Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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Building Teacher Capacity through Partnerships with
Families and School Districts: Improving Teacher Quality

Suzanne Martin, Mary Senne, Susan Donovan and Carol Kochhar-Bryant

Dr. Suzanne Martin
University of Central Florida
College of Education
4000 Central Florida Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32816
USA

Introduction

On January 8, 2001 President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law. The NCLB is an educational reform initiative intended to hold schools accountable for the learning of all students.   The Act set out a basic framework at the state, district and school level for ensuring that all students, including disadvantaged students, students with limited English proficiency, and students with disabilities, become proficient in the skills and knowledge identified in states’ standards for what all students should learn. Subsequently the President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education, A New Era:   Revitalizing Special Education for Children and Families (2002) underscored the need to found a new era that embraces increased academic achievement and improved educational outcomes for every student with a disability.   NCLB, coupled with those provisions of the IDEA that empower parents of students with disabilities to participate in developing and implementing their child’s individual education plan (IEP) and individualized family support plans (IFSP), creates a timely opportunity to foster collaboration between parents and professionals that will lead to positive outcomes for children and youth with disabilities.

            The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), in December 2004, has significantly increased the role of parents in the education of students with disabilities. The IDEA strengthens parent involvement in the education of their child.   The IDEA stresses the many levels needed for parental involvement in the educational process.   For example, parents must be notified and involved in decisions about initial evaluation, change in educational placement, and individualized education programs.   Parent participation in the educational arena is viewed as crucial in order to develop appropriate educational programs for children as well as to achieve full implementation of the law.   As early as 1995, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler stated parental involvement levels differ and are influenced by numerous factors.

Literature

            Numerous studies have shown the positive effects among school, family and community partnerships and the beneficial outcomes for students in the area of achievement, positive attitudes and behaviors (Epstein, 2001, 1991; Fan & Chan, 2001).   A review of research from the past two decades confirms the importance of parent involvement (Epstein, 2001; Hiatt-Michael, 2001).   Teachers’ efforts to involve families promote better student attendance, higher graduation rates, fewer retentions, increased levels of parent and student satisfaction with schools, more accurate diagnosis of students for placement in classes and higher achievement scores on reading and math tests.   The need for positive communication and interactions between parents of children with disabilities and the teachers who work with these children is not new.    Family participation and involvement in the system of services for infants and toddlers with disabilities has been a cornerstone of Part C of IDEA since 1985.   This participation has led to a system that encourages active collaboration between families and the providers of service to their children.  

            It is critical to focus on how special education teachers are prepared in understanding the importance of actively engaging families in the education of their children.   What better way to develop this awareness than to include families in the actual preparation of teachers?   Until recently, most state teacher certification departments did not require that teacher education programs include standards of courses on family involvement issues.   The Harvard Family Study Report (Shartrand, Weiss, Kreider, & Lopez, 1997) concluded that only 22 states had parent involvement in their credentialing standards. They collected data to determine why training teachers to work successfully with families are so critical, and how to train teachers to work in partnership with parents and families.   They confirmed three needs of teachers: (1) more direct experiences with families and communities; (2) support in making school conditions conducive to family involvement; and (3) opportunities to share successful experiences and outcomes with their colleagues.   Although the inclusion of families in the design and delivery of individualized educational plans is mandated in state and federal statute, teacher preparation programs and credentialing agencies often fail to mention the critical role that families should play in the preparation of teachers.  

            Pre-service preparation of educators is needed in the areas of general family involvement, general family knowledge, home-school communication, family involvement in learning activities, families supporting schools, schools supporting families, and families as change agents.   The critical importance, not only of talking about a practice but also living it in front of practitioners, must be applied to these concepts as we build scaffolds between families and teacher preparation programs.   The necessity to move from theory to practice allows researchers and institutions an opportunity to develop innovative ways to involve families in special education teacher preparation programs.   There is no doubt that improving the quality of teachers must coincide with opening the doors of teacher preparation programs to let families become integrally involved in curriculum design, implementation and evaluation of teacher preparation programs.  

While previous studies have focused on how to prepare teachers to work with families, they have not asked how do we involve parents and families directly in the process of restructuring needed in Institutes of Higher Education? How can they be a part of the cultural change that must occur in curriculum content, in how student performance is assessed, in how student dispositions must be shaped, and in how student internships are conducted? How do we address the biases that teacher educators and administrators may have about involving parents in the decision-making process?

Purpose of the Work

                        The purpose of this Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress   presentation is to discuss one project that used collaboration to increase communication among teachers and families of and children with disabilities.   The Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) and the No Child Left Behind Act share a common language that strengthens the role of parents in educational planning.   These laws provide the structure for many opportunities of collaboration among teachers and parents.  

The collaboration activities previously mentioned were tested with parents and teachers in two elementary schools. The first school was located high poverty, inner-city urban setting consisting of predominantly African-American students.   The second school was located in an upper-middle-class, predominantly European – American neighborhood.   The initial phase of this research included interviews with the director of exceptional education for the school district; interviews with the parents and teachers who participated in the study; and, surveys that were completed by the parents and teachers following initial focus group activity.   The number of subjects for both schools was 20.   The administration of the questionnaire to all participants occurred during the first session of the training and was repeated at the conclusion of the final session.   The questions were developed using the findings of the survey by Martin, Goldenberg, Donovan and Leaf (2002).   For example, questions such as what do you want to learn about parents/teacher collaboration?; what are your concerns about working together as parents and teachers?; as a parent or a teacher, what would help you get more involved with the education of children with disabilities?; and, how do you see parents and teachers working together?   The focus group duration was approximately 90 minutes for both school settings. Refreshments and child care were made available for all participants. Four training sessions were provided for the participants at both schools. The training sessions include group activity as well as individual parent –teacher conversations.

The most striking finding from this study   was that parents and teachers both found that, through collaboration, a greater degree of trust and a desire to problem-solve was established. Additionally, the attitudes of the teachers held towards parents affected if and how much families were willing to engage in the school setting. The overall findings indicated that communication, discussions and opportunities for interactions were the most important aspect of parent /teacher collaboration.

            The findings of this study are consistent with the research literature regarding current professional collaboration.   Unique to this project is the finding that the process of learning together and discovering similar perspectives was valued by parents and teachers while the content of the training was valued less.   The opportunity to come together as equal partners was seen as significant.   Modeling partnership through training impacted the attitudes of the participants into positive manner.

Implications

            The implications from this study suggest that teachers need to have the knowledge and skill to partner effectively with families.   Teacher preparation programs need to prepare pre-service teachers to partner with families.   Internships need to include opportunities for students to observe parent teacher collaboration at the school settings.   Student interns would benefit from engaging with families of children with disabilities prior to their work in the classroom.   Professional development activities needs to include models that demonstrate partnership through the process of collaboration.   School settings need to provide more opportunities for families and teachers to come together as equal partners.   Trainings in the school settings need to be open to families as well as teachers.   Teachers need to be creative in providing partnering opportunities for parents and families.

References:

Epstein, J. L. (2001). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Fan, S. T., & Chen, M. (2001). Parental Involvement and students’ academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 1-22.

Hiatt-Michael, D. (2001). Promising Practices for Family Involvement in School. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., & Sandler, H. M. (1997). Why do parents become involved in their children's education? Review of EducationRresearch, 3-42.

Martin, S., Goldberg, P., Donovan, S. & Leaf, R. (2002). What parents need when collaborating with teachers.   Findings of the questionnaire conducted to the auspices of a Project of National Significance, funded by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Shartrand, A. M., Weiss, H., Kreider, H., & Lopez, M. (1997). New Skills for New Schools: Preparing Teachers in Family Involvement. Harvard Family Research Project.

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