Improving Student Achievement by Increasing School-Family Communication and Family Involvement

1

Improving Student Achievement by Increasing School-Family Communication and Family Involvement

Kate Orsinger and Juan Otal

Carlin Springs Elementary

Submitted June 2002

Introduction

Family involvement in the schools has many components and numerous methods of implementation. There is a plethora of research stating that family involvement is critical to improving student achievement. Strong Families, Strong Schools (1994) states,

Studies of individual families show that what the family does is more important to student success than family income or education. This is true whether the family is rich or poor, whether the parents finished high school or not, or whether the child is in preschool or in the upper grades (Coleman 1966; Epstein 1991a; Stevenson & Baker 1987; de Kanter, Ginsberg, & Milne 1986; Henderson & Berla 1994; Keith and Keith 1993; Liontos 1992; Walberg, n.d.)

Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1997) found that the quality of parent involvement seems to depend on three variables:

1.  The parent’s understanding of his or her role in the child’s life

2.  The parent’s level of belief that s/he can help the child succeed in school, and

3.  The general opportunities for involvement presented by both the child and the school.

Joyce Epstein, Director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University, identified six categories of involvement that have shown a positive effect on student achievement:

1.  Providing for children’s basic needs.

2.  Improving communication between home and school.

3.  Helping children at home with school work.

4.  Volunteering and participating at the school.

5.  Participating in governance and advocacy activities.

6.  Collaborating with the community.

Our action research attempted to incorporate areas from both Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler and Epstein. We encompassed the second and third variables from Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler and the second, third, and fourth variables from Joyce Epstein’s categories of involvement. Mrs. Orsinger, first grade teacher, examined the effects of increasing family involvement through home-school activities and Mr. Otal, fifth grade teacher, emphasized improving communication between home and school as means of improving student achievement.

Culture, language and educational differences were major factors in designing and implementing our action research. We took into consideration the differences in language, parenting practices and expectations of parental involvement our parents maintain due to their experiences and cultural values. Traditional American values contrast with many of our parents’ cultural values. Vertical rather than horizontal approach to authority, group rather than individual orientation, and a need for structure as opposed to a perspective which is more tolerant of uncertainty are several areas of contrast. In addition, many of our parents’ cultures do not emphasize parental involvement and communication. Many of our parents began the school year with little prior knowledge on the positive effects of family involvement and improved communication.

Background

Carlin Springs Elementary is a newly constructed school whose diverse population moved from an older building down the street this school year. Five hundred sixty-three students attend from over thirty countries around the world. Hispanic students constitute 61.6% of the student population, followed by Blacks (14.7%), and White (8.2%). A majority receive free or reduced lunch. Most students, 98%, live within a mile of school, but over 90% ride school buses because of the heavy traffic on Carlin Springs Road. The majority of students live in a poor section of Arlington, Columbia Heights, in aged apartment buildings with few amenities.

Mr. Otal’s class has students of Afghani, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Cuban, Honduran, North African, African American, El Salvadoran, Phillipino, and Bolivian descent. Fifty-two percent are Hispanic, with Spanish as their first language. Sixty-one percent are English as a second language speakers (62.7% students at Carlin Springs receive English as a Second Language support). Sixty-one percent of the parents do not have enough literacy in English to understand communication from the school in English. Sixty-seven percent of the Hispanic parents need communication to be solely in Spanish. Twenty-two percent of the parents were born in the United States, while eighty-seven percent of the students were born in the United States.

Mrs. Orsinger’s class has students of North African, El Salvadorian, Bolivian, Pakistani, Mexican, Iranian, Caucasian, and Haitian descent. Forty-four percent are Hispanic, with Spanish as their first language. Thirty-nine percent are English as a Second Language students. Seventeen percent are native English speakers. Fifty- five percent of the parents do not have the skills in English to understand communication from school in English. Of that fifty-five percent, forty-five percent need communication in Spanish, which Mrs. Orsinger can provide. Eleven percent of the parents were born in the United States, while fifty percent of the students were born in the United States.

Design

Mr. Otal’s primary research question asked if increasing parental communication would improve parents’ ability to support their children’s learning and improve student achievement. The major strategies utilized were doubling the number of parent-teacher conferences, sending home mid-quarter reports and calling parents at least one time per grading period. A related strategy included using student portfolios to discuss students’ strengths and weaknesses at our parent-teacher conferences. In addition, students were included in the conferences so that they could add information and insight into their portfolios (the conferences were renamed Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences). At each conference Mr. Otal stated the purpose of his action research project so that parents would better understand the important role they play in their child’s education.

Inviting parents to our unit celebrations (four per year) was intended to better inform parents about what their child was learning in school. Videotapes were made of our unit celebrations so that parents unable to attend could still see the students’ projects, skits, and songs. One celebration was held at night so that more parents could attend (many of our parents work jobs that do not allow leave time for school events).

Friday Folders were also utilized so that parents could see their child’s work each week and stay informed on what lessons, activities, and experiments the class had accomplished. Parents were informed on the grading system at Back To School Night and at the first Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences. Friday Folder papers were graded and marked with excellent (A), very good (B), good job (C), or needs improvement.

Unit outlines were also sent home (English only this year) so that parents were informed about what was going to be learned in the weeks ahead. The unit outlines explained the objectives in math, language arts, and content (social studies and science). They also included the project choices for each unit that students needed to choose and discuss with their families. In addition, each unit outline restated the expectations for students in each subject area. For example, it reminded students that they are expected to participate in class discussions, complete all homework, read for thirty minutes each night, and write entries in their writer’s notebook at least three times a week. Students and parents signed the unit outline indicating that they had discussed it together.

A final strategy was creating and tabulating a parent survey. The survey included questions on parents’ feelings concerning parent conferences, portfolios, and parental involvement (see appendix). The survey was completed after the first and fourth Parent-Student-Teacher conferences.

Mrs. Orsinger

Mrs. Orsinger believed that the students would receive more support from home if families were included. Also, that strong communication ties would be built in order to increase insight into students’ lives outside of school to find reason behind certain behaviors or occurrences. She expected an increase in student growth should the family be included in the activities involved in the learning process.

This was implemented through a number of activities. The first activity was a newsletter sent home each month with a calendar of both school activities as well as classroom activities to keep parents up to date on happenings as well as classes their students should be prepared for, such as art, PE, and library. The newsletter was sent home in both English and Spanish and included a section for parents to respond to a question or participate in a class activity. This was to increase two-way communication between the families and the teacher.

The second activity was a Family Stories Notebook as a part of the first grade family unit. This was a notebook that was taken home each night by a student and the assignment was for the student to talk with their family about when they were little or a certain memory be it a vacation or their country, students were to write the story down in the notebook or illustrate it and share it with the class the following day. The directions were included in both English and Spanish inside the notebook. The students then received a bound copy of all the stories to keep. Families were asked to complete a questionnaire (see Appendix) and give feedback on the activity.

Another activity included in the Family Unit was a class recipe book. Each student was assigned the task of recording a recipe from their country and bringing it in to share with the class to become part of a classroom cookbook. This assignment was also in conjunction with the Carlin Springs’ International Dinner. The students were then asked to make the food and bring it to share at the dinner. Each family would then receive a copy of the class cookbook. Families were asked to complete a questionnaire for this activity as well.

Mrs. Orsinger also worked on the Carlin Springs Families And School Together Committee. This committee was established to increase communication and activities between home and school to include families in their children’s learning process and education. This committee has hosted many activities for families to do together such as computer classes in the school computer lab and a family histories project to put together a scrapbook of family memories. Many other activities are planned for the coming school year.

Within the classroom, the use of homework bags for various subject areas has been established in order to allow the students to share some learning with their families. Each bag includes a story that pertains to a unit or area of study, a reading buddy to read with, and a notebook to record how the time was spent with the book and the buddy either through writing or an illustration. Students keep these bags from Monday until Friday and are assigned to share them with their families.

Mrs. Orsinger has also increased the number of positive phone calls home to families to keep them updated on the accomplishments of their child. This has also been done through personal letters written to the students to thank them for things that they have done, goals they have achieved or accomplishments in behavior or academics. These notes are to be shared with their families to celebrate their successes.

Analysis

The parent surveys provided a look into parents’ views on the following issues:

·  Whether parent conferences provided information on child’s progress

·  Whether parents felt better informed on what their child was studying

·  Feelings on importance of parent conferences

·  Whether parent conferences are the best means of learning about their child’s progress

·  If four conferences are better than two

·  Value of portfolios to parents

·  Parental involvement in the classroom

·  Feelings on parental involvement

Below are the results from the parents’ surveys:

Table 1

Results from Parents’ Surveys

First
Survey / Second Survey / First
Survey / Second Survey / First
Survey / Second Survey / First
Survey / Second Survey
1. Parent conferences gave me information on my child’s progress / Strongly Agree
75% 82% / Agree
25% 18% / Disagree / Strongly Disagree
2. I am more informed on what my child is studying in school after Parent-Teacher conferences / 58% 73% / 42% 27%
3. Parent conferences are important / 58% 82% / 42% 18%
4. I learn more about my child’s progress through parent conferences than any other means / 50% 73% / 42% 27% / 8%
5. I think four conferences a year are better than two. / 58% 64% / 17% 27% / 17% / 8% 9%
6. My child’s portfolio gave me real examples of where my child is academically. / 17% 64% / 58% 27% / 25% 9%
7. I plan on visiting the classroom to see my child at work. / 25% 27% / 42% 45% / 33% 27%
8. Parental involvement is critically important to my child’s success at school. / 58% 64% / 42% 36%

The percentage of parents attending the four conferences is shown in the table below. Three students, all boys, moved to other school districts for better housing during the first semester. All three families were English proficient and bilingual. Three new students, all boys, were added to my roster during the second semester. Two of the three boys came from another Arlington elementary school and the third boy was promoted from the ESOL/HILT class into a mainstream class. None of the three families are English proficient.

Table 2

Percentage of Parents Attending Parent Conferences

First Quarter / Second Quarter / Third Quarter / Fourth Quarter
18 conferences / 20 conferences / 19 conferences / 18 conferences
22 students / 22 students / 21 students / 22 students
82% / 91% / 90% / 82%

Other measures of student achievement were used to gain a sense of Mr. Otal’s class. Below are the writing sample scores from September and May. A score of 16 represents a passing score for September. A score of 18 represents a passing score for the May sample. The highest possible score is 24.

Table 3

Writing Sample Scores for Mr. Otal’s Class

Student / September / May
One / 14 / 16
Two / 13 / 23
Three / 13 / 12
Four / 15 / 17
Five / 12 / 17
Six / 18 / 21
Seven / 13 / 13
Eight / 13 / 18
Nine / 13 / 15
Ten / 17 / 21
Eleven / 14 / 19
Twelve / 18 / 24
Thirteen / 13 / 15
Fourteen / 11 / 15
Fifteen / 18 / 17
Sixteen / 12 / 18
Seventeen / 11 / 13
Eighteen / 14 / 17

Twenty-two percent (22%) passed the September writing sample. Thirty-eight percent (38%) passed the May writing sample. The average score increased four points from September to May. The preliminary results from the state’s writing assessment show that 79% of Mr. Otal’s students passed.