From September 2011 edition of Wisconsin E-Brief for Partnership Schools (or WISE Brief), a DPI-sponsored monthly newsletter of news, events, research, and promising practices to keep your school, district, or organization focused and moving forward on family-school-community partnerships for children's learning.

Lessons Learned from Urban Charter Schools
Schools would do better to emphasize family engagement strategies v. activities, according to an article in the Spring/Summer 2011 School Community Journal. Researchers exploring family involvement in urban charter schools found that when parents and staff spent more time and effort on how the school involved families v. what they did with families, engagement benefitted. Many of the lessons learned can be used by any school.
For example,

• Schools helped parents with the basics, offering GED, English language, college-credit, and parenting classes for parents after school hours. One school held discussions on qualifying for home loans to help parents move toward home ownership. Another school held a book study, conducted in Hmong, Spanish, and English for parents to learn parenting techniques.
• Schools achieved 100% attendance rates at parent-teacher conferences not only by offering the standard conferences during the day, but also by conducting them by phone, during home visits, and at night. Schools also offered incentives (i.e., a drawing for prizes) for parent attendance.
• Schools used technology to reach families, sending out e-blasts, weekly school newsletters (published in up to six languages), and AllCall messages in families' home languages.
• Schools focused on increasing parents' comfort level and sense of efficacy with the school, offering brochures and monthly workshops on how to get involved, how to help children learn at home, and how to engage in school decision-making.

The article cites one study that found low-income parents who are initially consumed by trying to make a living, in appreciation become involved any way they can when their children do well in school. Good schooling begets parent involvement, the study concluded. Read more about Parent Involvement in Urban Charter Schools: New Strategies for Increasing Participation (p. 71) at http://www.wcwcw.com/earlychildhood/2011ss_SCJ.pdf.