Doing what matters most Presentation National Parents Council Primary Dublin.

Doing what matters most

PresentationNational Parents Council PrimaryDublin

Independent, charitable

Works to ensure public education can realize its promise

Uses research and evidence to “connects the dots” – between strong education and prosperous and fair society

Works to engage parents, teachers, school boards, universities, government, media in broad public dialogue about public education

Funded by foundations, government, donors

WHO IS PEOPLE FOR EDUCATION?

ONTARIO

Overall 28% of Ontarians are foreign-born

2 million students from Kindergarten to Grade 12

5000 schools in a geographic region about 15X the size of Ireland – bigger than France and Spain combined

95% of Ontario’s students attend publicly funded schools – public, Catholic and French

Ontario students consistently in the top 10 on PISA

The Ontario Context

ONTARIO’S EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE

Provincial government controls funding, curriculum, policy

72 school boards, with electedtrustees, elected/appointed Parent Involvement Committees

5000 schools each with a school council – majority parents

Parents: doing what matters most1. Have high expectations

Consistently communicate belief in potential

Consistently communicate expectation of academic success

Not about marks – about expectation to work hard

Parents: doing what matters most2. Talk about school

Home discussions impact:

o more than monitoring homework or restricting TV

o more than volunteering

o more than limiting time kids can go out during the week

Parents: doing what matters most3. Build positive attitudes and strong work habits

Help your child to build his/her own capacity to:

o Persist

o Ask for help

o Plan ahead

o Deal with difficulty and conflict

o Handle distractions

o Negotiate crises of confidence

Parents: doing what matters most4. Read together (in any language)

Don’t teach children to read, instead:

o Read for fun

o Read to them even when they already know how

o Read every night

o Start when they’re babies and keep doing it until they leave home

Click this link to see a video clip entitled ‘Helping your kids succeed in school’

School councilsWhat the policy mandates:

“the purpose of the school council is, through the active participation of parents, to improve student achievement and enhance accountability of education system to parents”

Each school council receives $500 per year

What parents say about their role (survey of 900 councils)

47% ranked communication as most important role

13% ranked improving student achievement

School councilsWhere school councils spend most of their time:

fundraising

What school councils say are biggest challenges:

Getting parents to come to meetings

Capacity to do the work expected, and inexperience

Disconnect between most important role and what they spend the most time on

People for Education’s recommendation:

Shift policy mandate of school councils to communication

Parent Involvement CommitteesWhat the policy mandates:

“The purpose of a parent involvement committee is to support, encourage and enhance parent engagement at the board level in order to improve student achievement and well-being.”

Each Parent Involvement Committee receives $5000 per year plus $0.17 per student. For some boards this can total as much as $50,000 per year. (€36,500)

Parent Involvement CommitteesGreatest successes:

Provides a “parent voice” at the school board level

Allows pooling of resources and information

Ability to provide things such as:

o Parent engagement symposiums

o School council appreciation dinners

o Parent conferences, workshops and webinars

Parent Involvement CommitteesGreatest challenges:

Recruiting and maintaining members

lack of effective system to communicate with school councils

Lack of diversity of members

Too much school board control

Parent Reaching Out GrantsGrants provided by the province to:

encourage parent engagement at the local, regional and provincial levels, by identifying barriers and finding solutions to involve more parents in support of student achievement and well-being.

o Up to $1,000 (€750) per school council

o Up to $30,000 (€22,500) per regional group or Parent Involvement Committee

Parent Reaching Out GrantsMost common initiatives:

1. Supporting well-being:

o nutrition, physical fitness, bullying and safety, mental health and resiliency, and safe use of technology.

o reducing obstacles parents face to ensuring that their children used technology, such as social media, safely at home

o parenting skills for supporting students’ mental health

Parent Reaching Out GrantsMost common initiatives:

2. Skills for Home Learning

o information and training to parents on general skills for learning at home

o supporting students in math

o supporting student literacy

3. Enhancing access to resources and services

o translating school websites and newsletters

o hiring interpreters.

Parent Reaching Out GrantsMost common initiatives:

4. Parenting Education and Transition Support

o parenting training and education for both child and adolescent development, such as parent-child interactions and home discipline

o building parents’ capacity to support students at transitional points, including transitions from home to kindergarten, middle to high school, and high school to a post-secondary destination

Parent Reaching Out GrantsMost common initiatives:

4. Parenting Education and Transition Support

o parenting training and education for both child and adolescent development, such as parent-child interactions and home discipline

o building parents’ capacity to support students at transitional points, including transitions from home to kindergarten, middle to high school, and high school to a post-secondary destination

What’s next?Measuring What Matters

Develop broader goals and measures of success in education:

o Creativity

o Citizenship

o Health – mental and physical

o Social-emotional development

o Quality learning environments

Stay in touchPeople for Education website:

www.peopleforeducation.ca

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