Family EngagementTraditional vs. New Paradigms

At this Emerging Minority Leaders Conference, it is important we understand

the shift from parent involvement to family engagement. The adults who

are responsible for our children are not just the parents but all those who take

on the duties of providing for them, protecting them and making sure they are

getting a good education. Engagement implies something new, something

beyond what we meant by involvement.

Today we will make some comparisons

and contrasts but don’t take this as

negative criticism. There are many

different ways that parent involvement

has been done in our schools and in our

organizations. None of these were wrong

nor misguided. Yet if we want to look at

the idea of involvement or participation

from a different point of view, it might give

us some insights into those families who

are not active in our organizations and in

the schools their children attend.

Family Engagement:Traditional vs. New Paradigms

In this presentation, we will:

• Compare and contrast approaches for involving parents

• Review key principles of family leadership in education & illustrate them in a

Comunitario PTA

• Arrive at implications for new and emerging leaders within PTA

Setting the Learning Climate

What’s a successful experience you have

had in engaging parents in education?

Let’s review the key kinds

of activities a traditional

PTA has carried out.Voluntarism – How many of you have volunteered

at your schools?

Fundraising – Why has this been important?

Parenting – How to be a better parent. How has

your PTA supported this?

Traditional Parent Involvement

for Title I Schools

School holds informational meetings

Meetings are designed to sign-off on what the school is doing anyway

Parents serve on side or support committees

T

Title I refers to the supplemental funds provided by the U.S. Department of Education to schools serving high

numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet

challenging state academic standards

Family Leadership at IDRAActionable Data -- There are many aspects of IDRA’s approach to family leadership

but one key element is that the families are presented with data about their schools

and are asked to take action on the data. If the students are doing poorly in math, the

families investigate further into what is blocking the learning of math and what can

help students learn math.

Collective Leadership -- A second aspect is how leadership is viewed. Rather than

identifying the super-mom the approach looks toward forming community and

supporting families to take on many roles together to improve schools.

Education Projects -- Projects are taken on that focus on school policies and

practices that will have significant effect in improving schools.

IDRA Family Leadership in Education

Principles• Families are their children’s strongest advocates.

• Families of different race, ethnicity, language, and class are equally valuable.

• Families care about their children’s education and are to be treated with

respect, dignity, and value.

• Within families, many individuals play a role in the children’s education.

• Family leadership is most powerful at improving education for all children

when collective efforts create solutions for the common good.

• Families, schools, and communities, when drawn together, become a strong,

sustainable voice to protect the rights of all children.

1. Families can be their children’s

strongest advocatesThe neediest (by whatever definition) of families will

defend their children’s rights to an excellent

education… based on the natural almost universal

inclination in families to defend their children. It points

to the potential that all families have in speaking for,

defending and supporting their children.

The concept of parents as advocates has been difficult

to capture in the research and literature, especially

connecting it to student achievement. IDRA’s premise

isnot an unreal, romanticized view of the reality of our families…there are

dysfunctional families in all classes, races and communities.

Nevertheless, just as our principle about children is that all children are

valuable; none is expendable, so our view of families is that each must

be approached with respect and high expectations.

2. Families of different race, ethnicity,

language, and class are equally valuable

There is no reason to de-value (condescend, talk down to or preach to) families

because of neighborhood, home language, race or ethnicity. Each group has assets,

traditions and a language that is worthy of respect.

Our experience shows that when this principle is evident in the outreach and work

done with families, there is a marked in increase in the amount and quality of families’

engagement with their children’s schools and education.

3. Families care about their children’s education and

are to be treated with respect, dignity and value

The ‘Leave it to Beaver’ family is long gone

and really did not ever exist in many of our

neighborhoods. Latinos and others consider

education of their children a priority.

Surveys, interviews and conversations with

parents of all races, classes and national

origin have reinforced the concern that

families have for their children’s education

and the desire to be treated with respect

This almost universal concern is the critical

connection between families and schools

and a most useful basis for beginning a

dialogue and a project that engages families

more fully in the education of their children

and informs effective outreach efforts.

The extended family for many children is

their base of nurture, early learning and

support in schooling.

All families must be

approached as

intelligent caring and

willing partners in

the educational and

social success of

their children.

4. Within families, many individuals play a role in the

children’s education

As stated in the brief explanation of the use of the

word family, we acknowledge that there are many

key caretakers of children who are not genetic

parents. The combination of all who live within a

home are important influences on children and can

be a collective force for creating excellent schools.

For educators this means that rather assuming that

a biological parent will be present to design

activities for whomever arrives and rejoice in the

presence of whomever the family members are.

5. Family leadership is most powerful at improving

education for all children when collective efforts

create solutions for the common good

Families connected and united are powerful and in any

given neighborhood can continue to support strong

neighborhood public schools even as school personnel

move on and change. The individualistic, charismatic

leader model is too narrow and does not sustain

communities, families and excellent schools over time.

Assertive individuals are good sparks and energizers,

but the staying power resides in the network of families.

When families connect around the education of their

children and move to the group consciousness, they are

drawing on the combined intelligence, energy and

power to transform a school and to catalyze

administrators to raise their hopes, standards and

expectations for all children.

Collective efforts draw on the powerful roots of our democracy and are sustained

with peer compassion, cooperation and revolving spokespersons. When families

operate out of optimism, draw on individual and neighborhood assets, and move a

school to achieve new heights, all children benefit.

6. Family leadership is most powerful at improving

education for all children when collective efforts

create solutions for the common good

Our experience with school change

supports a concurrent “within and without’

process. Schools in collaboration and

connection with families and with the

broader community can excellent schools

for all children.

Transformation and improvement of

schools doesn’t last if it is only led from

within.

Families attempting to reform schools,

when only acting as an external force, no

matter how strong, rarely last beyond a

few years. When families partner with

school people and the broader community

participates, there is a greater possibility

for a sustained and positive reform of a

school.

IDRA’s Comunitario PTA model is an innovation for school-family-

community collaboration. Comunitario PTAs are affiliated with the

national PTA organization, but are based in a community organization,

rather than in a single school. And their sole purpose is to collaborate

with schools to improve the success of students in the community.

With the base of a community organization that already exists and that is

committed to serving its community, the Comunitario PTA it cultivates has

built in sustainability. Through shared revolving leadership, the

organization is not dependent on a central charismatic leader or

individual volunteers who tend to move on when their children move from

one school to another.

Our First Comunitario

PTAs• Economically disadvantaged

neighborhoods and families

• English learners

• Outlying communities

Key elements of the

Comunitario PTA• Community based

• Authentic family connections

• Actionable data projects

• Community-school peer partnerships

Comunitario PTA

Community members come

together

Comunitario PTAs are born in

their communities. They must

have a community base,

connected to a local organization

that commits to focus on

education (among its other

mission areas). Meetings are

attended by parents,

grandparents, students’ older

siblings, neighbors and all who

consider themselves custodians

of children’s academic success

and future education.

Comunitario PTA

They partner with schools

Comunitario PTAs partner with

schools in their neighborhood.

Collaboration includes co-

planning, sharing in

responsibilities for outreach and

conducting ongoing activities to

improve education in their

neighborhood public schools.

Comunitario PTA

Students excel

Comunitario PTAs carry out education

projects using actionable data. Some

group projects have included campus

visitations to introduce the new

organization, open hearings with

school board candidates, large public

events to protest cuts to the state

education budget, and surveys about

how new graduation plans are being

implemented and their impact on poor

and minority students.

Challenges & Next Steps• Starting in the community

• Forms and patterns new to PTA

• Redefining leadership

• Asset mapping

Visit the Comunitario PTA Website for more info

Intercultural Development Research Association Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, President & CEO

5815 Callaghan Road, Suite 101

San Antonio, Texas 78228

210-444-1710 • contact@idra.org

www.idra.org

Assuring educational opportunity for every child

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