A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Overview

Recent educational reform by the U.S. Department of Education, such as GOALS 2000, stresses parental participation in children's schooling as a primary goal. Many other educational reforms and policies -- from site-based management to family support initiatives -- emphasize building relationships among families, schools, and communities to promote children's academic success. The priority of family involvement grows out of convincing evidence of the strong contributions that families make to student achievement and school quality.

School efforts to promote family involvement in children's education will succeed only if teachers are adequately prepared to support these efforts. The high standards of professional development that policymakers espouse for teachers of core academic subjects applies equally to partnerships for family involvement. Teachers -- from prekindergarten to secondary school -- need skills to create the positive family partnerships that result in student success and improved schools.

Teacher preparation in family involvement lags far behind school efforts to promote family involvement, however. In 1992, the initial research for this report found that teacher certification requirements in the majority of states did not mention family involvement. States whose certification requirements did allude to family involvement, however, often defined family involvement in vague terms. Likewise, most teacher education programs did not offer substantial training in family involvement. Training that was conducted was often limited in scope of content and teaching methods. Thus, a serious discrepancy existed between preservice preparation and the types of family involvement activities that teachers were increasingly being expected to perform in schools.

Subsequent research identified the new knowledge and skills that teachers needed in order to work effectively with families. These ranged from a basic understanding of the benefits of and barriers to family involvement, to more specialized skills related to enhancing parent participation in governance roles. A framework of content areas for teacher preparation includes the following: (1) general family involvement, (2) general family knowledge, (3) home-school communication, (4) family involvement in learning activities, (5) families supporting schools, (6) schools supporting families, and (7) families as change agents. This framework also recognizes that schools need to reinforce teacher preparation in family involvement. Teachers are likely to apply their skills in schools that promote broad family involvement policies.

The research further revealed that, while the overall picture of teacher preparation in family involvement was dismal, isolated but promising teacher education programs did exist. These programs offered many courses covering a broad range of content areas. They also exposed students to hands-on experiences working with families.

Several recommendations have emerged from the research. The field needs a national network that supports model development, provides technical assistance, and serves as a clearinghouse for information. Research and evaluation on the effectiveness of programs that prepare teachers to work with families will also benefit the field, as will policy guidelines that offer clearer and more comprehensive definitions of family involvement. Also, efforts should be made to encourage family involvement training for teachers who will be working at all grade levels. Furthermore, the support of professional organizations can be crucial for preparing teachers, by giving legitimacy to the relatively new field of family involvement in children's education. In addition to preservice education, the provision of inservice training for teachers will increase the likelihood that they will employ on a widespread basis their newly-acquired skills in working with families. Finally, teaching and learning should move beyond traditional methods toward experiential methods that are more likely to equip teachers with the problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills needed to create meaningful relationships with students and families.
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[Preface]

[I. The Case for Teacher Preparation in Family Involvement]