Collaborative Leadership in Promoting Family/Community Involvement

1. Collaborative Leadership in PromotingFamily/Community Involvement

2. Learning Outcomes • Students are able to: • Describe the importance of collaborative leadership in promoting family/community collaboration • The importance of group process in enhancing participation • Differentiate participation and collaboration according to context • Ways to promote advocacy roles among parents/community members • Discuss effective ways to deal with parents’ rights

3. Collaborative Leadership in PromotingFamily/Community Involvement • Students are able to: • Describe the importance of collaborative leadership in promoting family/community involvement • Recognize the importance of group process in the leadership process • Identify various ways to promote advocacy and governance in leadership role among parents/community members • Recognize the importance of evaluating involvement programs for improvement

4. What is Collaborative Leadership? • "...if you bring the appropriate people together in constructive ways with good information, they will create authentic visions and strategies for addressing the shared concerns of the organization or community.“ David Chrislip and Carl Larson It is a leadership of a collaborative effort

5. You are a collaborative leader once you have accepted responsibility for building - or helping to ensure the success of - a heterogeneous team to accomplish a shared purpose Hank Rubin • It is a process to guide a diverse group of people to fine solutions to complex problems that affects all of them

6. Movement Favoring Family/Community Involvement • The school-based movement of late 1960’s and 1970’s • School-based management means locating the power to make decisions about budget, personnel, and school organization and curriculum at the school level • Goals 2000 • As educational leaders in providing leadership in community or collective collaboration in site-based management of schools • Teachers need leadership skills to encourage problem solving and critical thinking when served on site-based or community-based committees • To improve academic achievement in the, particularly in poor and minority districts

7. Leadership Roles Of Administrators in Family/Community Involvement • As a morale builder Enabling staff members to feel positive, enthusiastic and secure in their work with children and parents • The development of principal-parent relationship • Program designer in implementing programs that involve parents • Program coordinator for teachers initiating family involvement programs • Developing site-base management and leading advisory councils and decision-making committees

8. Possible Roles of Parents in SchoolPrincipal’s Leadership in Making a Difference • Parents as: As spectators As temporary volunteers As volunteer resources As employed resources As policy makers As teachers of their own children

9. Continuum of Collaboration • Informing One-way communication • Involving Parents supporting agenda determined by the school staff Only limited trust exist • Engaging The stakeholders create the agenda, make decisions and then take actions • Leading Partners create a norm of engagement and all play appropriate roles and work towards a shared vision

10. The Importance Group Processes • Principals/teachers who can support and motivate group can accomplish the goals of the group without undermining the responsibilities of the participants • It helps if participants have a basic understanding of group processes and communication, whether the group is led by students, parents, principals or professionals • Parent involvement includes shared goal setting and decision making

11. Parent Education • Belief in the autonomy of parents inspires the promotion of their decision-making abilities and allows them to be full partners in the education process • Active parent collaboration means including the parents in mutual accountability – beyond the bureaucratic control

12. The Continuum of Parent Education • Parent leader with no training • Parent leader with leadership training • Parent leader with a structured curriculum • Parent leader with professional support • Professional leader with parent support • Professional teacher

13. Parent leader with no training Unstructured meetings with no goals, curriculum or trained leader • Parent leader with leadership training Meetings led by leaders to get comments, solve problem, study an issue, or become better acquainted • Parent leader with a structured curriculum Meetings led by lay leader who follow a curriculum devised by professional, such as Active Parenting, Parent Effective Training (PET)

14. Parent leader with professional support Meetings led by parent or professional that involve members and respond to their concerns with professional support. • Professional leader with parent support Meetings led by a professional, with participation by lay members • Professional teacher Meetings called, led, directed, and controlled by the professional, with members of the audience as observers only

15. Determining Needs of Families/CommunityThrough Needs Assessment • Generic Steps: • Meet with group of parents representatives of diverse ethnic/socioeconomic levels within the community • Jot down the issues that interest or concern them (brainstorming is strongly recommended) • Use reports from reports or Gallup polls to facilitate the session • Construct a need-assessment tool listing possible topics or format for parents • Formulate questionnaire and disseminate them to adults in the school/community • Choose the items that received the most requests • Develop programs to meet the needs of the community

16. Examples of Issues FromPhi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll (2001) • Lack of discipline • Lack of financial support • Fighting, violence and drugs • Overcrowded schools • The use of drugs and dope • The difficulty in obtaining high-quality teachers

17. Guidelines for Brainstorming • Choose a recorder and a facilitator • Encourage all members to contribute ideas for programs (round robin is suggested for specific reasons) • Past successful/exemplary programs can be used as guide • Write ideas on chalkboard, white board, newsprint, or OHP • Caution members not to judge any suggestions good or bad at this point • Have members choose (in writing) three to six ideas that interest them most • Develop your program from the interest that received the most votes (ranking process)

18. Problem-Solving Format • Recognition of the problem – state the problem/hypothesis Example: Does violence on the television impact our children and cause them more violence in the country? • Understand the problem • Data collection Identify resources and read them before meeting • Analysis of the problem • Conclusion and summary

19. What Are Looking For in Leadership Training? • Leader’s personality Ability to think and act quickly Ability to get along with others Respect for the opinions of others Willingness to remain in the background Freedom from prejudice • Leader’s knowledge and skills Knowledge of discussion methods Knowledge of the opinions of authorities Skills in asking questions

20. Collaboration Vs. Participation • Collaboration is a consultative process at best, where the new actors share the burden with the traditional administrators of education and help to improve conditions of the classroom teaching, to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of schools, and to deliver their services, without becoming quite a partner in the process

21. Participation would add ‘intervention’ into the process – the ability to get involved in governance, policy and administration; to serve as equal partner in planning, managing, and evaluation, and to gain power (empowerment) through the process

22. Levels of Collaboration/Participation • Parent as active partner and educational leader at home and at school • Parent as decision maker • Parent as advocate for the school • Parent actively involved as volunteer or paid employee • Parent as a liaison between school home and school to support homework • Parent as supporter of the educational goals of the school • Parent as recipient of education and support • Parent as member of parent educational classes • Parent as representative and activist in the community From low to high

23. Conditions and Factors Facilitating Collaboration • Organizational norms Open and ready for change Higher level of commitment to change Trust and support NGO/other agencies activities • Structures and procedures Decentralization and local autonomy to adapt Committees and councils A focus on process Publicity • Knowledge, skills and attitude

24. Characteristics of Effective Collaboration • Principals, teachers, child-care providers, staff, and parents who believe in parent/family involvement • School and child-care centers that encourage parent collaboration by encouraging parents to participate at the level that best fits their interests and time • An open-door policy and climate that respond to parent concerns with effective communication • Children, new to the school or center, are paired with a classmate to help the new child become a class member more easily • Conferences are held at times that make it possible and convenient for parents to attend • A feeling of family, schools, center, and community joined together in a collaborative manner to support children’s health and educational growth

25. Problems of Collaboration • A lack of resources in terms of finances, personnel, labor and time • The inability or resistance of institutions and individuals to change • Organizational and administrative obstacles • Political and cultural constraints • Inherent weaknesses of other partners • The surrender of education to schools • The lack of standard and invariable approaches to collaboration

26. Research Findings by McLaughlin and Shield, 1987) • The general conclusion is that most strategies for parent involvement have not been carried out as they were intended. Parent advisory councils have been pro forma, giving parents little genuine involvement in the decision-making processes … The hesitancy of school administrators to establish meaningful advisory roles for parents. Low income parents have shown themselves unwilling to serve on ‘paper councils’ or to spend time in non-substantive roles

27. Implications from Jennifer Wee’s Study • The lack of school-based parent involvement practices suggests that schools need to take leadership role in soliciting and involving parents in the various parent involvement programs

28. Rational Behind the Advocacy Move • When children perceive that the school is an extension of or substitute for their families, academic performance is enhanced • Parents’ choice among schools and school options not only improve academic achievement, but also increase parents’ satisfaction and teacher morale • Parents today are more consumer-oriented, well educated, and activist minded in their interactions with teachers and other school personnel • Advocacy, though time consuming and difficult, when supported by the best available data, is helpful to the community, parents, and schools

29. National Standards for Parent/FamilyInvolvement Programs • Standard V: School decision making and advocacy • Include parents on all decision-making and advisory committees areas such as policy, curriculum, budget, school reform initiatives, safety, and personnel. • Enable parents to participate as partners when setting school goals, developing or evaluating programs and policies, or responding to performance data • Treat parental concerns with respect and demonstrate genuine interest in developing solutions • Promote parent participation on school district, state and national committees and issues

30. Advocacy: What does it mean? • An act or process of advocating or supporting a cause of proposal (Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 2003) • Advocacy in our discussion means organized efforts and initiatives whose goals or cause is to improve services and programs for young children in general or target groups of children with defined needs • It is the act of pleading a cause and defending, endorsing, or promoting particular ideas, principles, or individuals • The range of involvement in advocacy efforts varies greatly in most school settings

31. How do you prepare yourself to playthe advocacy role for kids? (Whitebook & Ginsburg, 1984) • Know about child abuse and the rights of children • Recognize the process of social change • Become aware of the effect of technology, power, class, and race have on families in a given society • View children as the future of society and as a protected class • View child care in a positive light, as a profession with ethical guidelines • Identify the use of resources in the community, state, and nation

32. How to Provide Governance and Advocacy Roles for Parents? • Governance Roles Involve parents in student goal setting at regular parent-teacher conferences Involve parents and community members in developing the school’s mission and goals Keep parents informed of leadership opportunities on school committee and in the community Form a parent council with advisory committees to support each academic area Provide training for parent leaders in collaboration and problem-solving skills Involve the parent council in planning ways to extend learning opportunities

33. Advocacy Roles Parents provide input to policies that affect education Parents feel in control of their child’s learning environment Parents and children’s rights are protected Benefits for children and parents are linked to educational policies Educators give equal status to interaction with parents to improve educational programs Educators become aware of parent perspectives for school policy development

34. Rights, Responsibilities andAdvocacy • Rights to select their child’s education • Student records • Rights and responsibilities of students and parents Search and seizure, suspension and due process, racial discrimination, sex discrimination, children with disabilities, corporal punishment • Developing criteria together • Child advocacy • Child advocate

35. Parents’ Rights to Select Their Child Education • Use of school vouchers The voucher system allows parents to choose the school in which they enroll their child It could be a private school or a public school in or outside the family’s attendance district • Charter school Charter school may allow parents to help plan the school, determine the curriculum, and select teachers with expectation that the school will be more responsive to the parents and community • Homeschooling Most states permit parents to teach their own children, but the states have varied requirements

36. Barriers to Advocacy Efforts • Feelings of powerlessness to change anything • Lack of knowledge regarding government regulations • Fear of the political process • Lack of confidence in their own expertise • Lack of time

37. Reform Program in Kentucky • School develop a school council, composed of the principal, three teachers (elected by the school staff), and two parents selected by the school’s PTO • Among the council’s authority and discretion: Set school policy, particularly to improve student achievement Appoint both staff and principals when vacancies occur Identify and purchase needed instructional materials Identify and allocate district supply funding for student support services

38. Define and adopt policies governing curriculum, schedules, space usage, instructional planning, discipline, classroom management, extracurricular activities, technology usage, and responsibilities of all school constituents

39. Assessing and Evaluating Family-School Involvement • Definitions of evaluation: • Measuring the effectiveness, accuracy, success, or general positive gains of a process, educational program, or other initiative • To determine the worth of: to appraise (Webster’s New World Dictionary)

40. Purposes of Program Evaluation:Implications for Administrators and Teachers • Provide the administrators and teachers with feed-back about the effectiveness of a program • Effective programs can be replicated by other teachers/schools • Funding agencies need to know the program outcomes for continuation purposes (accountability issue) • Parents and families can benefit from knowing the effectiveness of these programs

41. Evaluation Process(Payne, 1994) • Stating program goals and evaluation objectives • Determining specific objectives • Planning suitable evaluation design • Selecting data-gathering methods and techniques • Collecting data • Processing, summarizing, and analyzing data • Reporting results ti appropriate individuals • Determining program effectiveness and financial feasibility