FAMILY INVOLVEMENT

National Research
on Parent Engagement
Organizing Schools for Improvement
Lessons from Chicago (2010)
Anthony S. Bryk, Penny Bender Sebring, Elaine Allensworth, Stuart Luppescu, and John Q. Easton

Beyond the Bake Sale, The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships, Anne Henderson, Kaen Mapp, Vivian Johnson and Don Davies (2006) and A New Wave of Evidence, Anne Henderson & Karen Mapp (2002)

Harvard Family Research Project Family Involvement Publications and Resources (updated 2008)

Joyce Epstein's Six Types of Parent Involvement, School and Family Partnerships, Johns Hopkins University (1992)

Elementary and Secondary Education Act; US Department of Education

Key Findings
• There are five elements of successful and sustainable school reform: school leadership, professional capacity, instruction, learning climate, and parent and community ties. Maximum outcomes in any one of these areas rely on attention and resources invested in all of these elements.

• Decades of research show that when parents and teachers work together, students do better academically and socially.

• The definition of meaningful parent involvement is much broader than originally believed and is just as important in middle and high school as early years.

• Families of all backgrounds support their children's learning at home.

• The most critical parent involvement is what happens in the home but parents may need specific information on how to help and what to do.

Parent/Teacher
Home Visit Project Research

A) Dr. Geni Cowan, California State University at Sacramento (CSUS) — Three (3) year study on 14 home visit pilot schools (1998-2001)

B) EMT Associates, Inc. — statewide evaluation of home visit project partnership's training and materials (2003)

C) Paul Tuss, Center of Student Assessment and Program Accountability, Sacramento County Office of Education, 2007

D) Our non profit and national colleagues are developing a uniform national k-12 home visit data collection instrument and system (launch set for 2011-2012 school year).

Key Findings

A) "Student performance has improved over the three years of the project's implementation; parental involvement has increased, and communication between home and school has been enhanced."

B) There was widespread implementation of the program, an increase in the number of teachers involved per site, successful dissemination of materials and subsequent trainings following initial training sessions. Training participants perceived benefits—including increased parental involvement, improved parent/teacher relationships and improved academic achievement.

C) "Within one year of its inception, the CAHSEE Home Visit Pilot Project has been associated with positive attitudinal shifts among students and parents toward school and the future, as well as with positive behavioral changes associated with improved academic outcomes."  
Follow up showed visited students graduated at high rates at one pilot site and transitional visits positively impacted student performance across sites.