It’s often said, ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ and when it comes to their academic achievement, the saying certainly stands strong. For a student trying to succeed in school, it takes more than just a great school system or dedicated teacher to reach success; it requires the intervention and involvement of a child’s caretakers and community for them to reach their full academic potential. Increased community and family engagement in schools has been proven to lead to higher rates of literary acquisition among children, increased rates of going on to secondary education, and decreased rates of dropouts.[1] Because parental and community engagement is crucial to a successful student’s learning process, it is worth exploring the forms that this engagement can take and the impact it can induce. 

What is Parental and Community Engagement?

Parental and community engagement in schools can be defined as a multifaceted concept that involves building purposeful relationships between schools, families, and other proximal community members.[2] This engagement is symbiotic and is about collaboration, communication, and shared power in hopes of enriching the educational experience of students outside and inside of school. Engagement of this type aims to be more expansive than simple bake sales or student carpool but is rather about a network of communication and goals in which schools collaborate with caretakers and the community with one target in mind: improving student success. Yet, it isn’t so simple—family and community engagement require sufficient resources, infrastructure, and leadership to be effective.[3]

How It Works

This type of engagement works on multiple levels starting at home and spanning to the school district, given its definition as ‘multifaceted.’ For parents and caretakers at home, one method of simple parental engagement to boost student academic achievement is to monitor and assist when a student is doing their homework by providing helpful resources, such as answer keys, homework-themed nights, and accommodations for English-learning caregivers.[4] It’s also helpful to conduct work surveys that identify how work hours, extracurriculars, and holidays impact family members’ schedules with engagement at school or with a student concerning their academics. It is through collaborative efforts between parents, communities, and educational environments taking a holistic approach towards promoting and addressing the diverse needs of the students and their families that makes family and community engagement work.[5] 

Positive Impact

There are a plethora of positive effects proven to come from effective family and community engagement in educational environments. Research is consistent and compelling about the positive impact of this engagement in schools; when communities and families come together with schools, students tend to achieve better academic outcomes, stay in school longer, and enjoy school more. This research rings true across class, culture, income, education, race, and even a student’s age.[6] The benefits for this engagement also affect everyone involved. The students enjoy higher grades, better engagement and attendance, greater self-esteem, and higher rates of post secondary education. Educators have increased job satisfaction, success in engaging and motivating students from diverse homes, more support from families, and a better outlook about students and learning. Families enjoy stronger relationships with their children, better rapport with educators, and learn how to navigate the school system so their children can be advocated for and feel less isolated. Schools face higher morale among staff, greater retention of teachers, and more support from the broader community at large.[3] Overall, family and community engagement can have a significantly positive impact on student learning.

Challenges

A particular problem that’s faced on the national level which is relevant to community and family engagement is that of chronic absenteeism. Chronic absence has nearly doubled from 16% before the pandemic to around 30% in the 2020-2021 school year, meaning 14.7 million students were absent during that year. Obviously, much of this can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns which saw most students moving out of the classrooms onto computers. To combat this absenteeism after returning back to the classroom in recent years, some schools have instituted different incentivizing programs from class pizza parties to promote good attendance to family-teacher home visits that drastically reduce chronic absenteeism.[7] Schools could also support families by providing workshops, tip sheets, and general messaging concerning the importance of positive attendance.

But to truly unlock the full potential of family and community engagement at school, we must look towards the idea of equity. It’s true that not all families start from the same point in their engagement journey with a student’s education, and by adopting an equity-focused approach, the importance of reaching traditionally underserved and marginalized communities is acknowledged. It’s also necessary at times for educators and school staff to appropriately reach out to families who have been overlooked by the educational system in the past.  

As outlined above, the importance of parents, caretakers, and community members collaborating with educators and school staff to ensure that the quality of student’s education is up to par is paramount to an improved learning environment. Although it can be difficult at times with work and the business of life for parents and caretakers to take the time and engage with their children and their educators about getting on the same page concerning their student’s education, this relationship should be something that is paramount to a parent and caretaker’s goals in improving their student’s educational experience. 

Publishing Solutions Group

With so much burgeoning research that points towards the benefits of parental and community involvement in a student’s learning process, it is important to us as a K-12 content development company to emphasize the positive impact that this engagement produces on students. We at Publishing Solutions Group encourage parents and empower educators by providing the tools they need to do the vital work of collaborating with each other to ensure their student’s academic success.

[1] https://www.familiesandschools.org/blog/the-importance-of-parent-engagement-a-list-of-research-and-thought-leadership/

[2] https://parentpowered.com/blog/family-engagement/family-and-community-engagement-in-schools/#:~:text=Community%20engagement%20is%20a%20multifaceted,the%20educational%20experiences%20of%20students

[3] https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/23/03/case-strong-family-and-community-engagement-schools

[4] https://www.hanoverresearch.com/insights-blog/k-12-education/top-benefits-of-family-and-community-engagement/

[5]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379041448_PARENT_AND_COMMUNITY_INVOLVEMENT_IN_EDUCATION_STRENGTHENING_PARTNERSHIPS_FOR_SOCIAL_IMPROVEMENT

[6] Henderson, A, K. Mapp, V. Johnson, and D. Davies. 2007. Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family/School Partnerships. New York: New Press.

[7] https://pthvp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/student-outcomes-and-parent-teacher-home-visits.pdf

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