Research abstracts for Partnership

Content

Community Involvement in Schools: From Concept to Practice

M G Sanders (2003), Education and Urban Society, 35 (2) 161

This reviews the current theoretical and empirical literature on community involvement in schools, describing different rationales for community involvement. It discusses four major forms of school-community partnerships - business, university, service learning, and school-linked service integration and considers the factors influencing their implementation and results. It offers suggestions for increasing the capacity of community involvement in schools to positively affect pupils, professional educators, families, and communities.

Building Bridges Toward Excellence: Community Involvement in High Schools

M G Sanders and K C Lewis (2005), High School Journal, 88 (3), 1, University of North Carolina Press

Despite increasing interest in the role of community involvement in school improvement, few studies have examined the motivations for, or the results of, community partnership development in high schools. The authors conducted case studies of three high schools with successful community partnerships. They found that the high school leaders' motivation for community partnership development fell into three inter-related categories: first, improving student academic and personal success, second, enhancing school quality, and third, supporting community development. The high schools developed an array of community partnership activities that reflected these different motivations for partnership development. The article concludes with case study school leaders' advice for building effective school-community connections.

Excellence in Cities Research Report 2005

NFER, Excellence in Cities: The National Evaluation of a Policy to Raise Standards in Urban Schools 2000-2003

Excellence in Cities (EiC) is a UK government policy designed to raise standards in urban schools. It aims to offer diversity of provision so that the needs of all pupils are met within a framework of cooperation and partnership between schools. Each partnership includes a local education authority (LEA) and all its secondary schools. During the period of the evaluation, EiC had a number of key objectives including support for gifted and talented pupils, the provision of learning mentors to support young people facing barriers to learning, learning support units (LSUs) for pupils who would benefit from time away from the normal classroom and city learning centres (CLCs) providing state-of-the-art ICT resources for a small number of schools.

The greatest impact of EiC was in relation to attainment in mathematics at the end of key stage 3 (11-14) for pupils in the most disadvantaged schools. Overall, pupils attending EiC schools had higher levels of attainment in mathematics than otherwise similar pupils attending schools that were not part of EiC, after taking into account a range of school and pupil factors including attainment at the end of key stage 2.

EiC was also found to have promoted a positive ethos towards learning and to have improved pupils’ motivation and behaviour.

Leading Edge Partnership Programme: An Overview of the Interim Findings - A Qualitative Study

D Reynolds (2004)

The aims of the programme are to establish and develop effective partnerships of schools with a focus on raising the attainment of the bottom 20% of pupils; support the partnerships in developing and sharing innovative approaches to teaching, learning and leadership; build capacity within and between schools for system-wide improvement; and develop a national policy based on informed professionalism. There are 205 partnerships currently in operation with 103 in Cohort 1 (2003-06) and 102 in Cohort 2 (2004-07).

The evaluation revealed many examples of the productive ways partnerships have found to enhance pupil learning and teachers’ professional development by new ways of working. The main benefits of the programme were seen as: it reaches directly to classroom practitioners; it has enabled them to weigh up and take risks; it promotes network-based professional learning and it raises staff motivation through opportunities for all to contribute. The key task now is to ensure that all schools have access to the approaches of the best schools, so that all partnerships develop on sound foundations.

International perspectives on families, schools, and communities: Educational implications for family–school–community partnerships

R.-A.M. Gonzalez, International Journal of Educational Research, Volume 41, Issue 1, 2004

The school alone cannot compensate for social inequalities. They need parental involvement in their children's education; they also need to collaborate with parents and other social agencies to promote family–school–community partnerships. This partnership will contribute to the development of both effective parenting competencies, and personal and intellectual competencies in children. Social inequalities may be approached more effectively when parents, teachers, administrators, and those in any community work together as partners. Families and students’ needs, as well as social and cultural diversity need to be taken into account when developing partnerships.

School, family and community partnership, Preparing Educators and Improving Schools

Epstein, J.L. (2001), Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado

Epstein proposed the model of ‘Overlapping Spheres of Influence’ of family, school, and community on children's learning to convey the importance of and to understand the need for family–school–community partnerships. This model assumes that children have greater school success when their parents, school personnel, and community members work together to support students’ learning. Collaboration among these educational agents contributes to the efforts towards effective and efficient personal, academic and social success for children.

Collaboration between Teachers and Parents in Assisting Children's Reading

J Tizard, W N Schofield and J Hewison (1982), British Journal of Educational Psychology 52 (1): 1-15

This is the principal published report of the Haringey Project. Two classes of children from different schools were in the project for a two-year period from the beginning of top infants to the end of first year juniors. These children took reading books home regularly and their parents were given encouragement and support in hearing them read at home, including home visits by researchers. The reading attainment of project children, as measured by NFER reading Test A, was significantly higher at the end of the two years than that of other children in parallel control classes in the same schools although there had been no pre-test extra differences. Although there was a highly significant improvement by children who received practice at home, there was no comparable improvement by children who received extra help at school.

Some children who were reading to their parents who could not themselves read English, or who, in a few cases, could not read at all, still showed improvement in their reading, and their parents remained willing to collaborate with the school. The parents involved in the study expressed great satisfaction in being involved and teachers reported that the children of these parents showed an increased keenness for learning and were better behaved at school.

Young Children at School in the Inner City

B Tizard, P Blatchford, J Burke, C Farquhar and I Plewis (1988), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

In a longitudinal study of children's school achievements and progress starting at school entry, the study found that children who performed well on tests of literacy just before compulsory schooling were most likely to be performing well at age 7. Children of parents who provided more exposure to books and who had the most positive attitude towards helping the children at home scored more highly on tests of reading and writing than other children.

Attainment in Secondary School

L Feinstein and J Symons (1997), Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, Discussion Paper 341

Parental involvement in a child’s schooling is a more powerful force than other family background indicators such as social class, family size and level of parental education, and contributes to no less than 10% of variation in achievement. Very high parental interest is associated with better exam results than for children whose parents show no interest. Children with very interested parents progressed 15-17% more in mathematics and reading between ages 11 and 16. The involvement of parents in secondary education has an effect on continued development.

Homework: a Review of Recent Research

C Sharp, W Keys and P Benfield (2001), NFER

Research indicates that pupils and parents consider homework and home learning to be an important part of school life. Parents are more directly involved in homework when their children are younger, and there is a positive relationship between time spent on homework and achievement at secondary school level.

The evidence further confirms that parents play an important role, encouraging their children to spend time on homework and eliminating distractions such as watching television. Positive attitudes to homework are associated with positive attitudes at school.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001

In every country there was a positive relationship between reading achievement at fourth grade and students having engaged in early literacy activities before starting school (e.g., reading books, telling stories, singing songs, playing with alphabet toys, and playing word games). Parents generally reported a fairly high level of engagement, with England and Scotland reporting the highest levels.

In every country, fourth-grade students from homes with many children’s books (more than 100) had higher reading achievement than those from homes with few children’s books (10 or less). Internationally, on average, the majority of students (58%) were in homes with more than 25 children’s books. Across countries, on average, students with the highest reading achievement had parents who spent time reading (more than six hours per week) and their parents had favourable attitudes toward reading.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006

In PIRLS 2006 there was also a positive relationship between students’ reading achievement at the fourth grade and parents having engaged their children in early literacy activities before starting school (e.g., reading books, telling stories, singing songs, playing with alphabet toys, and playing word games). Although parents generally reported a fairly high level of engagement in PIRLS 2001, it was encouraging that parents in 14 countries reported increases in PIRLS 2006.

Evaluation of students’ knowledge and attitudes in the teachers involve parents in schoolwork (TIPS)

Epstein, J.L., & Dauber, S.L. (1989), Social studies and art program. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). San Francisco, CA.

Epstein & Dauber analyzed the effects of parent–teacher partnerships on children's attitudes and school achievement. Results showed that children whose parents have more contact with schools are more independent, take more initiative, and perform better than those whose parents have less contact with teachers. This study and another by the same authors in 1995 also found that when parents participate in school and take part in decision-making, the family influence on children's behaviour is stronger than the school, social class, or ethnicity.

Family background factors and mathematics success: A comparison of Chinese and US students

Debbie Baofeng Wang,International Journal of Educational Research, Volume 41, Issue 1, 2004

Using the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to compare Hong Kong and the US, the study discusses 13 mathematics-related family factors. For example, parenting styles, academic preparation at home, parental expectations, and having children spend less time playing, watching TV, and dating, are compared and discussed. The study indicates that Hong Kong and US seventh and eighth graders had higher scores in different family background factors. The study discusses implications on engaging parents in certain extracurricular programmes, such as remedial or enrichment programmes for students of different academic levels. It also suggests that schools might consider extending school time or collaborate with parents on establishing after school programmes where students are exposed to more academic related activities. Recommendations also include involving parents in decisions about development and implementation of the academic-related programmes.

Families and education

Occasional Papers Series, No. 18 Vienna: UNESCO 1995.

This report states that it is unproductive to focus exclusively on school-based programmes when research indicates that family processes and participation in the education of children greatly enhances the impact of schooling and improves its quality. In relation to children's academic assessment, it describes many examples of family–school partnerships that have shown to be positive on family attitudes towards schooling.

Research abstracts for other areas

Learning and Teaching

Vision and Leadership

People

Culture and Ethos

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