State & District Policies

Parental and family involvement in schools is needed for a nurturing, affective, positive learning atmosphere. Without parental support, whether it is with after-school events or in-class academics, the full potential of a school in not realized. School boards and state policies can have an impact as to what and how local schools involve parents and the community.

The Saint Paul Public School District in Middletown, Conn., realized this need when it adopted its Family Involvement Policy in 2006. The policy’s purpose was made clear by its premise statement, “The Board believes that the involvement of families in the children’s educations every year…has positive impact on the student’s success in school.”

This revised policy directly references the six pillars of parental involvement while also adding three bullets as to the goals of the policy. The Family Involvement Policy requires each school to plan, strategize and organize ways to better involve and activate parents within the school concerning specific elements: parenting, communication, volunteering, learning at home, decision making and community collaboration. The goal of this policy is to increase participation and opportunities for parental involvement within the school and recognize that the school, students and parents share the responsibility for each child’s education.

The Board understands that a supportive home environment is vital for student success; varied and persistent communication is key to make the home-school connection work; active parental support through volunteering improves the environment around the school; connecting what is being taught in the classroom to the home will help parents and teachers educate students; all parties benefit when parents take an active role in decisions in and around the school and that schools and families are part of a larger community. When schools, families and communities work together, they strengthen student achievement and the school’s role in the community structure.

This policy’s positive attribute is that it requires each school to make its own, unique plan under general, sweeping paradigms. It is not a heavy-handed, top-down edict, but a comprehensive, building-level approach. The school board does not tell each school how they will involve parents in volunteering or how schools and teachers are to communicate with the community. It simply requires the school to have a plan with the goal of increasing opportunities of parental participation.

Each school within a school district is unique. Some districts, like Little Rock, may be a mix of neighborhood-centered elementary schools and magnet schools that have a wide-arrangement of students from different communities both inside and outside the city limits. This policy recognizes that a one-size fits all approach may not be best for all schools at all grade levels.

The challenge of this policy is to whom do they submit such a plan and who is to oversee that each school is following the guidelines set by the Board. Also, who in the school is responsible for producing such a document and under what umbrella of research are they to base their strategies? While these questions do linger, ultimately, it is the individual schools responsibility, and by association, the principal’s duty to decide what is the best approach for their school.

Overall, this is a satisfactory policy. As stated earlier, it is not heavy handed, but it creates clear areas of focus, primarily the six types of parental involvement. Its simple goal of increasing participation and opportunities within the school is a positive first step toward improving parental involvement. It is a comprehensive approach that allows each individual PreK-12 school to enact building-level policies that best suit the unique nature of that school. It recognizes a neighborhood-based elementary school has opportunities and challenges that a large, sprawling high school may not share.