Manageable school size allows teachers to focus more effectively on students and to collaborate with parents to improve student outcomes. According to Kathleen Cotton, "The higher rates of parent involvement in smaller schools is frequently cited as a major positive influence on student achievement and attitudes." The National Network of Partnership Schools outlines Six Types of Parental Involvement that enhance student outcomes:
1) Assisting with parenting skills,
2) Communicating about student progress,
3) Involving families as volunteers,
4) Involving families with learning at home,
5) Sharing decision making with families, and
1) Assisting with parenting skills,
2) Communicating about student progress,
3) Involving families as volunteers,
4) Involving families with learning at home,
5) Sharing decision making with families, and
6) Collaborating with the community.
At the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (MET), in Providence, Rhode Island, parents help plan their child’s individual Learning Through Internship, help assess student exhibitions three times yearly, and assist new parents in understanding school practices. Many serve as workplace mentors. From their experiences, Elayne Walker of the Big Picture Company, has developed Ten Principles of Parent Engagement:
1) Assume the parents are caring and concerned about their child’s education and welfare,
1) Assume the parents are caring and concerned about their child’s education and welfare,
2) Acknowledge and use as a resource the fact that parents are the child’s first teacher, and encourage that dynamic in their education at school and at home,
3) Recruit families to enroll in your school and involve other family members in student work,
4) Make a commitment on both sides that school personnel and parents will work with each other at set intervals,
5) Vary the opportunities to involve families, and communicate a menu of opportunities,
6) Accept suggestions for parent-driven ideas and activities, and support them whether they happen or not,
7) Develop a database that lets you know the profile of all your families, individually
4) Make a commitment on both sides that school personnel and parents will work with each other at set intervals,
5) Vary the opportunities to involve families, and communicate a menu of opportunities,
6) Accept suggestions for parent-driven ideas and activities, and support them whether they happen or not,
7) Develop a database that lets you know the profile of all your families, individually
and collectively,
8) Allow parents to create a presence in the school,
9) Make clear the principal’s expectations in regard to family engagement, and
10) At the end of the school year, introduce the concepts for family engagement for
the following year.
