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##  Preparing Teachers To Work with Parents. ERIC Digest.                        

Outstanding teachers, such as those selected for the Milken Teaching            Award or those who achieve National Board for Professional Teaching             Standards (NBPTS) certification, regularly communicate with the                 parents of their students. These teachers appreciate the value of               home-school communication because experience has shown that                     understanding the family is essential to effectively work with the              student. RESEARCH ON PARENT INVOLVEMENTA 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 the following: better student                       attendance; higher graduation rate from high school; fewer                      retentions in the same grade; increased levels of parent and student            satisfaction with school; more accurate diagnosis f students for                educational placement in classes; reduced number of negative                    behavior reports; and, most notably, higher achievement scores on               reading and math tests. 
Based upon these findings, National                   Education Goals and Improving America's Schools Act [IASA] in 1994              brought the importance of parent involvement to the forefront in                schools and school districts. The eighth goal in National Education             Goals  supports "school partnerships that will increase parent                  involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional,               and academic growth of children" (U.S. Department of Education,                 1994). The IASA requires that districts that receive more                       than $500,000 per year must allocate 1% of those funds for parent               involvement activity. PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN TEACHER EDUCATION                 PROGRAMSThe primary press for parent involvement in teacher                 education programs, however, is coming from teachers entering the               contemporary classroom, many filled with students from cultures                 other than that of the new teacher. These new teachers report on                standard follow-up evaluations from their university that one of the            missing elements in their teacher education programs is working with            families. 
Until the past few years, most state teacher                        certification departments did not require that teacher education                programs include standards or courses on family involvement issues.             The Harvard Family Study Report (Shartrand, et al., 1997) concluded             that only 22 states had parent involvement in their credentialing               standards. California is the first and only state that has enacted              legislation mandating prospective teachers and certified                        educators "to serve as active partners with parents and guardians in            the education of children" (California Education Code 44291.2,                  1993). California enacted this legislation because parent                       involvement research indicates higher student achievement and                   satisfaction with schools and because professional educators and                parents/guardians may be from diverse cultures. At present, the                 National Board for Professional Teaching Standards includes parent              involvement as one out of the eleven generalist standards for all               three developmental levels--Early Childhood, Middle Childhood and               Early Adolescence. 
Gray (2001) reported a significant increase                during the late 1990s in the number of states that had some                     administrative or credential statement requiring that teachers                  should possess some knowledge and skills related to parent and                  community involvement. These state-credentialing bodies added a                 parent and community involvement component into teacher education               standards or adopted National Council for the  Accreditation of                 Teacher Education [NCATE] standards that include such standards for             working with parents and the community. SURVEY OF TEACHER                     EDUCATION PROGRAMSTo determine the extent of parent involvement             issues in K-12 teacher education programs in the nation, Pepperdine             University recently sponsored a representative survey of 147                    universities with teacher education programs. The survey tapped                 department chairs or deans of private and public institutions in                each of the 50 states (Hiatt-Michael, 2001). The survey raised                  questions on number of courses, types ofcourses, topics, and class              instructional methods. Of the 96 who responded to the survey, 7                 indicated that parent involvement issues were not included in any               course. Twenty-two replied that the school offered a course devoted             to parent involvement,but this course was not required for K-12                 teacher education students. Such courses were developed for special             education or early childhood teachers or offered as an elective                 course. 
Ninety-three percent of the respondents reported that                 parent involvement issues were woven into existing teacher education            courses, such as special education,reading methods, instructional               methods, and early childhood education in that rank order. In states            with major portions of the population coming from diverse cultures,             parent involvement is included in cultural diversity and teaching               English-as-a-second-language courses.  Universities in Hawaii and               California, locales with a high proportion of diverse ethnic groups,            reported the greatest number of courses that included parent                    involvement issues. 
Respondents replied that the most popular                 topic is parent conferences. This finding is important because                  parent conferences are the most pervasive home-school communication             in schools after the ubiquitous report card. Other topics, in rank              order, included parent concerns, parent newsletters, and working                within the community. 
Forty-nine percent of respondents reported              that students utilized case studies in one or more courses. Other               instructional methods were research studies (40%),                              role-playing (40%), conflict resolution (32%), project                          creation (24%), and home surveys (15%). 
These research findings               are similar to other studies reported by Epstein (2001). Epstein                also indicated that early childhood and special education receive a             disproportionate amount of parent involvement attention within                  university preparation and in school practice. In addition, the                 research suggested there is a limited percentage of programs that               include other forms of home-school partnership such as utilizing                interactive homework with parents, conducting parent workshops,                 designing and producing class or school newsletters, and planning a             concerted, year-long program of partnerships. The research finds,               however, that although classroom teachers assert that working with              families is important to the child's positive school outcomes, they             receive little formal training and, thus, possess minimal knowledge             and skills to work with parents. IMPACT OF EDUCATION PRESERVICE               TEACHERS ON PARENT INVOLVEMENTTeacher education courses that                deal with parent involvement issues and practices do make a                     difference in subsequent classroom practice. An assessment study by             Katz and Bauch (1999) on graduates from teacher education programs              at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University indicated that these new              teachers felt prepared and engaged in a diverse number of parent                involvement practices because they had received parent involvement              training in their courses. 
Infusion of parent involvement                     practices within all teacher preparation ourses appears to be the               reported ideal but not all professors are equally committed to                  parent involvement. Knowledge of subject matter areas, standards,               and testing assume such priority by faculty, who note the emphasis              by state and district administrators on those topics, that the                  potent component of the educational process--parent                             involvement--receives significantly less emphasis. 
Work by                    Kirschenbaum and Hiatt-Michael summarize numerous promising                     practices for teachers related to infusing parent involvement into              their university instruction (Hiatt-Michael, 2001). Acquiring skills            to promote positive home-school communication is one of the most                critical. These authors recommend that university faculty as well as            teacher supervisors, master teachers, and administrators utilize                case studies and role-playing to familiarize teachers with the                  intricacies of a positive parent conference. Prospective and new                teachers should visit master teachers in classrooms to observe and              critique parent conferences. These authors suggest course and                   classroom activities: preparing a case study on a family, making a              home visit, providing home-school literacy programs, preparing a                classroom newsletter, attending and participating in a school                   advisory council, and many others. 
According to those outstanding             teachers honored by the Milken Foundation or meeting the generalist             standards for the NBPTS, other activities should include how to                 effectively gather important information from parents, how to handle            difficult situations,and how to connect with parents on the                     telephone and in person. 
If teachers do not receive training in               teacher education programs prior to entering the classroom,                     opportunities to acquire such training within the school setting are            limited. California created the Beginning Teacher Support                       Activities [BTSA] to support new teachers, especially those who were            entering the field with an emergency credential. School districts               that experience a teacher shortage may hire new teachers on an                  emergency credential that requires new teachers to possess only a               bachelor's degree in any area and to pass the California Test of                Basic Skills. The majority of these new teachers are not from the               same ethnic population as the students and the community. Districts             must apply to the state for BTSA funding. Ten to twenty percent of              the BTSA program for new teachers includes teacher professional                 education to develop skills to work with families and the                       surrounding community. The amount and types of activities vary with             the teacher, school and district needs. 
Three national hubs are               the most promising sources for information, training and support to             new teachers. These hubs are connecting schools, districts and                  states into networks of sharing, development, and assessment. These             hubs are the clearinghouses for practices, research studies, and                policy statements.Schools that connect with these hubs showcase                 promising practices for parent involvement. The Institute for                   Responsive Education at Boston University has researched and                    promoted parent involvement issues for nearly four decades. This                group has connected educators in the area of family, school                     community partnerships across the nation and every continent. The               National Network of Partnership Schools based at John Hopkins                   University coordinates a network of schools, districts and state                agencies that adhere to the Epstein model of six types of parent                involvement (Epstein, 2001). This group promotes staff development,             the creation of site action plans, and assessment at each site.                 Administrators, teachers, and parents at each participating site                collaborate on these activities. At the federal level, Partnership              for Family Involvement in Education within the U.S. Department of               Education coordinates a diverse range of activities. The agency                 organizes staff development sessions, collects information on                   promising practices, and disseminates informative                               brochures. CONCLUSIONThough the benefits of working with                  families are documented, teacher education programs and local school            districts offer limited educational opportunities to new teachers.              California enacted a law that appears to have more university                   support for parent involvement within teacher education courses than            states with only administrative requirements or adoption of NCATE               Standards.  In addition, through the funding of BTSA California                 supports the training of new teachers at the local site level. In               other localities, federal funding promotes working with families but            may not require teacher professional development. Legislation is                needed that supports teacher education to meet necessary                        requirements to work effectively with families across all 50 states.            Legislation appears to be the next step to foster teacher                       professional development in the area of working with                            parents. REFERENCESEpstein, Joyce L. (2001). School, Family               and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving                   Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 
Gray, Scott F. (2001). A                Compilation of State Mandates for Home School Partnership Education             in Pre-service Teacher Training Programs. Unpublished manuscript,               Pepperdine University at Culver City, CA. 
Hiatt-Michael,                      Diana (April, 2001). Preparing Pre-service Teachers for Home-School             Partnerships Across the United States.  Paper presented at American             Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Seattle,                       WA. 
Hiatt-Michael, Diana, ed. (2001).  Promising Practices for                Family Involvement in School. Greenwich, CT: Information Age                    Publishing, Inc. 
Katz, L. and Bauch, Jerrold P. (1999). The                   Peabody Family Involvement Initiative:Preparing Pre-service Teachers            for Family/school Collaboration. School Community Journal, no. 9:               49-69. 
National Board Professional Teaching Standards                         http://www.nbpts.org/standards 
Shartrand, A. M., et al. (1997).               New skills for new schools: preparing Teachers in Family                        Involvement. Harvard Family Research Project. Cambridge, MA: Harvard            Graduate School of Education. 
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This project has been funded            at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of                 Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, under                contract number ED-99-COO-0007.  The content of this publication                does not necessarily reflect the views of or policies of the U.S.               Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial             products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.         **Title:** Preparing Teachers To Work with Parents. ERIC Digest.                        **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education, American                  Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1307 New York Ave.,              N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005-4701. Tel: 202-293-2450; Tel:             800-822-9229 (Toll Free); e-mail: [email protected]. For full text:               http://www.ericsp.org.                                                       **Descriptors:** Beginning Teacher Induction, Beginning Teachers, Elementary                     Secondary Education, Higher Education, Inservice Teacher Education,              Parent Participation,  Parent School Relationship, Parent Teacher              Cooperation, Preservice Teacher Education,  Teacher Competencies             **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
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