A case study conducted by Dr. Mavis G. Sanders, Principal Investigator and Senior Advisor to NNPS, explored how parent liaisons in a diverse suburban school district supported school, family, and community partnerships in their schools, and how the district leader for partnerships guided and assisted the parent liaisons. Liaisons served on schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships, and their schools were members of NNPS.
The study identified four essential roles played by parent liaisons that helped schools minimize the influence of class and cultural differences on home-school relations. The liaisons provided: 1) direct services to families placed at risk; 2) support for teacher outreach; 3) support for school-based partnership teams; and 4) data for program improvement.
Direct Services to Families of Students Placed at Risk
During the course of the study, the district specialist trained and supervised nine parent liaisons, each of whom worked with approximately twelve to fifteen “focus” families in the district’s lowest performing schools. Focus families were selected, primarily, based on the academic performance of their children and perceived need.
According to the liaisons, their direct support provided parents with the information needed to negotiate the complexities of the school system. The liaisons aimed to minimize the knowledge gap that can corrupt home-school relations for poor families and families of color.
Reported results for the focus families included greater involvement in their children’s education at home and at the school; more home-school communication; and more positive feelings toward the schools and school personnel.
Support for Teacher Outreach
The liaisons also supported teachers in reaching out to the families of diverse students by acting as “cultural interpreters” and by modeling outreach strategies that helped build teachers’ capacities for partnerships. These actions by the liaisons helped teachers become “boundary crossers” and reach out to families who may otherwise have been left in the margins of the school community.
Support for School-Based Partnership Teams
Parent liaisons also worked with their schools’ partnership teams to conduct school-wide activities that were accessible and relevant to the families of all students. In four schools visited by the researcher, partnership team members – including the school principals – underscored the important role parent liaisons played in providing family support, implementing family outreach, and garnering greater parent involvement for students’ school success.
Data for Program Improvement
Each liaison completed a weekly report on the activities they conducted to assist their focus families, teachers, and schools’ partnership teams using Epstein’s framework of six types of involvement (Epstein, et. al., 2002). Liaisons also were required to collect achievement and attendance data for targeted students in the focus families.
In addition to tracking these student outcomes, parent liaisons and school-based partnership teams were encouraged to collect and analyze demographic data for students, families, and their communities.
Parent liaisons were encouraged to have deep understanding and knowledge of their focus families so that they could provide “wraparound” services that would help the families better support their children’s learning. Parent liaisons collected data on families’ financial, health, and emotional needs and concerns. The data were documented in monthly activity reports to clarify the need for specific outreach activities, and discussed in monthly meetings to identify additional resources and actions that could further aid the families.
The parent liaisons’ efforts were notable. The achievement data gathered by the liaisons and their activity reports provided the district specialist with important leverage to acquire funds necessary to expand the liaison program.
From: Sanders, M. G. (In press). How parent liaisons can help bridge home and school. Journal of Education Research.