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NCES: 98032 February 1998 |
Overall, during the 1995-96 school year the majority of public elementary schools held activities intended to encourage parent involvement (Table 4). Ninety-seven percent of all schools held an open house or back-to-school night, and 92 percent scheduled schoolwide parent-teacher conferences. Schools also held events designed specifically to exhibit students' work or demonstrate their artistic accomplishments and athletic abilities. Arts events, such as theatrical, dance, or musical performances, were held by 96 percent of schools. Athletic demonstrations, such as team competitions or field days, were held by 85 percent of schools. Academic exhibitions, such as science fairs, were held by 84 percent of schools (Table 4).
Although schools almost universally sponsored various programs for parents, parents frequently did not attend these events. School events that feature some interaction with students' teachers appear to attract more parents than those that exhibit student performances or demonstrations. Parents were more likely to attend conferences with their children's teachers than any other type of school event open to parents (Table 4), with 57 percent of public elementary schools that held conferences indicating that "most or all" parents attended regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences held during the 1995- 96 school year. Attendance at an open house or back-to-school night was also very high, with about half (49 percent) of the schools that held such events reporting that most or all parents attended. In contrast, about one-third of all schools (36 percent) indicated that most or all parents attended arts events in which their children participated, and even fewer schools reported high levels of parent attendance at academic events such as science fairs (19 percent) or sports events (12 percent) when their children participated in these events.
While there was little variability among schools in the sponsoring of activities open to parents, parent attendance at such events showed variation across certain school characteristics (Table 5). Schools in the Southeast had considerably lower rates of parent attendance at teacher conferences, open houses, and arts events than schools in other geographic regions, with fewer schools in this region reporting that "most or all" parents typically attended these events. Relatively few schools in any region reported high levels of attendance at sports events and academic demonstrations.
Parent attendance at school-sponsored events was related to the concentration of poverty in the school, as defined by the percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. In general, as the concentration of poverty in the school increased, reports of high parent attendance decreased. For example, while 72 percent of schools with a low concentration of poverty reported that most or all parents attended the school open house, 48 percent of schools with a moderate poverty concentration, and 28 percent of schools with a high poverty concentration reported that most or all parents attended the open house. Attendance at sports events was less markedly related to poverty concentration, where differences were found between schools with low and high concentrations of poverty (19 versus 5 percent), but not when either of these groups was compared to schools with a moderate concentration of poverty. A similar pattern to that shown for concentration of poverty was found when the percentage of minority students enrolled in schools was taken into account. Schools with minority enrollments below 20 percent reported greater parent attendance at all events than schools with minority enrollments of 20 percent or more.
Goal 8 of the National Education Goals specifies that schools will actively engage parents and families in a partnership that supports the academic work of children at home and shared educational decisionmaking at school. However, in general, schools did not report considering parent input to a great extent in making decisions on school issues (see Table 6). For most of the topics included in the survey, schools indicated that parent input is considered to a moderate or small extent. Schools reported giving input from parents the most consideration on the issue that directly relates to parents--the development of parent involvement activities. Approximately one third (31 percent) of schools considered parent input to a great extent on this issue, and 37 percent considered it to a moderate extent. At the other extreme, parent input is not a factor in decisions regarding the evaluation and monitoring of teachers, with 74 percent of schools indicating that parent input is not considered in this process. Consideration of parent input did not vary across school characteristics (not shown in tables).
The majority of public elementary schools (79 percent) reported having an advisory group or policy council that includes parents (Table 7). Inclusion of parents in such an advisory group was related to the size of the school and the percentage of minority students enrolled in the school. Specifically, small schools were less likely than moderately sized or large schools to report including parents on such councils (66 versus 83-85 percent), whereas schools with minority enrollments of 20 percent or more were more likely to report having an advisory group that includes parents than were schools with minority enrollments of under 5 percent (86-89 versus 70 percent).
Schools in the West also were more likely to report including parents in an advisory group than were schools in the Northeast and Central regions of the country.
Do schools with advisory groups report giving more consideration to parent input in making decisions on school issues than schools without advisory groups? With the exception of decisions about monitoring or evaluating teachers, schools with advisory groups or policy councils that included parents were more likely to report considering parent input to a great or moderate extent than were schools without these kinds of groups (Figure 8).
Voluntary written agreements (e.g., compacts or learning contracts) are pledges that define the expectations and mutual responsibilities of schools and parents as partners in student learning and academic success. Some school districts have adopted such agreements, and school-parent compacts are included in the reauthorized guidelines of Title I funding.
About half of all schools (48 percent) reported employing these voluntary written agreements with individual parents (Table 8). Voluntary written agreements were more prevalent in city and urban fringe schools (56 and 58 percent, respectively) than in schools in towns or rural areas (38 and 39 percent). While 61 percent of the schools with minority enrollments of 50 percent or more used voluntary written agreements, 43 percent of schools with less than 20 percent minority enrollments reported using such agreements. The use of voluntary written agreements did not show differences by the concentration of poverty in the school.
Schools that reported using voluntary written agreements also were asked for whom these agreements were prepared. Of those schools using agreements, one-third prepared them for all parents, while two thirds (67 percent) prepared them only for certain groups of parents (Table 8). Schools with a high concentration of poverty were much more likely to prepare compacts for all parents than were schools with lower concentrations of poverty (51 percent versus 16-22 percent). Schools with minority enrollments of 20 percent or more also were more likely to prepare agreements for all parents (42 and 52 percent) than were schools with minority enrollments below 20 percent (19 and 16 percent).
Of the schools that reported preparing voluntary written agreements for only some of their students, 45 percent prepared them for parents of Title I students, and 80 percent prepared them for various other groups of students (not shown in tables). Other groups of students for whom such agreements were prepared included special education students, students with behavior or discipline problems, and others on an as needed basis.