Parents Lend Support: Involvement Of Family Helps Children Succeed

By Lyn Jerde

Written for News & Views

"What did you do in school today?” Some might ask Betty Kruse if it’s even necessary for her to pose that question to her 7-year-old son, Branden.

As co-president of the Parent-Teacher Association at Madison’s Charles Lindbergh Elementary School, Kruse spends more hours at school than she can count.

Yet, she asks the question every day. That’s partly because her volunteer work at Lindbergh usually doesn’t take her into Branden’s 1st-grade classroom. But it’s mainly because she believes asking children about school — and listening in detail to their stories about the classroom, lunchroom and playground — are vital forms of parental involvement.

What’s more, even the busiest mom or dad can make that simple question the stepping stone to their hands-on involvement in their child’s education.

Every parent can help

“Yes, there are some parents in our school who work full time, and it’s harder for them to come to the school during the school day,” said Kruse, who shares the Lindbergh PTA leadership duties with Stacie Meyer.

“But there’s always something a parent can do. Drop your child off at school and pick him up. Talk every day about what happens in school.”

Nearly every study of parental involvement in education bears out what Kruse knows instinctively — pupils, and their schools, benefit whenever parents and other adults take an active interest in children’s education.

A comprehensive summary of research can be found in three works by Anne Henderson and Nancy Berla: “The Evidence Grows” (1981), “The Evidence Continues to Grow” (1987) and “A New Generation of Evidence: The Family is Critical to Student Achievement” (1995).

The approximately 85 studies examined in these three volumes show conclusively:

• Student achievement improves with parental involvement, regardless of socio-economic status, ethnic/racial background, or the parents’ education level.
• The more extensive a parent’s involvement, the higher a student will achieve.
• Grades and test scores improve as a result of adult involvement in a child’s education.
• Parental involvement leads pupils to more positive and responsible behavior, including more consistency in completing homework assignments.
• Students with involved parents have more positive attitudes about themselves — and are less likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs.
• Students with involved parents have higher graduation rates, and greater enrollment rates in post-secondary education.

Overcoming barriers

Jane Grinde, director of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Bright Beginnings program, said all this might seem like common sense.

“But I’m a parent, too,” she said, “and I would be the first to admit that it can be very, very challenging for a parent to become involved in a child’s education.”

Some of the common barriers to parental involvement, according to Grinde, include:

• Intimidation. Parents may feel uneasy entering the child’s school or talking to the teacher. Maybe the parent had unpleasant experiences in school as a child. Maybe the parent is afraid that the teacher might retaliate against the child if the parent expresses education-related concerns.
• Insufficient communication from teachers and administrators. “Sometimes they think it’s enough to send home notes and newsletters with the children — and they assume that the parents read every word,” Grinde said.
• Work schedules. More and more parents have full-time jobs. This is challenging enough for a family with two working parents; for single parents who work full time, the difficulty can seem almost insurmountable.
• Time demands from other sources. If children are involved in after-school sports, lessons, activities or clubs, this often leaves little time for parents to focus on what’s happening at the child’s school. Time, said Kruse, is probably the single most formidable challenge to encouraging involvement.

Setting priorities

“There are just too many things going on nowadays,” she said. “And I think all these demands on time cause a lot of stress in many households.”

That’s why Kruse has made a conscious decision to devote time to her children’s schools while they are still in school.

And, Kruse said, she is deferring personal interests until her children are no longer in school.

“I know people might tell me I’m crazy,” she said, “but I enjoy my kids, and they are what’s important to me. Of course I want to be involved with them. That’s why I had them.”

The involvement started when her daughter, Daniele, now 12, began 1st grade at Lindbergh. Daniele is now in 7th grade at Black Hawk Middle School.

Kruse would, from time to time, come to the kindergarten room on Fridays to read aloud to the pupils.

There are many ways for parents to participate in their children’s education. They include helping with homework, attending parent-teacher conferences, volunteering in the classroom, and helping in the kitchen. Three parents at Lindbergh Elementary School in Madison are involved in the School Improvement Planning Team, which meets regularly after-hours in the school library to discuss ways to improve the achievement of students. This meeting is facilitated by Kathy Lyngaas (right), of the school district’s Staff and Organization Development Department. Others at the meeting include Principal Allen Pease, school staff, and three parents seated in the back to the right. They are Debbie Hoffman (dark blue), Betty Kruse (light blue sweater) and Laura Fenley (back right). To the right, they share thoughts on why they are involved in the planning team meetings. Debbie Hoffman Daughter: Courtney, 3rd grade “I feel parents have a very important role in their children’s education. By being part of this committee, I hope I can help make the Lindbergh students’ learning experience the best it can be.” Betty Kruse Son, Branden, 1st grade “I like to be involved with my children’s education. I feel by parents being involved, it helps our teachers realize how important they are as well as how important we believe our children’s education is.” Laura Fenley Son, Stephen, 3rd grade “My son’s education is a partnership type effort between our home and his school. My involvement in his school is vital to the success of that partnership. I hope to be able to use that partnership to improve the school for his sake and the sake of the other students.”

Later, she tutored kindergartners, helping the children with a simple journaling project that required them to draw a picture daily of something that was happening in their lives — then, gradually, the kindergartners’ journals would include simple words and sentences.

These days, she helps train Lindbergh pupils in conflict resolution.

The project is an offshoot of her occupation. As a paralegal in the Wisconsin Department of Justice (part time, so she can have time for school involvement), Kruse handles the notices that people are required to file whenever they’re considering suing a state employee.

Helping resolve conflicts

Two to three years ago, she and some Lindbergh teachers received training from the Department of Justice about how to teach elementary school pupils to resolve conflicts peacefully.

For example, students with a playground dispute can file a written complaint. Then, trained students (with an adult in the background) can help the students discuss and resolve their conflict.

Allen Pease, principal at Lindbergh, praised Kruse’s creativity at applying her life experience to school involvement.

But, he added, any adult can get involved at Lindbergh — and many do.

For example, the school has an active School Improvement Planning group, in which parents help set goals for students, such as improving reading skills and increasing safety.

Then, there’s Popcorn Day.

Every Friday, a parent pops corn — and the scents of salt and butter waft from the cafeteria to the classrooms.

At lunchtime, children can buy a bag of popcorn for 25 cents. Proceeds go to the PTA, but Pease said Popcorn Day is much more than a money-maker.

“It’s a treat that the kids look forward to,” he said. “And, some of these parents will take a day off from work just so they can come in and pop the corn.”

However, for every adult who’s involved in schools, there are several who are not.

Not just for parents

Winnie Doxsie, of Appleton, Wisconsin PTA president, said her organization is striving for more involvement in the schools, not just from parents, but also from grandparents, business leaders and childless adults — anyone willing to help.

“The parents who are naturally inclined to be involved will be there,” she said. “The challenge is involving those who are less likely to be involved.”

Among these are single parents from “working poor” families, who are employed and still barely surviving financially. These parents may want to be involved, she said, but may be overwhelmed with demands on their time.

And, Doxsie said, there are first-generation Americans who may come from cultures where parents do not typically get directly involved in their children’s schooling.

These, and all parents, need to feel welcomed at school. Often, however, they’re intimidated.

Doxsie said she’s visited schools with prominent signs directing visitors to report to the office — but no directional signs to point out where the office is located.

Avoiding intimidation

“I’m an assertive parent, accustomed to visiting unfamiliar schools,” she said. “If I feel intimidated, I can understand why other parents might feel so uncomfortable they’ll just walk out.”

Both Doxsie and Grinde praise schools that have set aside space for a “parents’ room,” and have hired a parent to be a liaison between the school’s teachers and parents.

These rooms can include resources to help parents encourage their children’s learning. More importantly, they can offer a comfortable space for parents visiting their child’s school.

The liaison can offer parents advice on how to address common problems, and put them in contact with teachers.

Even schools without liaisons can improve their family-friendliness, Grinde said.

“Each classroom should have a phone. Each teacher should have e-mail. A parent can get frustrated if he or she wants to get in touch with a teacher, then has to call the office and wait for the teacher to call back,” she said.

It’s also vital, said Doxsie, that each school’s administration say, very clearly, that a parent’s contact with the teacher will not result in retaliation against the child.

Smaller classes help too

Schools also can improve parental involvement, she said, by having smaller class sizes, which make it easier for the teacher to know all pupils, and their families, in depth.

“Teachers work so hard,” Doxsie said. “I know that so many of them wonder how we in the community can help teachers and families. But there are so many wonderful examples of school-community partnerships that are working well.”

• What exactly is parental involvement in education?

Posted January 18, 2000