Delaine Eastin, California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, is a long-time advocate for family involvement programs in schools. She stated, “Increasing parent involvement is one of the top priorities of my administration.” While a member of the California Legislature in 1995 she authored the Family-School Partnership Act, encouraging employers to give parents time off to visit their children’s schools and meet with teachers. As chief of the California Department of Education (CDE), Eastin established a flexible policy for school volunteerism for CDE employees and opened a Parent Resource Center. In 1997, the CDE published the Challenge Toolkit for Family-School Compacts, and has produced public service announcements in three languages on the importance of family involvement in children's education.
California has demonstrated a long and strong commitment to family participation in schools. As early as 1989, and updated in 1994, the California State Board of Education was one of the first states with a comprehensive policy titled “Parent Involvement in the Education of Their Children.” The policy, developed by educational leaders in California with the assistance of Joyce Epstein, recognizes the six types of involvement that guide the National Network of Partnership Schools, and that now are endorsed by the National PTA.
In 1998, California joined the National Network as a state partner. After joining the Network, CDE created a Family-School Partnerships Cross-Branch Forum which now meets quarterly. Participants from major programs have an opportunity to exchange information about effective strategies that promote family and school partnerships. For the 1999-2000 school year, Family Area Networks (FANs) are being developed regionally to extend CDE’s capacity to share resources with and provide assistance to administrators and teachers.
Internet resources are a critical part of the CDE’s information dissemination strategies. In the state’s Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) program, CDE has a web site section titled “Resources for Partnerships among Families, Schools, and Communities” (www.cde.ca.gov/iasa/linkages.html). The Special Education Division is working with California State University-Sonoma to build an online resource directory, California Service for Technical Assistance and Training—CalSTAT, with information about family involvement in education (www.php.com/sonoma.htm). Finally, through CDE Press, the School Bag makes publications and brochures available to parents and family partnership advocates (www.cde.ca.gov/cdepress/schoolbag).
Currently, about 12 districts or clusters and over 90 schools in California are working with the National Network to develop comprehensive partnership programs aligned with California’s state policies. The CDE is taking steps to increase coordination and communication across state programs in order to better help districts and schools develop comprehensive strategies that involve parents as partners in their children’s education. “My message to parents and families is that getting involved in your child’s life is the most important job in the world,” stated Superintendent Eastin.
For more information, contact Frank Wallace, Education Programs Consultant in CDE Family and Community Partnerships Office (fwallace@cde.ca.gov; 916-653-3426) or visit the CDE web site (http://www.cde.ca.gov).
California Governor, Gray Davis, recently signed new legislation to implement the Nell Soto Parent/Teacher Involvement Program. This legislation allocates $20 million to promote family-school partnerships through a competitive district grants program. Funding will be used to train teachers to conduct home visits and to organize family-school meetings. As a condition of participating, each district must complete home-school compacts with at least 50% of their participating families. The legislation will help California’s districts and schools develop comprehensive partnership programs.