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You
are here: Who Needs Parents Anyway?
A big question in our current educational system is the importance of parents in the educational process of children. Are they really important? The question brings back memories of my coaching days. I remember reading in a coaching magazine about a frustrated head coach who was resigning his position. He was so upset by perceived lack of support from his athletes' parents that he decided to retire. I'll never forget his last remarks." The only way I will coach again is when I coach a team of orphans!"
I am sure for that resigning coach the statement, "Who needs parents anyway?" goes a long way. But, in reality there is current research that demonstrates the need for strong parental involvement, for example, the work of Henderson and Mapp that appeared in 2002. The website www.projectappleseed.org also speaks to the importance of parental involvement. The following comment from the Project Appleseed site speaks to why it is so important to have parents involved in the education of their children:
We know that 91% of a child's time from birth to age 18 is spent outside of school. Once students start school, 70% of their waking hours are spent outside of school. America's youth have a great deal of discretionary time. 60% of an adolescent's waking hours are committed to such essentials as school, homework, eating, chores, and employment; 40% of their time is considered to be discretionary. With so little time spent in the classroom it is clear that parental involvement is the primary factor in the educational success.
Parental involvement is an important factor, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it is the primary factor. By doing so we would minimize the importance of the educator who is equally critical and, please, let's not forget the students who, themselves, have some say in their future. Educators need to look in a balanced way at how to educate a child. If we were to develop a math formula to clarify this task, it might look like this: Parent + Student + Teacher = Academic Success.
So how does a school go about trying solve the basic math problem of involving parent, student, and teacher into a working team that will achieve academic success? The answer is . . . one student, one parent, and one teacher at a time.
Granger High School is located in the Yakima Valley of Washington State. The student body includes 90 percent students of color with 83 percent poverty. But we expect 100 percent of our students to succeed. Our school is currently in the process of using the above math formula to help our students reach academic success. We started the process seven years ago when only 23 percent of our parents attended parent/teacher conferences. Currently, we are striving to reach 100 percent for the fifth year in a row.
Do parents + students+ teachers working together make a difference? The following table speaks to the difference and includes WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) test scores:
People ask me "How do you get 100 percent of your parents to be part of a child's education?" My standard answer is always "One student at a time." They look at me skeptically, and don't understand. I have my secretary show them the sign- in sheets that documents parent participation. This skepticism is the reason why I chose to write this article. My goal is for other people to understand that it is possible to involve parents in a meaningful manner that will make a difference in a child's education. The rest of this article briefly explains the primary processes we have used to work out our math formula – how we have been able to accomplish our current engagement of parents (and students) in the educational process
The main part of the process is to find a way to establish a relationship with your own students and parents. Examine most current system and you might find the following counselor to student ratio (400 to 1); teacher to student ratio (180 to 1); and administrator to student ratio (400 to 1). If you were to ask coaches if they would be willing to coach 180 to 400 athletes, I think you probably know their answer.
It is amazing to me to hear people complaining, and asking why a counselor is not doing enough, or a teacher is not doing enough to meet the needs of individual students. If we truly look at how the majority of our public schools are structured, we have the answer to our dilemma. Our schools need to reorganize our systems to get down to a more manageable and realistic advising number.
Establishing a true academic relationship with a student and parent has been accomplished at our school by rearranging our system to a manageable 20 to 1 ratio. We divide all our students by the number of certificated staff members available. And when I say all certificated staff that includes me, the principal. We are each responsible for 20 students. The only certificated staff member who in not in charge of 20 students is our counselor.
The counselor does not have a group of students because he is in charge of the whole program. The counselor basically serves as the head counselor of all the teachers/advisors/quasi -counselors. Please understand that the teachers/advisors/ quasi- counselors are one and the same.
In order to better explain the system I need to start from the beginning. We start by breaking the 8th grade class into heterogeneous reading groups of twenty and then assigning a high school advisor to them. Assignment by reading level is important because it ensures a blend of students in each advisory. In the spring of their 8th grade year a meeting is scheduled by the advisor with each student and parents. My charge to the advisors is that they will meet with all 20 students and their parents in a 30-minute meeting that will be meaningful and scripted. During that meeting a personalized education plan will be developed that involves the student, parent, and advisor. This is a good place and time to make use of our state -mandated student-learning plans.
The advisor will then keep the same 20 students as advisees for the next four year. They will meet with them four days a week for 30 minutes a day. (On the fifth day we schedule early release for staff development.) So what happens during the 30-minute period of time, four days a week? There is no secret to success; My charge to my staff is that they will work with their students as if they were their very own children. In addition, the staff knows that they need to keep track of their students' grades, attendance, and help them find a career goal. At the same time, students are expected to work hard at improving their academic skills.
The advisory time is also used for assemblies, career exploration, college presentations and other activities that will benefit the students. Advisors help the students develop their class schedules, which then must be approved by the head counselor and parent. We believe this is how you establish a true partnership with parents and students.
Working with students and parents for four years definitely does the job of establishing meaningful relationships. It also brings out the fact that personalities can some times get in the way of establishing a strong team effort. Therefore, we have a policy that lets students and advisors, by mutual agreement, request a "trade" if they believe that strong academic achievement is not being reached.
We have adopted a few additional strategies to help students achieve academic success. For example, we now have a policy that allows students to retake tests if needed. At the same time, we have adopted a policy expecting all students to achieve at or above a C grade. Our goal is that 100 percent of our students will be supported to achieve to their fullest potential. Working together as a team --parent+ student+ teacher = academic success-- will ensure a bright future for all students.
References
Henderson, A. T., Mapp, K. L., 2002 A New Wave of Evidence, The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement. Austin, TX: National Center of Family & Community Connections with Schools: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
http://www.projectappleseed.org/
Richard Esparza is the Principal of Granger High School in Yakima, Washington. Granger High was recently selected as the model high school for Washington State, based on its improvements in academic achievement and strong family involvement. Email him at Esparzar@gsd.wednet.edu.
©January 2006 New Horizons for Learning
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