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Turning Parents into Teacher Allies

Desiree Molinar

6th Grade Teacher

AFT Teacher Leader Action Research Project

2019-2020

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Research Question

How can Parent Learning Communities empower parents to engage in their child’s academic career?

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Rationale

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Literature Review

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“Student achievement is maximized through parental involvement” (Brock & Edmunds 49)

“Learning Communities” = “individuals working together to learn with and from each other” (Wright & Willis 56)

“Parents have shown a reduction in involvement when they feel threatened as the the school work becomes more advanced” (Eccles & Brock as cited in Brock 58)

Schools could offer “parent education programs...to give parents the sense of efficacy that will inevitably lead to positive child outcomes” (Knopf & Swick 296)

Quotes for illustration purposes only

ABCUD’s administrative regulation code 1200 encourages schools to “provide parents with information and techniques that may be used at home to support their children’s academic career” and research agrees that parent involvement increases student success. However, studies also show that parents don’t feel confident to help when the work becomes more challenging, and when parents don’t feel competent they don’t participate, which means I’ve lost someone at home to keep the student accountable. One solution offered in the research was to offer curriculum workshops to parents to increase their self-efficacy; helping parents to see themselves as competent teacher proxies in the home would reinforce the learning done at school. “Parent Learning Community” isn’t a term found in the research, but “Learning Community” is, and the idea is that sessions are to be a platform where everyone has a voice and the aim is to learn from each other rather than present a lecture format with speaker-listeners.

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Research Design

Our school actually held a “PLC” before, then it stood for “Parent Leadership Conference”, and parents spent a Saturday morning attending different workshops featuring programs we use at our school. We have Back to School Night and the PTA has hosted a “curriculum night” in the past, but I wanted something more sustainable than a one-off, and the PTA can’t provide a curriculum night for every subject in every grade level, they need to focus on fundraising for our bus trips! So I decided to host 3 parent sessions focusing on 6th grade math. But I wanted to design a space where parents didn’t feel like they were being “talked at”, “talked down to” or “scolded”. I wanted a space where I too could learn from them. Thus, the Parent Learning Community format was chosen. For topics, I looked through my recent parent messages and conference notes to find the top 3 “hot button” issues in 6th grade math and used these as themes for the series.

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Top 3 issues that most confuse/frustrate Parents at home:

Homework

The “Enhanced” Topical Tests from Pearson and how to go over incorrect problems

SBAC and What to Expect in 7th grade Math

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3 Sessions
1 hour long
Guest Speakers
Wednesday evenings
All parents of 6th grade students invited
Free Food, Childcare, Take-home Worksheets,

Raffle Ticket for Free Yearbook

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Norms & Pre-Survey

*Respect all voices

*Assume good intentions

*Share -- you have something important to say!

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*PLC 1 - Homework

-Student and Parent speakers on time management and homework habits

-available digital resources/ math videos

-sample homework problems

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*PLC 2 -- Tests

-Showed Study Guides

- Trained parents in how to ask questions about Test results

-Guest Speakers -former student

-Sample test problems

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*PLC # 3-- SBAC and What to Expect in 7th grade Math

-Showed parents how to find SBAC practice tests

-We did practice SBAC problems together

-Guest Speaker: Haskell 7th grade Math Teacher

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*Post- Survey

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Data & Analysis

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PLC #1

Homework

Pre-Survey Post-Survey

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PLC #2 Tests

Pre-Survey Post-Survey

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PLC #3 SBAC

Pres-Survey Post-Survey

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Recommendations

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*Hold PLCs early in the school year to proactively build teacher-parent relationships

*Earmark LCAP money to fund PLC budget (food, daycare, swag incentives)

*Encourage Principals to support teachers who facilitate Parent Learning Communities

On the feedback portion of the survey, one parent suggested these PLCs should begin in October as February felt too late and I agree; after the first progress report is when parents seem most receptive to suggestions on how to support student learning. My first PLC budget came out of pocket as I purchased the food and paid a teacher to watch the children; teachers would be more inclined to host these sessions if financial logistics were not a personal burden. When my Principal found out, he told me he would take care of the food and daycare and he became my caterer and babysitter all in one night. Which brings me to the last point: just as parents need a sense of self-efficacy, teachers do as well. My Principal was at every meeting, my biggest cheerleader, ready to affirm me after every session. Teachers need to hear they are doing a good job, it fuels us to want to try new things and I encourage Principals to not only say Yes when their teachers come to them with ideas, but also Yes to helping them execute.