Creating Effective Parent/School Partnerships: Parents as Leaders

Creating Effective Parent/School Partnerships: Parents as Leaders Presentation to [SCHOOL NAME] [GROUP OR ORGANIZATION] [YOUR NAME] [DATE – originally presented May 2011]

Desired Outcomes: By the end of this presentation we will have: • Skills to increase parent engagement with diverse groups of parents at Longfellow. • The knowledge to work collaboratively with our school for a lasting impact on student achievement.

Purpose: To develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to be an effective parent leader at our school site and the District level.

Cross-Cultural Leadership (Diane Burbie) Tip: interact with goal of approaching each encounter with: • Awareness – what are your biases? Be aware of others. • Skill • Confidence – the goal is to put the person you are interacting with at ease.

General Approaches to Education by Cultural Groups • White – “partner with the school in the accomplishment of my child’s education.” • African American – “looking to school to have excellence. Negotiates to get in the best school possible.” • Latino – “instill how valuable education is to their children and makes sure they show up. Defers to authority.” • Asian – “instill high value of education – I’m going to test my child to see how they did and will supplement when necessary.”

Individual Parent Reactions to School vary by person’s cultural background, temperament, experiences with authority, own history in school, etc.

Levels of Trust • low level of trust – the skeptic, not emotionally distraught over breaches of trust. • continuous evaluation of trust, high willingness to rebuild trust. • high level of trust, but falls hard when that trust is breached, not very willing to rebuild.

What Parent Leaders can do: • Build relationships with all caregivers. Just smile. If people are late to a meeting, get up and invite them in, find them a seat. • Bridge differences (build on any possible points of common ground) • Motivate others – kindness affects 3 groups: the person giving, the person receiving and the people observing.

Elements of Cultural Competence • Be self-assessing • Be perceptive • Be strong in using inquiry skills • Be equipped with a broad range of communication skills • Be skillful in using recovery skills (after you or someone else has said the wrong thing) • Be prepared to use coping skills • Be a constant learner.

Clarifying Questions based on four simple principles: • It comes from genuine curiosity • It seeks information and understanding • It reserves judgment • It allows for informed decisions/conclusions

Recovery steps • Acknowledge there is a misunderstanding and/or problem • Be pro-active; don’t be defensive about mistakes • Engage in dialogue about the issue • Use an intermediary – if necessary Coping Strategies for dealing with offensive acts • Choose your battles wisely • If your level of influence is great, strategically determine what’s most critical to discuss now and what can wait for later • If your level of influence is low say/do what allows you to be true to your principles and/or beliefs without regret.

Parent Engagement: Challenges & Opportunities Facilitated by Susan Schwartz (PEN) & Tracy Mikuriya (PUSD Welcome Center)

Possible Challenges: • “A small group of parents does everything at my school.” • “Meetings are not convenient.” • “My principal has a narrow/limited definition of parent engagement.” • “There are language barriers at my school.” • “I don’t have time to be an involved parent.” • “No one told me.”

Possible Solutions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Thank you!

Creating Effective Parent/School Partnerships: Parents as Leaders