Different kinds of parents. Different kinds of parental involvement.

By Gord Kerr, Executive Director, Ontario School Council Support Centre

Parent involvement leads to improved student learning. We’ve all heard that … so it should be a fairly straightforward task; stimulate more parental involvement and we’ll have improved student learning.

The problem is that 'Parent Involvement' describes such a wide range of different activities that it essentially defies a useful definition.

This article is about the early findings of a research project to define three distinctly different kinds of parents that can be found in any school and the different kinds activities each is involved in to help students learn.

All are important and valid roles, however, they are different roles.  'Involvement' as a parent is different than 'involvement' as a volunteer and so on.  

Parents

There are many parents who will never become part of the school council.  Some of them will never volunteer their services to the school. Yet, almost every parent sending a child to school wants to know, "How can I help my child do better in school this year?"

There are several very important things that 'just plain parents' can do to support their children every year

These kinds of involvement do not involve joining the school council, volunteering in the classrooms or leading fundraising activities - yet, they are very important types of parental involvement. To some, they do not look like 'parental involvement', because they sometimes do not take place at the school. 

Although these parents may never attend a council meeting, parents who provide active and appropriate support at home will assist their children in doing better in school. This support assists in fulfilling the purpose of school councils ... to support student learning.

Volunteers

Volunteers are another distinct group of people within the school.  Again, some may never be part of the school council, yet they offer plenty of helpful services to students and the school.  Helping this group of people to carry out their tasks well, and abiding by board policies on volunteers is the challenge facing Principals, Vice-Principals and school councils across the province.

The four main types of involvement for volunteers include:

Three of the most important elements of working with volunteers include providing appropriate training, guidance AND recognition.

School councils can and should take an active role in nurturing volunteers - to support the school in ways that are consistent with board policies and the school plan to improve student learning.  Although many of these volunteers may never attend a school council meeting, they play a vital role within every school community. Supporting volunteers assists in fulfilling the purpose of school councils ... to support student learning.

School Council Members

School council members tend to be visible in terms of their involvement, but it’s evident that joining the school council is not the only way to be involved in the school in a meaningful way.

Within most schools, there are a core group of between 5 and 15 people who want to take on the leadership roles that exist on a school council.  Research from the U.S. indicates that only about 8% of parents want to join a school council. When we factor in scheduling conflicts and the other demands facing many parents, less than half of those who would like to be part of the school council can actually fit it into their schedules. That means that only about 3% or 4% of the parents within a school might become active with the school council. Others prefer to be volunteers, and still others prefer simply to carry out their roles as parents. 

As a group of leaders within the school, a new way to look at the role is to:

1. Support those who wish to carry out their role as parents.

2. Support volunteers with meaningful opportunities, training and recognition.

3. Become effective as a school council in partnering with the principal and staff in recognizing and supporting the various roles that parents play in helping children through their school years.

School councils are generally comprised of those willing to take on the leadership roles within the school. With leadership comes the responsibility of understanding the kinds of parents that exist within the school and the different kinds of activities they may be interested in participating in.

The good news is that this explains why most school council meetings are not attended by the entire school parent population. The bad news is that a ‘one size fits all’ solution to increasing parental involvement within a school does not exist. It will take creativity, clear objectives, various approaches and probably some trial and error.

But the payoff is out there. The body of evidence linking parental involvement to improved student learning is overwhelming.

Gord Kerr continues to research practical methods for improving the effectiveness of school councils. For more information, please visit www.schoolcouncils.net.