Parent/Community Resources in Hartford Public School Reform Spring 2009 Internship Summary

1. Parent/Community Resources in Hartford Public School ReformSpring 2009 Internship Summary Franci Davila and Emma Sajben Educational Studies Program Trinity College, Hartford, CT April 2009

2. How could parents be involved in facilitating their children’s academic achievement? • “It’s not about the happy-meter of adults” • Parents > mom + dad • Parent involvement ≠ parent satisfaction • Home-effect highly predictive of student achievement (Appx1)

3. Multi-tiered approach: inclusive of various stakeholders yielding a wide range of responses Response rate by schools (Appx2) Qualitative & quantitative data District documents Interviews with Central Administrators Community Organizations Focus group of parents & parent leaders Parent survey

4. Parent survey • 388 out of 1200 returned • Response rate: 32.2% • Distributed to • 4 schools • 4 OPMAD – Schools • PTO Presidents • Non-representative sample

5. Central resources provided by the district to support student achievement Welcome Center Percent of parents who have never received information from the Welcome Center (Appx3) Mediator between the district and the schools Limited resources to establish a systemic family-school/district relationship 55.8% of surveyed parents do not know of the Welcome Center (Appx3)

6. What resources are available at the school level? F(amily)R(esource)A(id) P(arent)T(eacher)O(rganization) FRA does not provide consistent resources across different schools (Appx4.1) The wide range of responsibilities shift the focus from family/community engagement Parents affiliated with the PTO tend to be more informed of district policies (Appx4.2) Could be a good channel for communicating with parents but this relationship lacks trust and is inconsistent

7. What resource do parents use at the school level? • Teachers • 78% of parents turn to the teacher when a problem occurs • First and only access point for parents in the schools • Teachers’ primary focus is student achievement and cannot be expected to be the primary resource for parents

8. How do community organizations facilitate parents in supporting student achievement? • Provide supplementary services that the district is unable to provide • Serve as an agent for Parental Engagement • OPMAD parents are more likely to volunteer (46%) than other parents (34%) • Weak district-community partnership • few initiatives • need to update CO-database

9. Implication #1 More effective ways of connecting parents with resources to support their child`s achievement

10. Implication #2 • Re-establishment of “relational trust” (Bryk & Schneider*) • Community Organizations (e.g.: panel discussion, conference on shared responsibility, cooperation) • Parents (e.g.: newspaper column, blog, suggestion box etc.) • PTO (e.g.: more frequent attendance at monthly meetings) *Bryk, A. & Schneider, B. (2002) Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. New York: Russell Sage Foundation

11. Implication #3 • More transparent structure of family/community engagement • Comer model – a compelling, well-researched structural model (Appx6) • Basic structure: three-level system of interconnected teams involving teachers, parents and administrators • HPS piecemeal elements (e.g.: future SGCs, PTO, FRA) • Guiding principals: no fault principle, consensus decision-making, collaboration

12. Implication #4 There’s a need for a consistent, concerted vision for family/community outreach

13. Appendix #1 - References Abt Associates. (2001). National evaluation of family support programs. Final report volume B: Research studies. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates. Barton, A. C., Drake, C., Perez, J. G., St.Louis, K., & George, M. (2004). Ecologies of Parental Engagement in Urban Education. Educational Researcher, 33, 3-12. Comer, J. P. & Haynes, N. M. (1991). Parent involvement in schools: An ecological approach. The Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 271-277. Epstein, J. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships. Boulder: Westview Press. Gibson, M.A. (2002). The new Latino diaspora and educational policy. In S. Wortham, E.G. Murillo, & E.T. Hamann (Eds.), Education in the new Latino diaspora: Policy and the politics of identity. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing. Gold, E., Simon, E., & Brown, C. (2005). A New Conception of Parent Engagement: Community Organizing for School Reform. In F.W.English (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of Educational Leadership: Advances in Theory, Research, and Practice (pp. 237-268). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Harvard Family Research Project – Family Involvement Resources and Publications: http://www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/publications-resources?topic=12 Jeynes, William H. (2005). Parental Involvement and Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis. Harvard Family Research Project, http://www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/publications-resources/parental-involvement-and-student-achievement-a-meta-analysis, retrieved January 10, 2008. Henderson, A.T., and Mapp, K.L. (2002). A new wave of evidence: The impact on school, family, and community connections on student achievement. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory: Austin, TX. Institute for Responsive Education. (2003). Parent Leadership Exchange: Three-year evaluation report. Boston. www.responsiveeducation.org/pdf/pleFinalReport.pdf

14. Appendix #2

15. Appendix #3 • Do you know about..?

16. Appendix #4.1 How often do you get information from the FRA? Which school does your child attend * How often do you get information from Family Resource Aide? Crosstabulation

17. Appendix #4.2 How many times have you gone to parent meetings? * Do you know about your school`s score on CMT? Crosstabulation How many times have you gone to parent meetings? * Do you know about the Board`s Welcome Center? Crosstabulation

18. Appendix #5

19. Appendix #6 • "The Comer Process provides a structure as well as a process for mobilizing adults to support students' learning and overall development." • - Systemic reform program as well as school reform program • - Recognizes many barriers to parental involvement that are directly relevant to Hartford population • Role of parents in Comer model: • Level 1: Parents provide general support and participate in a variety of activities designed to stimulate their interest in the school. • Level 2: Parents are involved as volunteers in daily school affairs. • Level 3: Parents participate in school decision making by serving on the School Planning and Management Team(SPMT). 

20. Appendix #7

21. Appendix #8