POP! Power of Parents

From federal law to N.C. State Board of Education policy to the Durham Public Schools Vision Statement, the stated goal is for parents to be involved in their children’s education.  In this school district, there are multiple opportunities for parents to be involved, from serving on PTAs and site-based teams to providing direct help to their children and ensuring that kids are in school every day ready to learn.  DPS Superintendent Carl Harris and the Board of Education feel so strongly about parent involvement that they established staff positions in 2006-07 to serve outreach roles to parents and to volunteers.  Principals too are encouraged to develop numerous ways for parents to be involved. 

Excerpt from DPS Vision Statement:   “Parents choose to send their children to Durham Public Schools, and we welcome the participation of our families. Our vision includes open and honest communication with families. We empower our families to be their children’s best first teachers and to share their expertise.  Our vision includes children with loving families who nourish them, who send them to school with a warm smile every morning, who read to them each night.”

State Board of Education Parent/Family Involvement Policy

The North Carolina State Board of Education recognizes that parents/guardians, families, schools, and the community share the responsibility for the education of our children.  Creating positive home, school, and community partnerships is essential to carrying out this shared responsibility successfully.  To support the State Board’s strategic priority and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) efforts promoting high student performance, school administrators, teachers and parents/guardians must work as knowledgeable partners.

The State Board believes that schools must create an environment that is conducive to learning and supports strong family partnerships.  Collaboration between all school personnel and parents/guardians is essential to support student learning.  School personnel will encourage and involve parents/guardians of children at all ages and grade levels by providing and respecting a variety of opportunities for involvement, while recognizing and respecting the diverse needs of families in their community.  The NCDPI, local school districts and school personnel, in collaboration with parents/guardians, shall establish programs and practices that enhance parent/guardian involvement and reflect the specific needs of students and their families.

Local school districts, in collaboration with parents/guardians, teachers, students, and administrators must establish and develop efforts that enhance parental involvement and reflect the needs of students, parents/guardians and families in the communities they serve.  In order to enhance parental involvement, schools should promote the following essential elements:

• Communication.  Facilitate regular, two-way, and meaningful communication between home and school.  (Communication should be in a format that parents/guardians understand.)
• Parenting.  Promote and support responsible parenting. 
• Student Learning.  Inform and involve parents and caregivers in children’s learning activities so that they may play an integral role in assisting student learning.
• Volunteering.  Ensure that parents/guardians are welcome in the school and seek their support and assistance in a variety of ways.
• Advocacy and Decision-Making.  Include parents/guardians as partners in the decisions that affect children and families.
• Training.  Assess the parents’ informational needs and provide parent training based upon those needs.
• Community Collaboration.  Collaborate with community agencies and other organizations to provide resources to strengthen school programs, families, and student learning.
• Student Health.  Promote health awareness among parents/guardians by addressing the need for health programs and student health services, which are linked to student learning.

The State Board supports the NCDPI in its role to foster wider and substantive family and community involvement by:

• Identifying and sharing information with parents/guardians and families about effective educational programs;
• Collecting and disseminating information about current research, model programs, and best practices for family/school/community involvement programs;
• Providing information on effective funding sources for the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs;
• Coordinating state-level efforts to work with the private sector, foundations, and other public agencies regarding funding educational initiatives; and
• Working in partnership with higher education to address strategies for parent/family involvement in the coursework for teacher training programs.
• Working with parents/guardians to identify and access health services and programs for parents and family.

The State Board recognizes the importance of administrative leadership in setting expectations and creating a climate conducive to parental participation.  The NCDPI shall develop and implement guidelines that support professional development opportunities for school personnel to enhance understanding of effective parent involvement strategies and to develop and implement practices that involve parents/guardians in a meaningful way in the education of their children. 

In addition to programs at the school level, the State Board endorses each school district’s development, implementation, and regular evaluation of a program(s) to involve parents/guardians using, to the degree possible, the components listed above.  These partnerships are mutually beneficial.  Developing cooperative efforts and linking access to resources will ensure improved academic achievement for all students, as well as quality schools.

Engaging parents is essential to improved student achievement and to realize our mission:  North Carolina's public schools will create a system that will be customer driven with local flexibility to achieve mastery of core skills with high levels of accountability in areas of student achievement.