LTL Plan for Family Involvement: Valuing Parents As Partners

LTL Plan for Family Involvement: Valuing Parents as Partners

Essential Elements:

Flexible and responsive to community needs

Childcentered, family focused

Dependent on community and parent involvement

Background:

LTL has been actively working with parents as partners for the past 8 years. During that time we have learned that involving parents is a process it evolves over time and depends upon the establishment of trusting relationships among staff and community.

Staff have addressed barriers to community involvement cultural and language issues, trust, availability of time, child care Community Advisory Boards/Groups have been developed (Broad Acres, Highland, Harmony Hills, Summit Hall) review policies and procedures; make recommendations concerning programming; identify needs in the community; and, promote LTL in the greater community History of involvement

Hired parents as family service aides, summer coordinators, child care

providers, and health promoters

Volunteers child care, clothing closet, phone trees

Created new programs in response to parents' recommendations ESOL

classes, women's empowerment groups, Linkages to the Library, health

promoters

Built on those with existing or emerging leadership skills (Sewing Circle)

Formalization of Family Involvement:

1. Staff must value parents as partners!

• Train staff

• Foster involvement by offering participation at different levels

• Formalize commitment with written statement or principles

• Be representative of community's diversity and accurately reflect the community

cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious composition

• Involve families from the start

2. Levels of Involvement

• Advisory groups at each school site

•Membership to include parents, faith and civic groups, businesses, providers

•To act as advocates and spokespersons for resource development, best practices and program promotion

• LTL work groups at each school site

•Membership to include LTL site coordinator, school administrator, parents, other major stakeholders

KALTLSCMGuidelines Manual\LTLfamilyinvolvementdoc

•To coordinate the development of parent involvement with other noninstructional programs; to facilitate communication among all providers and school community programs

•Ensure that each person is connected to the work of the group

• Service provision (see volunteer and Paraprofessional Opportunities)

•Recruit parents who represent the racial and ethnic make up of the neighborhood

•Promote and train emerging community leaders

•Parent Council meet with family involvement coordinator and other parent representatives from each site 46 times per year

•Assist parents to find paid and volunteer employment within LTL and MCPS

3. Recruit and engage families

• Target those who are representative of the community's ethnic and racial makeup

• Define roles and expectations of what families will do

• Identify existing community leaders and/or those with leadership skills and

abilities

• Provide training, stipends, child care

• Adopt the "train the trainer" approach to involve everincreasing numbers

4. Keep families involved

• Offer welcome, orientation, manual

• Buddy approach for newcomers

• Focus groups

• PTA

5. Building Partnerships

• Identify areas for decisionmaking

•Policy

•Programming

•Needs assessment

6. Focus on Results

• What do we want to accomplish by working together?

• Develop goal oriented activities

• Celebrate Successes!!

KALTLSCF\Guidelines Manual\LTLfamilyinvolvementdoc