview Press.

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New York City with concentrated poverty. For example, Figure 2 below shows the poorest

neighborhoods across New York City. Other NYCDOE measures such as school environments

surveys, test scores, and the school closing list can help identify schools most in need of the

program. In addition to these quantitative methods, a research team can be formed to interview

principals and teachers in these selected schools to determine if parent involvement is an

inhibiting issue. The data collected here can help define paths of action after the school is

selected. A final measure is to select Title I schools and schools that were recently listed as Title

I. Independent of the measure employed, it is important to select schools on a need basis to avoid

reinforcing existing inequalities in how resources are utilized.

Figure 2. Poverty Rate across New York City

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After selecting schools it will be necessary to create a support team for each school to

implement this intensive work. The support team may be recruited from the school and its

stakeholders. It would be comprised of reputable teachers and staff (such as school social

workers and guidance counselors) who have interest in the project, the parent coordinator, the

PA/PTA, an administrator, community leaders, and a consultant from the school’s network. It

will be important that schools are provided with the separate funds for this project.

Funding may come, for example, from monies in city and state budgets earmarked for

community-based organizations. It should neither put a strain on the school’s budget nor its

personnel. Participating staff members should be compensated appropriately. In addition,

participating schools should be incentivized and funding should be offered on a long term basis.

Although time will be needed during the regular day to collaborate with the remaining staff, this

work is mostly done outside of school hours. As a parenthetical, building a culture and buy-in

around this initiative is imperative. It cannot be another top-down bureaucratic mandate because

resistance would be inevitable.

The Initiative Described

On a grand scale, the NYCDOE17 in collaboration with the United Federation of Teachers

(UFT)18 will need to expand their community schools movement to these identified schools.

Community schools employ a “quality of experience model”19 that bring health, mental health,

educational, and financial services into the physical school space for parents and children. The

17 http://www.communityschools.org/assets/1/AssetManager/New%20York%20CAS.pdf 18 http://gothamschools.org/2012/06/27/unions-‐community-‐schools-‐initiative-‐get-‐a-‐boost-‐from-‐the-‐city/#.UW2-‐j2sta5o.email 19 Donald R. Moore (1992). The case for parent and community involvement. In Empowering teachers and parent: School restructuring through the eyes of anthropologists, G. Alfred Hess Jr. (Ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 144.

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strength of this model of education is that it brings parents into the school for services they need,

it targets sociological barriers to effective parenting, and while present parents can easily become

involved in school processes.

Success of the parent involvement initiative would require the mayor to capitalize on

mayoral control of the public school systems and knit-together the various city agencies. Such

inter-agency coordination can link families to community school events, establish sites or service

hours in the community schools, or provide human capital and experts for the initiative. Some

agencies of interest are The Mayor’s Office of Adult Education, The Public Library systems,

Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), The City University of New York (CUNY),

Department of Cultural Affairs, Center for Economic Opportunity, Department of Health and

Mental Hygiene, Department of Homeless Services, Department of Park and Recreation,

Department of Youth and Community Development, and Commission on Women’s Issues.

Undoubtedly, coordinating city agencies would require sophisticated community organizing

strategies and would be a potential obstacle.

Through this community of services at the school, parents can be offered workshops

covering topics such as how to engage their children in wholesome conversations; overcoming

language barriers through mastering code switching; the relationship between parent discipline,

emotional supportiveness and school readiness; practical ways to prioritize schools attendance

and academics; enriching the child’s mind through educational activities; and practical ways to

create a culture of learning and high expectations in the home.20 Academic and clinical experts

can be identified and recruited to work with the families.

20 William Jeynes (2010). "The salience of the subtle aspects of parental involvement and encouraging that involvement: Implications for school-based programs." The Teachers College Record, 112(3), 747-774.

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This initiative would also involve activities targeting single parents such as mommy and

daddy nights; forming a web of support groups, work groups, and reading groups to study social

issues; matching parents to support each other; targeting families in projects who often have a

distinct code of operation; early literacy and arts projects at the school and through community

organizations; bulk-purchasing of books and study materials for discounts; and frequent themed

community-wide fairs or cook-outs hosted in the school’s yard. From this platform parents can

be guided toward engaging in other forms of parent involvement such as leadership,

communicating regularly with the teacher, and attending public hearings such as the education

councils. The possibilities are endless but the vision (and funding the vision) is necessary.

Another aspect of the parent involvement initiative is to build a stronger relationship

between parents and teachers. This might involve schools subscribing to an application for parent

involvement, training teachers, and allowing them the time during the regular day to use the

application. Parent Glue21, for example, is a free application that can keep parents closely

connected with schools even when work constraints hinder their attendance. It provides weekly

emails on students’ attendance, grades, and behavior as well as provides an updated calendar.

Parents can ask questions of teachers and receive a reply through the application. Successful

implementation of such a resource could potentially improve parents’ awareness of how their

child’s performance and thus build a stronger bridge.

Since the parent involvement initiative is funded and incentivized, an accountability

structure is required. Accountability, however, cannot be repressive or punitive so that schools

work to “prove” that they are working instead of truly undertaking the initiative. To achieve

balanced accountability, reporting would occur annually. Reports would include information on

21 Parent Glue presentation: http://bit.ly/15Y7SEb. In the spirit of full disclosure, this is the product of a family member.

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the network of support organizations established and the effectiveness of the partnerships. It

would also report on events hosted for families and services offered, in addition to the attendance

at such events and use of services. Collecting data on parent-teacher communication and how it

has changed over time would be important. Further assessment from parent and teacher surveys

can capture parents’ level of satisfaction and teachers’ views of how the initiative have

contributed to student success. Assessing the initiative will be the task of the parent involvement

support team.

Summary

This paper discusses the problem of parent involvement for parents from low income

backgrounds whose children are not experiencing educational success. Parent involvement is

conceptualized as first mastering parenting approaches that foster a culture of learning; prioritize

academic and social emotional success22; and promote discipline and strong approaches to

learning. On a higher level, parent involvement is further conceptualized as parents engaging in

frequent conversations with their child’s teacher, participating in parent associations or

organizations, or parent leadership. I argue in this paper that many parents from low-income

backgrounds cannot successfully engage in the higher levels of parent involvement because they

are struggling with harnessing parenting styles and approaches that translate into educational

success.

This paper is a call to the newly elected mayor of New York City and chancellor of the

NYCDOE to implement a parent involvement initiative specifically targeting parents of children

in struggling schools with high concentration of poverty. I offer recommendations on how this

22 Nermeen El Nokali, Heather J. Bachman, and Elizabeth Votruba-Dzra (2010). "Parent involvement and children’s academic and social development in elementary school." Child Development, 81(3), 988-1005.

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parent involvement initiative may be implemented beginning with school identification and

research; capacity and culture building; activities for implementation; and assessment of the

work. Such an initiative would strive on inter-agency coordination to build a quality of

experience model for families. In addition, it would seek to build successful parenting

approaches for struggling families. Ultimately the paper is a call for a NYCDOE generated

initiative that builds better bridges between low-income families and educational success.

Better Bridges: Improving Parent Involvement for Struggling Families

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