        
        
                           Involving At-Risk Families 
                         in Their Children's Education. 
                                       by
                              Lynn Balster Liontos
        
        
        Abstract:  The children who have generally been termed "at-risk"
        are usually poor and often from other cultural backgrounds.
        Schools need to find ways to reach and involve at-risk families
        with their children's education.  Steps include collaboration
        with other community agencies, helping parents identify what they
        are capable of doing, and respecting cultural differences.
        Guidelines, based on successful projects, include being and
        flexible, using strong personal outreach, holding the first  
        activity away from school, preparing staff with inservice
        workshops, providing child care and transportation, and keeping
        up the effort. 
        
             "I never see the parents I need to see," more than one
        teacher has complained.  These are the parents of children at
        risk--at risk of failing, of dropping out, of having what in
        today's world accounts to no future at all.  
        
        The benefits to children whose parents are involved in the
        educational process are well-known: substantial research links
        family involvement to both academic and social success of
        children at school.  Of all youth, at-risk children, whose
        numbers are increasing, have the most to gain from parent
        involvement.  Consequently, schools need to find ways to reach  
        at-risk families.  
        
        WHO IS AT RISK?  
        
             Most children are "at risk" at some time or another. James
        Comer states that "given increasing divorce rates, the growing
        numbers of single parent families and families in which both
        parents work, and the general complexity of modern life, even
        children of well-educated, middle-class parents can come to
        school unprepared because of the stress their families are
        undergoing." (quoted by Lynn Olson 1990)  
        
             Certain children, however, are in critical need of social
        intervention.  These are generally the children who have
        traditionally been termed "at-risk."  They are usually poor
        minorities often from other cultural backgrounds.  
        
        WHY IS PARENT INVOLVEMENT SO IMPORTANT FOR AT-RISK CHILDREN?  
        
             The main reason parental involvement with the schools is so
        important for at-risk children is that their home and school
        worlds are so different.  "The predictable consequence in such
        situations is that children usually embrace the familiar home
        culture and reject the unfamiliar school culture, including its
        academic components and goals," says Muriel Hamilton-Lee (1988). 
        
             Suzanne Ziegler (1987) suggests it may be particularly
        important for teachers to develop communication with parents of
        at-risk children so that both understand the others' settings and
        expectations which may alter both settings. That is, school can
        become more home-like and home can have a school component. Or,
        as Joyce Epstein (1987) points out, family-like schools make
        students feel part of a "school family," where they receive
        individual attention which improves motivation.  
        
        WHY HAVEN'T SCHOOLS BEEN REACHING AT-RISK PARENTS?  
        
        Traditional methods of parental involvement do not work with
        at-risk parents.  In addition, the history of relationships
        between poor and minority parents and schools has been very
        different than those of the middle class.  Barriers and
        misperceptions that exist for both parents and schools include:  
        Parents.  At-risk parents may have feelings of inadequacy,
        failure, and poor self-worth, as well as negative experience with
        schools.  Other cultures, as well as many low-income parents in
        general, see schools as institutionalized authority and,
        therefore, leave it to the teachers to educate their children.
        Additionally, there are economic, emotional, and time constraints
        (some families are struggling just to survive) and logistical
        problems such as lack of child care, transportation, and  
        scheduling conflicts.  In cultural minority families, involving
        parents can be further complicated by language barriers.  
        
             Teachers and Schools. Teacher attitudes play a large part in
        the academic success of at-risk children. Teachers who have low
        expectations for at-risk children, or who believe that at-risk
        parents don't care about their children and don't want to be
        involved in their education may contribute to children's failure.
        Teachers also may feel uncertain about how to maintain their role
        as experts while still involving parents.  
        
             According to Diana T. Slaughter and Valerie Shahariw Kuehne
        (1988), schools tend to see the parental role as traditional and
        perhaps passive and home-based, whereas many parents are
        interested in more active roles.  Schools are often guilty of not
        taking the initiative to ask parents for help, and of not
        welcoming their participation.  Finally, schools often  
        organize events for their own convenience and pay little
        attention to the needs of at-risk parents.  
        
        WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THESE OBSTACLES?  
        
             Schools should consider adopting new beliefs and premises,
        based largely on the work of Rhoda Becher (Ziegler), Don Davies
        (1989), and Jean Krasnow (1990):  
        
        1. Successful at-risk programs begin with the premise that it's
        not any single person's or group's fault that a child or group of
        children is not learning; nor is it the school's fault. We are
        all responsible and dependent on each other.  
        
        2. All families have strengths. Successful programs emphasize
        them and let parents know these strengths are valued. This also
        means it isn't helpful to view at-risk families as deficients or
        as failures.  
        
        3. Most parents really care about their children. Successful
        programs acknowledge and express this. Studies of poor and
        minority parents in Maryland, New England, and the Southwest, for
        instance, have found that parents care deeply about their
        children's education but may not know how to help. (M. Sandra
        Reeves 1988)  
        
        4. Parents can learn new techniques. Successful programs help
        parents identify what they're capable of doing and how to
        overcome obstacles.  One way to do this is by teaching them new
        skills and behaviors, such as helping their children through home
        learning.  
        
        5. Cultural differences are both valid and valuable. Successful
        programs learn about other cultures and respect their beliefs.
        They find ways of building on the loyalty and obedience, for
        example, that Hispanic parents instill in their children.  
        
        6. Many family forms exist and are legitimate. Successful
        programs involve stepparents or even grandparents, and provide
        family support where resources are limited.  
        
        7. All individuals and families need to feel empowered,
        especially at-risk families who often feel powerless and out of
        control.  Successful programs ask parents what they'd be
        interested in doing and work with their agendas first.  Some also
        train at-risk parents to be part of their school's
        decision-making groups.  
        
        8. Partnership with at-risk families is impossible without
        collaboration with other community agencies. Schools cannot
        provide all the services that at-risk families need, such as
        parenting education, counseling, health care, and housing. The
        school staff also needs to function in a collaborative way with
        each other for real change to occur.  
        
        HOW DO I BEGIN A PROGRAM FOR WORKING WITH AT-RISK FAMILIES?  
        
        The Hispanic Policy Development Project's publication (Siobhan
        Nicolau and Carmen Lydia Ramos 1990) offers guidelines, based on
        successful projects, that are useful for most at-risk groups:  
        
        * Be sure you're totally committed; half-hearted attempts do not 
        accomplish much. There must be active support by the principal
        and staff.  All the Hispanic projects that lacked the support of
        teachers and principals failed to increase parent involvement.  
        
        * Assign a project coordinator-someone who understands the
        culture and background of the parents and is sincerely dedicated.
        Give the coordinator time to do the job. Nicolau and Ramos found
        that leadership was the single most important element in
        launching a successful program with Hispanic parents.  
        
        * Be prepared to be innovative and flexible. The Hispanic
        projects that failed were those where new techniques were not
        tried, or where things were done "the way we have always done
        it."  
        
        * Use strong, personal outreach. "The personal approach," say
        Nicolau and Ramos, "which means talking face to face with the
        parents, in their primary language, at their homes, or at the
        school...was the strategy deemed most effective by 98 percent of
        the project coordinators."  Home visits are a must.  
        
        * Make your first event fun. Start with something social as an
        icebreaker.  Not every event can be a party, and Nicolau and
        Ramos offer suggestions for how to sustain involvement once
        you've gotten it started.  
        
        * Do not hold your first activity at school. Events may be more
        successful on neutral turf such as neighborhood homes or
        community places.  
        
        * Pay attention to environment and format. Informal settings are
        less intimidating to low-income parents.  Make them as
        participatory as possible.  A warm, nonjudgmental atmosphere is
        mandatory.  
        
        * Prepare staff with in-service workshops so that everyone
        understands the community being served. Include everyone; you
        don't want a less than welcoming secretary to spoil all the work
        you've done.  
        
        * Do not view child care, transportation, interpreters, and meals
        as frills. Providing them will make a big difference for at-risk
        parents.  
        
        * Choose different times to schedule events. Do it with
        consideration for the parents' availability.  
        
        * Do not give up if the initial response isn't overwhelming.
        Under the best circumstances, it takes time.  
        
        "Keep up the effort," Nicolau and Ramos conclude, "and one day
        you will find that you can't keep the parents away."  
        
                                  REFERENCES  
        
        Davies, Don. "Poor Parents, Teachers and the Schools: Comments
             About Practice, Policy and Research." Paper presented at the
             annual meeting of the American Educational Research
             Association (San Francisco, CA, March  
             27-31, 1989). 25 pages. ED 308 574.  
        
        Epstein, Joyce L. "Toward a Theory of Family-School Connections:
             Teacher Practices and Parent Involvement Across the School
             Years." The Limits and Potential of Social Intervention.
             (Klaus Hurrelman and Franz-Xaver  
        
        Kaufman, Eds.). Berlin/New York: DeGruyter/Aldine, 1987.  
        
        Hamilton-Lee, Muriel. "Home-School Partnerships: The School
             Development Program Model." Paper presented at the annual
             meeting of the American Psychological Association (Atlanta,
             GA, August 12-16, 1988). 20 pages. ED 303 923.  
        
        Krasnow, Jean. Building Parent-Teacher Partnerships: Prospects
             from the Perspective of the Schools Reaching Out Project.
             Boston: Institute for Responsive Education, 1990. 66 pages.
             ED 318 817.  
        
        Moles, Oliver C. "Disadvantaged Parents' Participation in Their  
             Children's Education. Paper presented at annual meeting of
             the American Educational Research Association (Boston, MA,
             April 1990). 20 pages.  
        
        Nicolau, Siobhan and Carmen Lydia Ramos. Together is Better:
             Building Strong Partnerships between Schools and Hispanic
             Parents. Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy Development
             Project, Inc., 1990.  
        
        Olson, Lynn. "Parents as Partners: Redefining the Social Contract
             between Families and Schools." Education Week IX, 28 (April
             4, 1990). 71 pages.  UD 027 472.  
        
        Reeves, M. Sandra. "Self-Interest and the Common Weal, Focusing
             on the Bottom Half." Education Week III, 31 (April 27,
             1988).  
        
        Slaughter, Diana T. and Valerie Shahariw Kuehne. "Improving Black 
             Education: Perspectives on Parent Involvement." Urban League
             VII, 1-2  (Summer/Winter 1988). EJ 377 100.  
        
        Ziegler, Suzanne. "The Effects of Parent Involvement on
             Children's Achievement: The Significance of Home/School
             Links." Ontario, Canada:  Toronto Board of Education, 1987.
             72 pages. ED 304 234.  
        
