1. Parental Involvement and Teacher Communication Inna Shenker Fall 2010 Edu. 7201 Prof. O’Connor~Petruso

2. Table of Contents 1.Introduction Page 1 2.Statement of the problem Page 2 3.Literature review Page 3-10 4.Practitioners/Theorists Page 11 5.Beginning Teachers Page 12 6. The Hypothesis Page 13 7.References Page 14-15

3. Introduction Being in the American school system as a student since I was eight years old in 1994, being a student-teacher in Public School 152, I noticed differences in parental involvements amongst my family, my friends families, concerns of my parents’ friends who are teachers(in different grades), and as a college student during my fieldwork. Parental involvement varies throughout neighborhoods, in cultures, communities of the schools and where the kids live, and also depending on the personal lives that the families go through (such as parents working, lack of language, not enough educational experience to help their children, and much more). My parents were trying to be involved as much as possible within the school system when I was younger. Although in the beginning, the use of English as a second, language was the barrier between my parents and my teachers to come to school often, as the same for some of my friends. Nevertheless, my parents knew the subjects I was learning really well, they were able to help me at home in Russian (with math, science, and history). We worked together with learning words, writing them, and remembering definitions I had to for my tests, I was able to learn, and my parents too. I have noticed in the public school 152, how some parents do not get involved in their child’s life when it comes to school and the ways their child slacks off and does not study, read, or care much about coming to school. One child (whom I will keep private) would not come to school much, not do his homework, but enjoyed being in the presence of others. His parents were going through a divorce, and they allowed that to reflect on their child and his studies. Sometimes, other students’ parents did not have a chance to come by for parent teacher conferences, for personal reasons, whether it was because of work, language barrier, etc. The main problem is parental involvements in schools, the ways that they can improve it, coming to the school to volunteer to help, and the teacher communication to help parents be more involved in their child’s life.

4. Statement of the Problem Parents of elementary schools (whether public, private, or charter, etc) are not always involved with the school system. Teachers are looking for different ways to get parents involved with the schools, classrooms, and at home. Parents are not coming to parent teacher conferences, responding to letters, volunteering, or helping out at home with their children for various reasons. Some reasons may be: language barrier, lack of cultural understanding, and so on. Parents and teachers need to find a way of communicating, working together, and improving ways of being involved schools and at home.

5. Communication with parents  Finding ways through cultures Joshi, Arti Eberly, Jody Konzal Jean. “ 2005. Mikatavage, Raimonda. Aldrich, James. Ford, Martin2002  Teachers learning about their students backgrounds Watkins, Thomas J..2010  Parents finding it difficult to communicate with teachers and the school staff for various reasons and vice versa Joshi, Arti Eberly, Jody Konzal Jean. 2005 Wong, Shuk Wa. Hughes, Jan N. 2006  Some parents prefer emails, where they are informed. Teachers see improvements. Tobolka, Darby. 2006. Starr, Linda 2001  Getting parents involved and allowing them to know what is happeing in the classrooms. Albee, Julie Jackson. Drew, Margaret

6. Parents’ involvement in schools ~Pros~  Parents help their children with homework Schumacher 2000. Starr 2001  Parents involve teachers’ methods in their help Floyd and Veron- Dotson2000; Jared 1997; Albee and Drew 2001  Parents discipline their children to get their homework done and on time  Teachers see improvement in working on tasks and grades Starr 2001  Parent-teacher trust Watkins 2010; Wong and Hughes 2006; Aldrich andFord 2002  Parent-teacher education on students Griffin and Steen 2010; Watkins 2010; Starr 2001  Parents know what is happening in the school system Starr, Linda 2001  Parents volunteering Huntsinger and Jose 2009

7. Parents’ Involvement in Schools ~ Cons ~  Parents do not focus on behavior, mainly on things such as: grades and focus on tasks  Teachers do not see a change or improvement on behavior  Parents have no time to come  Language barrier  Students want their parents to come, if they communicate through internet  Students’ behavior may not improve Watkins 2010 ; Quintana and Warren2008; Starr 2001; Adams Womack Shatzer & Caldarella 2010

8. Asian American/European American Parents on Education  Education is important Schumacher, Bev. 2000); Huntsinger and Jose 2009  Important to educate child at home, including more emphasis on own teaching as well Huntsinger andJose 2009  Teachers teach in class, parents teach at home Huntsinger and Jose2009  Teachers are an important part of teaching their children Huntsinger and Jose 2009  Use schools techniques at home Huntsinger and Jose 2009; Schumacher 2000; Floyd and Veron-Dotson2009  Help in classroom and in school as much as they can Huntsinger and Jose 2009

9. Latino Parents on Education  Important to volunteer Wong and Hughes 2006; Quintana and Warren 2008  Involve other parents Quintana and Warren 2008  Meetings Quintana and Warren 2008  Help in class and school Wong and Hughes 2006; Watkins 2010  Language barrier between teachers and parents Quintana and Warren 2008

10. African American Parents on Education African American Parents on Education Dialects in English are different Teachers need to learn and respect their culture There are ways to make it a positive experience for both the families and teachers when it comes to schools Families are “friendly” – hug to show affection when see each other, when in the U.S we don’t do that. Education is very important Families rely on the teachers to teach Alidou, Hassana 2000

11. Beginning Teachers * College courses * Experience in fieldwork/student teaching * Professor and student discussions Alidou, Hassana 2000

12. Theorists/Practitioners  Epstein’s theory plays an important role in education. Griffin and Steen 2010  Epstein discusses six types of involvements: 1) parenting 2) communicating 3) volunteering 4) learning at home, 5) decision making and 6) collaborating Griffin and Steen April 2010

13. Hypothesis Over a 5-6 week study in a Public School X, Ms.Y & Ms. Z will look at ways parents are involved and not involved within the classroom of 27 students. We will look into diversities of how parents view involvement in the classroom and at home. Ms Y & Z will send out a survey to the homes, call and invite parents to the classroom to volunteer, help with homework, or invite parents to volunteer on any activities outside the classroom with the students.

14. References Joshi, Arti Eberly, Jody Konzal Jean. “Dialogue across cultures: a teachers’ perceptions about communication with diverse Families.” Understanding Family Diversity. Winter 2005 Huntsinger, S. Carol. Jose, E. Paul. “Parental involvement in children’s schooling: Different meanings in different cultures.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly Volume 24, issue 4, 4th Quarter 2009 Quintana, Anita P. and Warren, Susan R. “Listening to the Voices of Latino Parent Volunteers”. Kappa Delta Pi Record Spring 2008 Tobolka, Darby. “Connecting Teachers and Parents Through the Internet” Communication December 2006 Griffin, Dana and Steen, Sam. “School-Family-Community Partnerships: Applying Epstein’s Theory of the Six Types of Involvement to School Counselor Practice". American School Counseling Association. April 2010 Schumacher, Bev. “Learning continues at home” Montessori Life. Montessori Life v.12 no.2 (Spring 2000) Floyd, Loury Ollison. Veron-Dotson, Lisa Jo. “Using home learning tool kits to facilitate family involvement.” Intervention in School and Clinic January 2009 Vol 44 numb 3 Hoover-Dempsy, Kathleen V. Battiato, Angela C. Walker, Joan M.T. Reed, Richard P. DeJong, Jennifer M. Jones, Kathleen P. “Parental involvement in homework” Educational Psychologist 2001 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Watkins, Thomas J. “Teacher communications, child achievement, and parent traits in parent involvement” The Journals of Education Research (Washington, D.C) 91(1997):3-14. Education full text. Web 13 Sep.2010 Wong, Shuk Wa. Hughes, Jan N. “Ethnicity and language contributions to dimensions of parent involvement.” School Psychology Review, 2006, Volume 35, No. 4, pp. 645-662 Jared, Elizabeth J. “Preparing new teachers to effectively communicate with parents.” Journal of Instructional Psychology v.24 (September ‘97) p.176-82

15. References Continued … Albee, Julie Jackson. Drew, Margaret “Off to the write start: a parents-teacher-child story”. Reading Horizons 41 no3 S/O 2001 Kyriakides, Leonidas “Evaluating school policy on parents working with their children in class” Journal of educational research 2000 Culp, Rex E., J.D., Howell, Christina S., Culp, Anne McDonald., Blankemeyer, Maureen. “Maltreated children’s emotional and behavioral problems: do teachers and parents see the same things?” Journal of child and family studies. Vol 10. No.1, 2001. pp39-50 Starr, Linda “Parents and teachers working together” Education World Copyright 2005 (10/07/2005) Wherry, John H. “Engagement ideas for disengaged parents.” Principal(Reston, Va) Mar/Apr 2010 Chen, Grace. “Parental involvement is key to student success”. Public School Review March 25, 2008 McDonald, Emma “Developing positive parent partnerships” Education World 10.07.2005 Mikatavage, Raimonda. Aldrich, James. Ford, Martin. “Immigration, ethnic cultures, and achievement” MultiCultural Review September 2002 Al-Hassan, Suha Gardner III, Ralph “Involving immigrant parents of students with disabilities in the educational process” Teaching exceptional children 34 No 5 May/Jun 2002 Musti-Rao, Shobana, and Gwendolyn Cartledge. "Making Home an Advantage in the Prevention of Reading Failure: Strategies for Collaborating With Parents in Urban Schools." Preventing School Failure 48.4 (2004) Ramirez, Fred. "Technology and parental involvement." The Clearing House 75.1 (2001) Guo, Yan “Communicating with parents across cultures: an investigation of an ESL parents’ night” Journal of Educational Thought Vol. 43, No. 2, 2009, 171-190 Alidou, Hassana “Preparing teachers for the education of new immigrant students form Africa” Action in teacher education Summer 2000 No.2A Adams, Michal B Womack, Sue A Shatzer, Ryan H Caldarella, Paul “Parent involvement in school-wide social skills instruction: perceptions of a home note program” Education Vo. 130 No. 3 Spring 2010 p. 513-28