Studies show that children whose fathers are involved in their lives have better social, emotional, and academic development. This positive effect of fathers on students’ academic grades, over and above the influence of mothers’ involvement, is even stronger in grades 6-12 than in younger grades (U.S. Department of Education, 1997). At all grade levels, however, schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships have good reasons to continue working to involve fathers and father-figures.
Studies also indicate that fathers’ involvement is less likely to occur than involvement by mothers. Among several reasons for this, gender role stereotypes and family structure (e.g., divorce and separation) are two major factors. Activities to involve more fathers in their children’s education need to confront these two challenges.
Gender Role: Extend Expectations
Gender role stereotyping may manifest itself in assumptions about the “proper” role of fathers in children’s education. For example, when teachers call a student’s home, they may instinctively ask to speak to the mother. Or, the father may answer the phone and automatically hand it to the mother. Often, mothers are the only parents to talk directly to teachers.
One way to change this pattern is to explicitly invite fathers and the men in students’ lives to participate in school activities. One such activity, DADS: Dads, Art, and Donuts with Students was implemented at John Muir Middle School, Milwaukee, WI, with the help of the Wisconsin PIRC, Parents Plus. At this event, specifically designed for fathers and other males important to boys and girls, student-adult pairs enjoyed breakfast and conducted an art project to place a digital picture on a t-shirt. In addition, a guest speaker from a community organization talked briefly about the important role fathers and men play in the development of adolescents. The activity – just one in the school’s full Action Plan for Partnerships – communicated to fathers that they are welcome and wanted at the school and in their children’s academic lives.
Family Structure: Innovations Needed
Another difficulty in involving fathers relates to diversity in family structures and marital situations. Although rates of divorce have stabilized in recent years, nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. This reality means that, for many students, schools must establish separate connections with the mother and the father.
From preschool and kindergarten on, schools need to collect contact information about resident and non-resident parents so that communications can be sent to both parents. This information may be gathered at school registration and on annual emergency cards.
Increasingly, schools are reaching parents, including non-resident parents who live at a distance (typically fathers) through e-mail and the Internet. Teachers and administrators both need access to these contacts to connect with parents and to let students know that their families – however structured – are important to the school and for students’ education.
Roberts Elementary School, in Wayne, PA, used the Internet in an innovative way. Students produced and broadcasted their own streaming video programs on Rob TV. A link to the videos on the school’s website enables fathers (including non-resident fathers) and other family members who live at a distance or cannot come to school during the day to watch school musicals and other “televised” productions.
Accentuate the Positive
At Community School #53, Buffalo, NY, Fathers’ Night Out aimed to increase positive interactions with fathers, grandfathers, big brothers, and other male figures in students’ lives. At the 3-hour event in 2007, an African American dance group performed, followed by activities for fathers, boys, and girls at booths for playing math games, making photos and picture frames, taking fingerprints, having dance lessons, and hairstyling. Dinner, a raffle, and take home books completed a celebratory evening that reinforced the connections of fathers, students, and schools.
Solving challenges to involve fathers in students’ lives will require changing expectations, conducting innovative activities, and using new technologies – all hallmarks of strong school, family, and community partnership programs.
Read about these activities in the 2006 and 2007 collections of Promising Partnership Practices on the website at www.partnershipschools.org in Success Stories.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (1997). Fathers’ involvement in their children’s schools, NCES 98-091 by C. W. Nord, D. A. Brimhall & J. West. Washington, DC.