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HOME AND SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS.
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Analysis of whether such partnerships can aupport children with literacy difficulties.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analysis of whether such partnerships can support children with literacy difficulties. Various literacy perspectives, family views, opposing convictions, obstacles, examples of partnership plans. Cultural considerations. Use of technology. Cites home school partnership results. Effect of parental involvement. Efforts to improve effectiveness of schools. Factors that lead to sucessful home-school partnerships.
Paper Introduction:
BUILDING HOME-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS CAN SUPPORT
CHILDREN WHO STRUGGLE WITH LITERACY
INTRODUCTION
While levels of achievement are not always empirically correlated with parental involvement, research consistently demonstrates the importance of parental commitment in their child's education (Finn 1998; Lazar and Slostad 1999). This research paper investigated the efficacy of home-school partnerships for the support of children who struggle with literacy. Since literacy continues to be a topic of concern, and studies show that effort is required to maximize parental interest in education, an investigation into the efficacy of home school partnerships for support of childhood learning was warranted (Cassidy and Wenrich 1999; Lazar and Slostad 1999).
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A 1998 survey by the U.S. Parents were willing to pay a fee for after-school programs (7 %), of which computer technology was the popular choiceand many requested newsletters via high-tech options such as schoolwebsites. The connectionist perspectiveemphasizes that knowledge is based on pieces that are put together to makea whole. "The Technology-Reading Connection." Educational Leadership 56(6):48-5 .Balli, Sandra J., David h. Literacy research is consistent with regard to the role of homeenvironments. "The Home-School Connection." Childhood Education 71(5):296-8.Nistler, Robert J., and Angela Maiers. "The Home/School/Community Connection." Technology & Learning 15(3):12-16.Pap, Barbara. 1999. Historical perspectives are concerned with readiness for readinginstruction. Maximum parental involvement must include meeting with theparents, making schools parent friendly, the use of all languages, andinvolving parents in decision making. Theacademic work for this age group may be beyond the parents' capability,limiting their ability to assist the student. The social constructivist perspective focuses on culturalanthropology and sociolinguistics. 1994. School, family, and community partnershipsappear to determine whether parents become involved in their child'seducation, and how they become involved. Reese and Cox further pointed out that three styles of book readingare associated with literacy. 1999. "What We Learn From International Studies of School-Family-Community Partnerships." Childhood Education 74(6):392-394.Finn, Jeremy D. Thesefindings are relevant across many situations, including high risk families,that might otherwise result in literacy problems (Finn 1998).Obstacles. Fin reports alternative findings, stating that some studies havereported little or no relationship between parental involvement (visits toschool, volunteer work, attendance at school events) and grades orachievement scores. Home School PartnershipsHome School Partnership Results. 1999. Family literacy found in urban schools includes obstacles toliteracy such as crime, drugs, violence, homelessness, poverty, anddislocation. Parents may not believe thatthey are able to help their children. The emergent perspective is based on the cognitive construction ofknowledge, a dynamic process that begins before school. This research paper investigated the efficacy ofhome-school partnerships for the support of children who struggle withliteracy. In this case,preschools and parental involvement are helpful for prereading efforts suchas matching shapes or coloring same/different objects, which will influencereadiness (Hill 1997, 263-264). Findings showed that all of the mothers wereinvolved in their children's schooling and all wanted the most possible fortheir child. Policies with support andaction are a necessary part of effective partnerships. Maturational readiness, includes the view that children passthrough stages that cannot be rushed; thus home school connections or therole of parents in early literacy as minimal. Pape further reports guiding factors toward successful home-schoolpartnerships. ReferencesAlfaro, Robert. 1998. Wenrich. 1998. Ina study of all three styles with 48 pre-schoolers (age four), over a sixweek period, demonstrated that the describer style resulted in the greatestbenefits in vocabulary and print skills. "Literacy Research and Practice: What's Hot, What's Not, and Why." The Reading Teacher 52(4):4 2-4 6.DeMoulin, Donald F., Robert David Loye, Margot Swan, Robert Block,and Jack Schnabel. A Teachers' Focus Group Develops a Two-Step Plan to Communicate About Emergent Literacy Practice." The Reading Teacher 51(6):514-519.Georgiou, Stelios N. A common family structure includes that of the single parent.The best intentions may be impossible to meet for the parent whose time andresources are devoted to physical needs for sustenance of the child,leaving little to no reservoir of either for additional classroom support(p. Oral languageacquisition is a model for print-related literacy, and child-play settingsare encouraged over teacher-directed instruction. Programs include the exploration of routinedaily life events and ways to enhance parent-child co-learning.Opportunities are provided for the forming of family and social networks,through classroom and community activities. 1997. It was concludedthat parents with less education may tend to need guidance from schools toassist children further (Balli, Demo, and Wedman 1998).Opposing Convictions. In a study with 74 sixth-graders,results demonstrated that classes receiving reminders for familyinvolvement, were more involved in homework activities. Wedman. "Bridging Home and School With a Culturally Responsive Approach." Childhood Education 7 (4):21 -215.Newman, Rita. The family literacy approach appears to be aprominent strategy that encompasses the developmental, connectionist,emergent, social constructivist, and critical perspectives. Alternatively, thedevelopmental view sees children as needing to be ready to learn how toread, with emphasis on nurturance more than nature. "Opening School Doors: Teacher-Parent Student Relations in Cyprus." Childhood Education 74(6):362 366.Hancock, Roger. 1999. Parents involved in some activities tended to beinvolved in other activities, but none were related to school performance.The author concludes that although there can be no harm involved regardinghome school partnerships, the verdict regarding the outcome is undetermined(Finn 1998). For example, in 1994, a survey of 17,424 students (NationalEducational Longitudinal Study), demonstrated that benefits associated withhome school partnerships included higher attendance and grades, moreappropriate behavior, and more homework efforts when families were involvedin school events and home learning activities. "Evaluation of a Clinic- Based Program to Promote Book Sharing and Routines Among Low Income Urban Families with Young Children." Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 152(5):459-466.Lazar, Althier, and Frances Slostad. 1999. International studies of home school partnerships report a review ofsurveys, case studies, research, and experiments, which yielded thefollowing five conclusions. BUILDING HOME-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS CAN SUPPORT CHILDREN WHO STRUGGLE WITH LITERACY INTRODUCTION While levels of achievement are not always empirically correlatedwith parental involvement, research consistently demonstrates theimportance of parental commitment in their child's education (Finn 1998;Lazar and Slostad 1999). 1999. Literacy is a term thatincludes more than one perspective. 1998. Parents (7 %) also suggested that they needed more informationregarding what academic levels their child should currently be achieving(Pape 1999, 47-48). A parent program, fromthis perspective, would include real books and instruction on ways to talkwith children and ask them questions about the book (Hill 263-268). Therefore, they are,less likely to be personally involved with the student or the family. "Family Involvement with Children's Homework: An Intervention in the Middle Grades." Family Relations 47(2):149-157.Carter, Jim. The program concluded that most parents andfamilies were interested and did attempt to support their children'sliteracy development, but that they needed more information regardingtechnique, and that teachers need more support to set up productiveinteractions with parents. It is concluded that furtherunderstanding of the parent's role and overcoming assumptions about parentinvolvement are necessary to promote collaboration between the parent andteacher (Lazar and Slostad). Social classand family are considered to be the best predictors of education qualityand literacy. 1998. Standing (1999) reports on an obstacle that appears to be overlookedby many. A possible explanationfor this phenomenon is the lack of preparation that is given to teachers toenable them to work effectively with parents. The authors conclude thatteachers and other school personnel are unable to understand, design,implement, or evaluate the necessary partnership between families andschools (Lazar and Slostad). 1995. The author conducted research with 28 low income, lone mothers, agedearly 2 to mid-forty. Nistler and Maiers note thatprimary participants of these programs are female, and educators tend toinvestigate what the meaning of involvement is to the participants in it(Nistler and Maiers 5-7). LiteracyLiteracy Perspectives. Approaches to family literacy programs include parentinvolvement programs that focus on helping parents train in techniques topromote students' reading. The buildingof successful home school partnerships will require an understanding ofthis approach.Increasing Literacy. Studies demonstrate positive effects of early reading andstorytelling in young children (Fish, Smith, and Phinney 1997). 1992. "Exploring Home- School Connections." Education and Urban Society 32(1):3-12.Orwig, Ann H. "Helping Children Learn to Read: A Program That is Making the Grade." Education 12 (1):4 43.Deslandes, Rollande, Egide Royer, Pierre Potvin, and Danielle Leclerc. "Home-School Cooperation at the Secondary Level in the United Kingdom." Childhood Education 74(6):359 362.----------------------- 15 The Parental Involvement in the Core Curriculum (PICC) Project ranfor two years (Hancock 1998). Parents initiate learning, and the over-learning of letter formsor spelling patterns leads to reading or literacy. 1997."Project Read - The Importance of Early Learning; RX: Read to Your Child." American Family Physician 56(9):2195-8.Genisio, Margaret Humandi. 1994. Hancock describes this school liaisoninitiative, and highlights parental involvement ideas that entered schoolpractice in a permanent way. Proponents of thisperspective tend to assume that most parents do not read to their childrenor may not present adequate literacy models (Hill 266-267). "Building Home-School Liaison into Classroom Practice: A Need to Understand the Nature of a Teacher's Working Day." British Educational Research Journal 24(4):399-414.Hill, Susan. Middle school and high schoolteachers both teach large numbers of students each class period, and theymay teach over 1 different students within one day. And yet, studiesreveal that teachers fail to provide adequate educational support towardsinviting and maintaining partnerships with parents. Sanders. "Perspectives on Early Literacy and Home- School Connections." Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 2 (4):263-28 .Kohler, Hartmut. However, results do support home schoolpartnerships. "Quality of Adult Book Reading Affects Children's Emergent Literacy." Developmental Psychology 35(1):2 -29.Standing, Kay. Cognitive development is understood astaking place within the context of social support and interaction withothers. 53). "Patterns of Home and School Partnership for General and Special Education Students at the Secondary Level." Exceptional Children 65(4):496-5 6.Epstein, Joyce L., and Mavis G. The Family Literacy Commission of the International ReadingAssociation defines literacy as ways extended family, parents, and childrenuse literacy at home and in the community (Nistler and Maiers 1999). Pivotal factors to maximize thedevelopment of literacy are reported to include: opportunity for exposure;modeling; opportunity for engagement; and supportive feedback (Fish, Smith,and Phinney 2195-6). Further obstacles for secondary teachers include the students'increased need for autonomy for the secondary school age group, and thenature of the class structure and curriculum. Parents all over the world demonstrate theircare for their children and the parents are an important factor in theirchild's success in school. "What Goes on at School? Complex factors such as ethnicity, status, familial educationlevels, gender, and religion all contribute to the learned conduct relatedto literacy (Hill 266-272).The Family Literacy Perspective. "The Home-School Connection: What Works." Technology & Learning 13(2):42-45.Morningstar, Julie Wilson. "How to Overcome Obstacles to Parent-Teacher Partnerships." The Clearing House 72(4):2 6-21 .Marvelle, John. However, most were in opposition to demands of the schoolsince they did not have the time or resources to comply to set standards.This group of parents required teachers to consider additional variablessuch as race, social structure, family structure, and economic factorsbefore embarking on a home school partnership (Standing).What Parents Around the World Want. Lazar and Slostad (1999) report that obstacles to parent-teachercollaboration and changes that would assist in this effort includeteachers' perceptions of the parents. Teachers need to consider teachingoptimal parenting skills, communication of programs to the parents,volunteers for help and support, and collaboration with all communityresources (Pape 1999, 48-51). As one researcher noted, differentpoints of view on the topic determine the manner in which educators,parents, children and family use and evaluate literacy (Hill 1997). The critical perspective view includes sociopolitical contextsacknowledging that power structures are in operation, and they are notequal ones. "Parental Engagement That Makes a Difference." Educational Leadership 55(8):2 -24.Fisch, Robert, O., Marty Smith, and Margaret Yatsevitch Phinney. Efficacy of home school partnerships can be understood within thetheoretical framework of literacy perspectives. Included in this review will be an overview of the followingfindings: (1)literacy, consisting of (a)literacy perspectives, (b)the familyliteracy perspective, and (c)increasing literacy; (2)home school partnerships, including (a)studies reflecting homeschool partnership results, (b)family views, (c)opposing convictions,(d)obstacles, and (e)what parents want; (3)home school partnership examples, encompassing (a)home-school-community, (b)home school partnership plans, (c)cultural considerations,and (d)international lessons; and (4)technology, including (a)company involvement, and (b)computers atschool and home. Three types of parental involvement at home include: activeorganization and monitoring of the student's time, help with homework, anddiscussion of school matters with the student. IQ scoresof vulnerable populations of infants or toddlers have been raised throughexposure to language-oriented experiences. The authors stated that despitenumerous studies that demonstrate benefits of parent involvement programssuch as higher grades and test scores and long-term academic achievement,teachers maintain negative attitudes toward the parents. 1999. Findingsrevealed that parents tend to be less involved in the supervision ofspecial education adolescents, including learning activities at home. The family literacy and criticalperspectives point out that optimal conditions allowing for the presence ofthese positive factors may not exist in all families. Family literacyprograms proclaim the importance of home school partnerships for theeradication of the impoverished home environment (Reese and Cox 1999). 1999. "Lone Mothers' Involvement in Their Children's Schooling: Towards a New Typology of Maternal Involvement." Gender and Education 11(1):57-73.Street, Phil. 1999. Department of Education, demonstrated thatparents want involvement in their children's schooling (Pape 1999).Findings revealed that 9 % of parents reported only two opportunities to beinvolved at their child's school, per year, and 38% reported never beinginvited to a class while in session. 1998. 1998. "Home Response Journals: Parents as Informed Contributors in the Understanding of Their Child's Literacy Development." The Reading Teacher 52(7):69 -697.Neuman, Susan B., and Kathy Roskos. Describer style, focuses on describingpictures while reading, comprehender style focusses on story meaning, andperformance style introduces the book and then discusses story meaning. In 1996, a study byDeslandes with 525 adolescents demonstrated that parental affective supportwas the primary predictor of school grades (Deslandes, Royer, Potvin, andLeclerc 1999, 496). Current perspectives focus more on teaching skills such as phonicsand the roles families can play in literacy. A fourth activity, found tobe associated with younger children, is reading with their children. 1998. Teachers and administrators needpreparation for partnerships with families. Fin also studied home school partnerships and reported on specifictypes of parental involvement that are consistently associated with schoolperformance. The current study of 525 general education students and 112 specialeducation students, expanded knowledge of school home partnerships toinclude both the general and special education populations. 1999. Internationalresearch assists with the further understanding of home school partnershipsand other efforts that have been made to improve school effectiveness(Epstein and Sanders 1998, 392-394). The need for interaction between students and families was furthersupported, by Balli, Demo, and Wedman. Anonsignificant relationship was found between grades and homework forspecial education students, however, those who did perceive their parentsas keeping track of their activities did spend more time on homework(Deslandes et al., 1999)Family Views. Since literacy continues to be a topic of concern, and studiesshow that effort is required to maximize parental interest in education, aninvestigation into the efficacy of home school partnerships for support ofchildhood learning was warranted (Cassidy and Wenrich 1999; Lazar andSlostad 1999). Family literacy is an additional perspective that has become thefocus of recent research regarding home school partnerships. "Parents as Partners in Schooling in Germany: The Urgency of Fundamental Dialogue." Childhood Education 74(6):372-375.LaGasse, Linda, and Holly Linn. 1998. "Involving Parents Lets Students and Teachers Win." The Education Digest 64(6):47-51.Reese, Elaine, and Adell Cox. "Making the Home/School Connection With Corporate Help." Technology & Learning 2 (3):26-35.Cassidy, Jack, and Judith K. 1999. Thediversity of communities must be considered when programs attempt coursesof action. The Goals 2 : Educate America Act states that all schools willpromote partnerships to increase parental involvement for the academicgrowth of children, and teacher accreditation agencies require teachers tomeet this federal standard (Lazar and Slostad 1999). Family literacy programs address these and other issues asthey attempt to prevent student illiteracy (Nistler and Maiers 1999, 3-5). Demo, and John F. This idea considers the parent's view on talking and reading withchildren; books with strong social themes are chosen for instruction (Hill268-269). Meetings were scheduled by 85% ofschools, at odd times to accommodate working parents; 9 % of the parentssupported this schedule. 1998. Deslandes, Royer, Potvin, and Leclerc reported that previous studiestend to be conducted with a general education population, leaving out thespecial education population.
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