Parent involvement is critical for both children and schools. Some of the benefits of parental involvement for children include higher reading scores, higher grades on homework, and improved attitudes toward school. Parental involvement in schools helps improve relationships between parents and teachers. When parents participate in their children's education, they also become more supportive and confident with their children and more likely to support school bond issues [1]. Currently, a variety of programs around the country are working to make parent involvement more frequent and effective.

One program available in Illinois is Solid Foundation. Developed in December 2000 by the Lincoln Family Education Center, the basic goals of the Solid Foundation program are to help children improve their reading, acquire study skills, and develop a sense of responsibility and respect for self and others. The program also seeks to strengthen relationships between schools and families.

Solid Foundation trains parent educators who serve as liaisons between schools and families. These parent educators reach out to families through home visits. They also make parents feel more comfortable about coming to school because they help establish a personal connection between families and schools. The presence of parent educators is also helpful to schools because parent educators have the opportunity to build relationships with parents who have not been very involved in their children's education in the past. In addition, Solid Foundation uses the U.S. Department of Education's School-Home Links reading materials in the academic component of its program, which helps to ensure that parents and children have reading activities that are both effective and consistent with Illinois Learning Standards.

This program began reaching out to parents during the summer of 2001, and based on comments, it has already had a positive impact on parents and children. Many parents and grandparents participating in the program appreciate the materials and the contact. They also feel that the school is reaching out to them and cares about what they are doing at home with their children. In some cases, the increased contact with staff and sharing of materials has led to more parent involvement, because the parent educator gave each parent or grandparent the name and phone number of a school staff person who could be called directly with questions. The personal contact made the parents feel welcome by school staff. In addition, the children were very excited to receive the reading materials. The Lincoln Family Education Center hopes to present more documented outcomes as the program progresses and expands to more schools around the state.

For More Information

Anderson, Sherlie A. (2000, Summer). How parental involvement makes a difference in reading achievement. Reading Improvement, 37(2), 61-86. (ERIC Journal No. EJ611093)

Beatson, Leslie R. (2000). Research on parental involvement in reading. New England Reading Association Journal, 36(3), 8-10.

Davies, D. (1988). Low-income parents and the schools: A research report and a plan for action. Equity and Choice, 4(3), 51-57. (ERIC Journal No. EJ374512)

Epstein, J. L. (1991). Effects of students' achievement of teacher practices of parent involvement. In S. Silvern (Ed.), Advances in reading/language research: Vol. 5. Literacy through family, community and school interaction. Greenwich, CT: JAI.

Finn, Jeremy D. (1998). Parental engagement that makes a difference. Educational Leadership, 55(8), 20-24. (ERIC Journal No. EJ565121)

Macfarlane, Eleanor C. (1994). Children's literacy development: Suggestions for parent involvement. ERIC Digest [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed365979.html (ERIC Document No. ED365979)

Maynard, Stan, & Howley, Aimee. (1997). Parent and community involvement in rural schools. ERIC Digest [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed408143.html (ERIC Document No. ED408143)

Ngeow, Karen Yeok-Hwa. (1999). Online resources for parent/family involvement. ERIC Digest [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed432775.html (ERIC Document No. ED432775)

Otto, Beverly W., & Johnson, Linda. (1996). Parents in your classroom: A valuable literacy link. Teaching PreK-8, 26, 56-57.

Peterson, David. (1989). Parent involvement in the educational process. ERIC Digest [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed312776.html (ERIC Document No. ED312776)

Solid Foundation sweeps across Illinois: IFEC partner with ISBE and 170 schools. (2001). Families & Schools: Building Learning Communities for Parents [Online], 3(3), 1-2. Available: http://www.families-schools.org/solidfoundations/newsletter.htm [Editor's note (7-1-03): this url is no longer active]

Source

[1] Funkhouser, Janie E., & Gonzales, Miriam R. (1997). Family involvement in children's education: Successful local approaches: An idea book [Online]. Available: http://npin.org/library/2001/n00522/title.html [NPIN editor's note (01-15-03): this url has changed http://npin.org/library/2001/n00522/n00522.html]