Parental Involvement has the focus of families, communities, and governments worldwide. There is consensus on the fact that parental involvement increases student achievement and builds stronger communities. This report will focus on the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation comparative analysis of educational systems and their parental involvement.
Governments generally focus on some or all of seven benefits of parental involvement. Student, parent, and teacher rights often parallel the democratic system of rights of governments. As governments are trying to hold themselves more accountable to parents, this philosophy is trickling down the bureaucratic systems into education. Similarly, governments are following business models of choice and competition, which is manifesting in charter schools and school choice. Governments are trying to harness parents‚ concern for quality through better involvement in school and in the home. Partnerships between parents and teachers are better at addressing societal ills such as promiscuous sex and drug use. Since governments are trimming budgets, parents can often be used as free resources such as fundraisers, chaperones, and in-class assistants.
The following includes descriptions of four school systems. In Spain, parents have advisory or decision making roles at all levels, national, state, regional, and local level. In Japan, this is quite the office as parents have no governing role over the education procedures. The United States has a mix of governing rights and have a strong interest in pushing for more parental involvement. Similar to the United States, the parents have some governing responsibilities, but unlike the other systems, there is strong parental involvement at the local level. It is hard to make a statement about the effectiveness of these programs. The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) report in 1995 ranked Math and Sciences achievement for students highest in Japan, next from this study, Denmark, next, the United States, and last, Spain.
Spain - Ministry of Education (in Spanish) (http://www.mec.es/educ.html)
National Institute for Quality and Evaluation (http://www.ince.mec.es/index_e.htm)
In Spain, there are local school councils, which preside over all of the school‚s functions. They may hire or fire school principals, make school rules, change the curriculum, follow individual student performance, and tackle student discipline. Parents sit in the minority on these councils, and half of their representation is replaced by students at the high school level. The degree of effectiveness depends on the interests and dedication of the parents involved. In practice, most of these decisions are left to the teachers and schools.
The independent parent association affects policy at the national level. The parent association (CEAPA) elects members to the State School Council, which is the national governing board for schools. Through this they influence education policy by putting issues directly on the table and voting power. The federal government sponsors money for use to increase parental involvement on local school boards.
Parents receive report cards about their students‚ achievement three times a year. The reports include ratings on social and academic skills. Parents are consulted before major academic action concerning their students, such as holding the student back. The teachers are required to meet with the parents at least once a year and to have special "office" hours for parents to drop in. (OECD, 1997, 171-180)
Education, Science, Sports and Culture (http://www.monbu.go.jp/emindex.html)
Japan is quite contrary to the Spanish system in that parents have relatively no direct power of governance over education policy. Decisions are made by local and national school boards made up of appointed officials and school administrators. Parents are not explicitly put on these boards are in governing positions only through appointments. These boards make all decisions concerning education. (Monbusho, 1998, http://www.monbu.go.jp/emindex.html )
The independent parent-teacher association has a national parent and local chapters. These organizations use public education as a means to influence social and educational policies. While parents are involved with these organizations, teachers and school administrators often control them. Also, one of the main roles of the local parent teacher associations is to fund-raise for local schools.
Parents are not involved in the classroom, either. Parents are used as chaperones and for extracurricular activities, but for little else. Instead of aiding in children's homework, parents often enroll their children in juku¸ or additional class lessons after school. These lessons are often more specialized and individuated than the education received in school. While parents are not actively involved in the education of their children, there is a fair amount of communication with the teachers. In addition to report cards three times a year, parents often receive school newsletters about class activities, and "daily communications notebooks" which describe the curriculum from the students‚ notes. (OECD, 1997, 157-170)
A recent study by the Ministry of Education (Monbusho) uncovered a desire for increased parental involvement. The Japanese culture has changed rapidly; achieving success has displaced quality family time. In a questionnaire distributed to parents with children in the school system found that "helping with housework or family business" as the number activity that children lack today. This appears to translate into a decrease in time spent with the family. Nearly ninety percent of parents believed that the community needs to be more active in the education process. Three quarters of parents believed that the educational role of the family has weakened in recent history. One third of parents attributed this decline to a decrease in time spent between parents and children, and one third of parents said that the reason for juku attendance was because nobody could help with studies at home. (Educational Reform Program, 1996, http://www.monbu.go.jp/hakusyo/eng/contents.html)
Danish Ministry of Education (http://www.uvm.dk/eng.htm)
In Denmark, the parents are given a majority position on local elementary school boards. Previously, the boards monitored the day to day actions of the schools. The problem lies in that parents are not willing to take that responsibility and they are not willing to cede that power over to the school administration. Presently, the boards have been weakened; they do not meet often and decisions are often made by administrators and teachers. At the high school level, the parents are not in the majority on the school boards, but they have control over most fiscal and some curricular matters. The local municipalities and the national parent teacher association pays to train the parents for their roles on these boards.
The national parent teacher association must be included in the discussion of national education policy, and it is rather powerful, representing ninety six percent of parent associations in the country. At the local school level, parents are not very involved in classroom education. Instead, they take a definitive role in outside of the classroom education.
Parents receive at least two report cards on the academic and social achievements of their students. The level of communication is very high at the elementary school level, since the children will have the same teacher for nine years. The parents have the teacher‚s home phone number and use it frequently. The teachers update the parents on school activities through newsletters. Teachers and parent representatives for a particular class meet regularly to discuss school activities. (OECD, 1997, 81-94)
Department of Education (http://www.ed.gov/)
Title I, Parental Involvement (http://www.ed.gov/legislation/ESEA/Title_I/parinv.html)
Successful Local Approaches ( http://www.ed.gov/pubs/FamInvolve/)
Parental involvement in United States takes as its spark the cause of equality. Studies show that poverty is linked to poor achievement in school. Similarly poverty is also linked to lower parental involvement. (Dwyer, 1997, 70) Recent legislation such as Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title 1, and Goals 2000 make parental involvement a high priority. While legislation is increasing funding and interest, much of the focus is on achievement standards rather than curricular changes. (Dept. of Education, 1996)
Most decisions on school life, such as the budget and curriculum, are made by administrators at the state level and elected officials at the local level. National, state, and local parent teacher associations influence policy at these levels through lobbying.
Parents and teachers communicate relatively frequently. Report cards on student academic achievement are distributed between two and four times a year. There is usually at least one meeting between the parents and the teachers a year. Already, about eighty five percent of schools inform parents about the curriculum, promote student learning at home, and facilitate interaction between parents and teachers. More than fifty percent of parents attend the interactive events sponsored by the schools. (Department of Education, 1998, http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98032.html ). New private initiatives such as the Appleseed Project and the Comer Model aim to increase the responsibility of parents. Public initiatives such as COMPACT, TIPS (Teachers Involving Parents in Schoolwork), HIPPY (Home Instruction for Pre-school Youngsters) either fund or promote activities to increase parental involvement in schools or with homework. (OECD, 1997, 183-199)
The forms of governance and communication between parents and teachers varies as much as the different countries do culturally. The role of governance wavers between parent, administrator, elected official, and teacher. Communication is determined by state, teacher, and parent effort. The various degrees of importance that each country weights on the parent-teacher role does not reflect directly in the quality of the student achievement as rated by the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. Spain, while ranking highest in governance and in the middle on communication, ranks lowest in the ratings. Japan with the least involvement of all forms ranks the highest. Denmark, with its strong parent teacher communication, ranked just above the United States, which is in a stage of transition.