Parent Engagement vs. Parent Involvement

Parent Engagement vs. Parent Involvement

Today on Facebook, Shawna Fritzler posted a question about Parent Engagement vs. Parent Involvement. Rather than respond via a lengthy Facebook reply, I decided to blog about it. Many school and district leaders are doing amazing things with both Engagement and Involvement. Others, struggle as they ultimately there is confusion as to what the difference is between engagement and involvement. 

Simply, parent involvement is often more "doing to", whereas engagement is "doing with". With involvement, schools tend to lead with their mouth. This leads to communication but not true connection. Every school or district communicates, some better than others. Very few connect. Engagement, on the opposite side, has schools leading with their ears. These schools listen, learn, then lead together. Engagement focused schools and districts listen to parents and community members. A genuine partnership is formed when we elicit input from our parents and community members, hearing from them what works best for their children. 

Involvement is typically a one-way form of communication. Schools across the nation send sheets of information home or used automated phone calls. Engagement, on the other hand, tried to utilize two-way communication, through efforts like home visits and positive phone calls home as opposed to only hearing from the school when a student has made a mistake. 

Most educators will readily agree that families must be involved in their children's education and that home-school partnerships are vitally important. With such overwhelming agreement, why can't we find real partnerships in every school? Every school where I’ve had the pleasure to serve as seen a myriad of partnerships. The reality is that both educators and parents have many beliefs, attitudes, and fears about each other that hinder their coming together to promote children's education. We must work together to move past the roadblocks of beliefs, attitudes and fears to move towards partnering together towards seeing every child succeed.

Before we can create strong and effective partnerships with families, we have to believe not only that it's important but also that it can be done and that we can do it. That means it's necessary for school staff members to hold a set of positive beliefs about family engagement. Reflecting on my experiences in the schools I’ve served, this practice has been fairly inconsistent to non-existent, varying greatly from school to school. This shouldn't be the case. 

How do we get families involved? The most important thing is our mindset. First, we have to absolutely believe in our souls that families want to support their children and that this support or partnership can make a significant difference in a child's educational experience. Second, we need to prioritize reaching out to families. Often this requires personal phone calls and sometimes home visits. Many family members have experienced horrendous treatment in the schools, as students’ and/ or as parents. Those initial steps, a change in mindset and a change in practice will start us on the path to building partnerships based on mutual respect with a common purpose. In doing so, our families will respond. We also need to value the experience that our families have to offer. I met Weston Kieschnick for coffee a few weeks ago. Dude is brilliant. Leader. Doing some amazing things in Education. He lives in Jeffco. His kids attend Jeffco schools. Why isn't the district working with him? We need to tap into the intellectual capital of our parents to help support our schools. They have a lot to offer. 

When teachers reach out with the goal of building partnerships based on mutual respect and common purpose, families will respond.

According to Henderson & Mapp (2006), four core beliefs must be firmly in place to have a true home-school partnership:

•   Core Belief 1: All Parents Have Dreams for Their Children and Want the Best for Them

•   Core Belief 2: All Parents Have the Capacity to Support Their Children’s Learning

•   Core Belief 3: Parents and School Staff Should Be Equal Partners

•   Core Belief 4: The Responsibility for Building Partnerships Between School and Home Rests Primarily with School Staff, Especially School Leaders

Here are some actionable examples of putting the core beliefs to practice:

Core Belief 1: All Parents Have Dreams for Their Children and Want the Best for Them	Core Belief 2: All Parents Have the Capacity to Support Their Children's Learning	Core Belief 3: Parents and School Staff Should Be Equal Partners	Core Belief 4: The Responsibility for Building Partnerships Between School and Home Rests Primarily with School Staff, Especially School Leaders
Help parents understand that we as their child’s teacher also want what is best for their child.	Meet parents where they are and find out what they have time for.	Parents need to be invited on a regular basis to school, not just council meetings and report card night. Have them sit in school improvement plans.	Visit the home of one disengaged parent. Show them you care.
Listen to parents hopes and dreams & help to be part of the process	Transparent communication with parents is paramount- make them feel safe & welcomed & then build from there!	Invite parents in; collaborate with them on the education of their children; this is a team effort- lets be on the same team!	Being proactive in asking parents to be a part of planning, timely responses to their questions/comments and sincerely take them into consideration.
Really get to know families in order to identify common ground and to help facilitate a positive collaboration.	Remember that not all parents have had a happy school history.  We need to make ourselves welcoming, positive and available to parents as well as students.	Have parents help plan school dances, award ceremonies, grade level competitions, etc	Survey the families how they want to be contacted, informed of school events.
By remembering that our parents living in poverty want their child to be successful as much as non-poverty families.	Build relationships!	Staff must believe there is value in being equal partners with parents. Not staff telling parents what to do. Go beyond parents being there to make copies for the teacher.	Assure that information is accessible info for all parents. Arrange translators to break down barriers.
Host a "goal/vision" meeting at the beginning of the year. Take notes of parents goals/needs. Provide/assist with tools throughout the year.	Treat all children as though they are our own.	Great question to ask to promote efficacy: "What information about your child would you like to know?"	Remember that all eyes are on you when you are in the community.  People still hold teachers to a high standard.  It's not a bad thing to be a good role model in the community.
Relationships that parents develop with teachers can extend from one child in the family to another.  That strong sense of trust and caring can last for years.	Provide opportunities for families to be a part of the process. Think, how can parents be involved?		For those who do not live in the district they teach, stick around- check out the scene, local spots, parks, and town meetings. Be visible in the community where you serve.
Provide opportunities for families to share their passions, culture, traditions, and knowledge.	Educators must avoid technical jargon when discussing matters with parents. Speak from the heart in real language.		Home visits

As school leaders, the responsibility of building home-school partnerships rests primarily with us. We must “walk the walk” and “talk the talk” when it comes to school partnerships.

We must accept the responsibility for getting the job done.

Parent Engagement

One of the reasons I believe 3A/3B failed in Jeffco last year is a lack of parent engagement at the district and school site level. Are there school's doing engagement better than others? Sure, that's the case across the country. What I believe NEEDS to happen in Jeffco and schools across the country is that they MUST TELL THEIR STORY.

We need to change the narrative. Schools for years have relied on students to carry the message home about what they did in school today. Anyone with an 8-year old like me has probably heard the answers I get such as "nothing" or "recess". We need to stop deputizing our students to be carriers of a message that we as educators at all levels should be sharing proactively every day. 

Amazing happens in your schools and district every day. How does your school or district connect and share that awesome to families and the community? As Tony Sinanis and Joe Sanfelippo say, "In the absence of knowledge people make up their own".  Your school or district story is being told, every day. The story that is being told might not be remotely close to accurate. If your story is being told every day, it might as well be you telling it. 

Tony and Joe are two of the leaders in the field regarding family engagement and a 2017 means to connecting with families. Search #GoCrickets on Twitter and you will see the connection Joe has built in his school community in Wisconsin utilizing social media as a vehicle to engage and connect. Both Tony and Joe in the years I have known them have shared the amazing happening in the classrooms of the schools they served. I'd see Tony taking pictures out at Recess as he engaged with students. Within the hour he was in a classroom sharing students hard at work unpacking a text and writing about it. Many of his teachers where he served as principal had twitter accounts and shared the great teaching and learning experiences happening each and every day. This needs to be the norm, not the exception. 

Last year at Normandy where I served, many of our teachers were using Seesaw to share videos of students reading and pictures of student work. Many teachers this year have begun using FlipGrid to take parent engagement around teaching and learning to another level. If you follow me on Twitter, you saw me model utilizing that platform to engage families and community as the JSEL Principal at Edgewater. You have to turn the brick walls of your school building into windows where parents and community can see within as partners. 

Check out Laura Kendall (3rd Grade teacher at Rooney Ranch) on Twitter for some examples of how story telling, connecting, and engaging might look @velvetskier   Recently gave her a shout out on Twitter for modeling this level of engagement and sharing of awesome for other Jeffco teachers. Keep up the good work Laura! 

In the era of school choice, I believe it's irresponsible to not actively serve and engage your families and community. Where I live in Southwest Jeffco, we are losing students to the STEM School in Douglas County. I don't believe for a second the neighborhood schools my way are not as good as the STEM School. Quite, the opposite, I know they are better. Where the mark is being missed is the failure to engage families, community members to share the amazing happening in our classrooms and in our school district. 

School leaders in Jeffco could learn a thing or two from following Dr. Jason Glass, the new Jeffco Superintendent on Twitter. He's modeled for principals, assistant principals, and teachers how to engage and tell the story of Jeffco through his lens. The platform doesn't matter. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. You have to meet people where they are. And, most importantly, you have to value family engagement, be proactive and creative in how your building bridges in the new world which we live. 

Schools serve students, staff, families and community. Great leaders know their job is to serve all of them, not to be served by them. 

Remember ------ Individually, we are many. Together, we are more.

What resources do I recommend?  

Beyond The Bake Sale: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Bake-Sale-Essential-Partnerships/dp/1565848888  

BrandED: https://www.amazon.com/BrandED-Story-Relationships-Empower-Learning/dp/1119244560/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504052868&sr=1-1&keywords=branded+sheninger

The Power Of Branding: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Branding-Telling-Connected-Educators-ebook/dp/B00NF6F010/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504052924&sr=1-4&keywords=tony+sinanis

I'm so glad that I did not post this as a response on Facebook. Would have took up half of Shawna's wall.