BEYOND THE BAKE SALE
CHAPTER 3
READY, SET, GO!
How do You Know if You’re Really Open to
Partnership?
How Do You Know if You are Really
Open to Partnership?
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Most schools across the country agree that
families must be involved in their children’s
education and that home-school partnerships are
important.
With such overwhelming agreement, why can’t we
find REAL partnerships in EVERY school?
“The reality is that educators and parents have
beliefs, attitudes, and fears about each other that
hinder their coming together to promote children’s
education.”
Page 27
SO THE ANSWER TO “ARE FAMILYSCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS IMPORTANT?
TENDS TO BE “YES, BUT…”
“Before we can create strong and effective
partnerships with families, we have to believe not
only that it’s important but also that it can be done –
and that we can do it. That means it’s necessary for
school staff to hold a set of positive beliefs about
family engagement.
Page 27
I Believe Partnership with Families is
Important…
“When teachers reach out with the goal of
building partnerships based on mutual respect
and common purpose, families will respond.”
All schools must use what Beyond the Bake
Sale describes as 4 Core Beliefs.
Page 28
Core Belief 1: All Parents Have
Dreams for Their Children and
Want the Best for Them
“It is vital for educators to understand that the families
who send their children to them each day want their
children to succeed in school and in life. Yes, families may
say or do things that lead us to wonder if they respect the
importance of education. But these actions and behaviors
often are triggered by other stressful factors in parents’
lives.”
CORE BELIEF 1
Page 28
Educators can help to foster these dreams……
Communicate with Families
Child’s Name
Date
Family Contact Log
* P=Phone N=Note
Type of
Contact *
E=Email
Person
Contacted
Comments
C=Classroom O=Other
Research Brief:

Research states that families of all backgrounds
feel college is essential.

“Not only do many parents of color value K-12
education, they feel college is essential for their
child. In a survey of African American, Hispanic,
and white parents, Public Agenda found that
parents of color actually placed a greater priority
on higher education than the white parents.”
Page 29
CORE BELIEF 1
Suggested Steps for Action…
Workshops for families to identify dreams and help them achieve them for their
children by:

Showing families effective ways to support their children’s learning.

Giving families ideas about how to talk with their children about their goals
and dreams.

Explaining the steps that children at their current grade in school must take
to complete the classes and programs required to reach their goals. What
programs are available at the next level that will give them knowledge and
skills they need for postsecondary education or training?
Pages 31-32
What about parents who really don’t want to be involved? Those children
must have another adult to support them. Remember over 4 million children
are being raised by grandparents or a close family friend or neighbor.
WHAT CAN WE DO?

Use school volunteers to act as Big Brother/Big
Sister type role models to tutor and encourage the
students that need support

Use Benchmarks and mClass to identify children
that need help and also target the children that
you know do not have home support.
Core Belief 2: All Parents Have the
Capacity to Support Their
Children’s Learning
“Regardless of how little formal education they may have or what
language they speak, all parents can contribute to their children’s
learning. Parents’ knowledge, talents, and experiences in life give
them plenty of capacity for assisting their children with school
skills – but school staff may need to help parents understand and
use that capacity. All parents have “funds of knowledge” about
their children and the community that should be respected and
tapped by school staff.”
CORE BELIEF 2
Page 32
Researchers found that three key concepts influence
the choices parents make about being involved in
their children’s education…
3 Key Concepts that influence parent participation
1. How parents develop their job description as
a parent.
 What parents think they are supposed to do to help their
children.
 What family and friends tell them is important in helping their
children.
 Cultural background and surroundings
Page 33
3 Key Concepts that influence parent participation
2. How confident parents feel about their ability to
help their children. Parents are more likely to
become involved if they feel that:
 They have the skills and knowledge needed to help their
children
 Their children can learn what they have to share and teach
 They can find other sources of skill or knowledge if needed
 What they do will make a positive difference in their children’s
learning
Page 33
3 Key Concepts that influence parent participation
3. Whether parents feel invited – both by their
children and by the school
 Parents are more motivated to support their children’s
learning when they receive clear invitations and support from
teachers and other school staff to be engaged, are confident
about their ability to support their children, and are clear
about what they should do to support their child’s learning.
Page 34
How can we help parents participate?
Develop family job descriptions:

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Use and update the family-school compact each
year with family participation
Recruit families to be “role models” for new arriving
families
List the school’s expectations for family involvement
in the school handbook and explain at open house
or other activities
Ask families from different cultures to share their
values
Pages 34-35
How can we help parents participate?
Build families’ confidence in their ability to help their
children

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Offer workshops and materials to give families skills
and information
Send home learning packets, educational games,
and videos that are linked to what children are
learning in class
Invite families to observe what children are learning
in the classroom
Remind families of how they are their child’s first
teacher at parent-teacher conferences
Page 35
How can we help parents participate?
Making sure all families feel welcome and invited by
school staff and their children

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Offer home visits to families to get to know them
and build a personal connection
Following up flyers and notices of activities with
phone calls and invitations from the children
Survey families to see how they would like to be
involved offering a range of ways to be involved
Pages 35-36
Core Belief 3: Parents and School
Staff Should Be Equal Partners
School staff should receive
professional development to help
them work with families and
families should be taught how to
support learning at home.
CORE BELIEF 3
Pages 36-37
The school and family relationship should be mutual
and not lopsided…For example:
Example of RELATIONSHIPS
Lopsided relationships

“Have your children
follow my directions
about their homework
and other
assignments.”
Mutual relationships

“Here are some ways
to monitor your
children’s homework
and build their skills.
Tell us what else you
do to help your
children.”
Page 37
Suggestions for including families as Equal Partners:


Engage families in
planning how they
want to be involved in
school.
Consult a
representative group
of parents, not only
those who attend
PTA/PTO.

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Invite families to
observe in classrooms,
review books and
materials, and visit
other schools for
ideas.
Invite families to
attend staff
development and
faculty meetings.
Pages 38-39
Suggestions for including families as Equal Partners:

Offer workshops about
topics they suggest.

Involve families in
action research – for
example, surveying
families about school
climate, what
workshops and
activities families are
interested in, and the
best ways and times to
communicate about
their child’s learning.
Page 39
Core Belief 4: The Responsibility
for Building Partnerships Between
School and Home Rests Primarily
with School Staff, Especially
School Leaders
“To create a climate and culture that supports
partnership with parents, strong leadership is
essential from both the principal and teachers.”
CORE BELIEF 4
Page 39
How can we do this?
Brainstorm what would improve parent and
family involvement at your school.
Take 3 minutes to make a quick list of what would improve
parent and family involvement at your school.
When you hear this clapping sound, please stop and finish this
PPT presentation.
Beyond the Bake Sale Suggests…
Grouping your lists into two columns
What would improve family
involvement – looking out the
window
What would improve family
involvement – looking in the mirror
Just to think about…
Looking out the window list
examples
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More respect for the value of
education
Parents who are more
motivated
More money to hire staff
who can work with families
More parent involvement
programs run by the district
More discipline and better
behavior in the home
Looking in the mirror list examples
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A more welcoming school
building and front office
Positive phone calls home at
least once a month
Workshops on reading and
math
More planning time to meet
with families
A family center stocked with
learning materials that
families can take home
Page 42
There are Barriers to improving family engagement!
Who is going to do all this?
Beyond the Bake Sale suggest appointing a team of people. It is too
big a job for one person to increase family engagement. The book
suggest using the SIT which “includes a partnership team of
teachers, parents, and administrators who work together to make
sure that school, family, and community partnership are well
designed, integrated, and goal oriented.”
Take one step at a time to help increase family engagement.
Remember, family engagement means “regular, two-way,
and meaningful communication about student
learning and other school activities.”
Family Engagement is about children learning and growing with
families and schools partnering together.
What are we already doing?
 Participating in Family Friendly Walkthroughs
 Contacting families with positive comments & documenting contacts using
a contact log
 Giving parents tips in newsletters for what to work on at home
 Using School Messenger
 Giving personal invitations to families to attend events
 Having students send invitations to remind parents about events
 Hosting events for families
 Involving families in planning the events
 Giving families activities to do at home with their children
 Giving families books and reading strategies to use at home
 Having family resource centers
 Parent-teacher conferences
 Having an open-door policy to help families with school concerns
 Etc., etc. etc….
So, what should we do next?
Homework
Go to http://tinyurl.com/adror7
1) Review Joyce Epstein’s six types of parent
involvement
2) Remember you chose one of these six strategies to
focus on from Beyond the Bake Sale Chapter 1.
3) Review the one “sample practice” item that your
school chose to focus on to improve this year.
4) Document your progress in this area and send to
terri.scott@stanlycountyschools.org to share how
your school is increasing family engagement using
this strategy.