Madison schools identify family involvement as key to closing achievement gap

As Sandy Xiong, a former student in the Madison Metropolitan School District explains it, each parent in the district has a different idea of what family engagement means. “Every family has a different idea of being involved with school. It might be just dropping your kid off. For some parents it’s probably going to PTA meetings.”

Regardless of different interpretations of family engagement, the Madison School District plan for closing the achievement gap includes a chapter on increasing family involvement both in and outside of the school day.

The plan includes research showing that children whose caregivers share responsibility for their education by becoming and staying involved are more likely to enter school ready to succeed and remain in school, graduating with the skills necessary to continue to succeed.

The family involvement chapter proposes multiple strategies to engage families, including: implementing parent liaisons to bridge connections between the district and parents, starting a Parent University to inform parents about their child’s education, and operating an Open Schoolhouse model that will make schools more accessible to the community for use of their resources.

Additionally, the plan includes plans to collaborate with the larger community over a Parent-Child Home Program. This Program will send trained paraprofessionals to family homes to provide social-emotional and literacy development for two- and three-year-old children who could be at risk for falling behind in school in the future. 

Parents, students and community members met to discuss these plans during a series of community meetings in February and March, discussing the things they like about the chapter and what they felt was missing.

For many that attended the series of discussions on the chapter, a key concern was ensuring staff members understand the differences in families and cultures.

According to the plan, parent liaisons will work with the school district to create an outreach strategy to connect with parents. They will also work with principals to develop parent networks and build social capital in schools and neighborhoods.

As bi-cultural community members, the parent liaisons will serve as a communication bridge between the school, families and community by answering questions and facilitating parent involvement with the school.

The idea of having that link between school officials and parents was important to many of the citizens attending the meetings on the plan.

Mike Jackson, a father of children in the district, said parents are often intimidated by teachers and feel like they aren’t welcome to ask questions. He noted that he has seen this situation in families where students have Individual Education Plans (IEPs), a plan developed to address a certain student’s needs and help him learn more effectively.

“I’ve talked to some families whose children have IEPs and some of the parents don’t even know what the IEP is,” Jackson said. “They’ll go to some of the meetings and they’ll sit and they’ll listen, but some of them are afraid to say ‘I don’t know what this is. Can you explain this to me?’”

Bridget Rodgers, an area social worker, agreed with Jackson’s statement, saying that she has attended meetings with parents who are worried about asking questions to MMSD staff members.

Parent liaisons will be expected to assist with ending this disconnect by working with school staff to provide knowledge of cultural differences and relevant practices, as well as parent empowerment practices. An additional goal is to support families in accessing school and community resources and navigating barriers.

If the plan is approved by the Board of Education, liaisons for the program will be recruited, hired and trained this summer, with the roles being implemented in the fall.

In addition to parent liaisons, the school district plans to host Saturday learning sessions for parents during the academic year as part of the Parent University program.

The plan describes Parent University as an opportunity for parents to learn about topics regarding their children’s education, from child development to effective parenting skills. Parents will also learn about opportunities to be involved with the school district and their child’s academic progress.

The idea of classes was well received by many. Jackson suggested having classes for parents with children who have education plans.

“I think it will be an important thing to have an IEP training class for parents,” he said. “When parents feel comfortable with that, then they’ll become more involved with coming to the school and feeling more comfortable talking with the teachers.”

A Virtual Family Resource Center will also be available to those in the school community. There, parents can access information on community and health care needs, as well as participate in on-line training on topics such as academic success and parenting. Staff will also be able to access the resource center for information on subjects including effective communication, customer service, and sensitivity toward diverse family situations.

Discussions on this aspect of the plan raised concerns about whether families without access to the Internet would have a disadvantage if they were interested in accessing the virtual center.

One way to address the issue could be with the growth of the already active Open Schoolhouse Model that Orchard Ridge Elementary School and the Meadowood Neighborhood Center have used since 2011. The Open Schoolhouse invites families to come to the school and take part in activities like open gym, cooking and nutrition classes, and computer classes.

The school district would like to expand the model to at least one elementary school in each of the four high school attendance areas during 2012 and 2013.

The district also plans to work with the City of Madison to integrate neighborhood resource teams into the plan. The YMCA will play a role in the development as the district works to expand the program into more areas with more available times for the community.

A final section of the chapter, the Parent-Child Home Program, places an emphasis on preventing achievement gaps from an early age by encouraging parents to develop reading, language, and other learning skills through play with children. The school district plans to collaborate with the United Way of Dane County to send paraprofessionals to family homes to work on this development.

School district administrators will supervise the program and recruit four home visitors and six volunteer home visitors over the spring, summer and fall of 2012, according to the plan.

The estimated budget for the Family Engagement practices during the 2012-2013 school year allocates over $1.86 million to providing parent liaisons, creating a family engagement plan and implementing the Parent-Child Program. This budget is only part of the $105.6 million plan to close the achievement gap in Madison schools over the next five years.

For additional information on the achievement gap, visit the MMSD website. Or, to read more about another chapter of the plan, read our coverage of Diverse and Qualified Workforce,  College and Career Readiness and Culturally Relevant Practices.