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At-Risk Families and Schools • AT • RISK FAMILIES & SCHOOLS BECOMING PARTNERS Lynn Balster Liontos Foreword by Don Davies 1992 ® ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management College of Education, University of Oregon 1787 Agate Street, Eugene, Oregon 97403 i Design: LeeAnn August International Standard Book Number: 0-86552-113-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 91-77519 ERIC/CEM Accession Number: EA 023 283 Printed in the United States of America, 1992 Second printing, September 1992 Conversion to Adobe Acrobat format, 1998 ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403 Prior to publication, this manuscript was submitted for critical review and determination of professional competence. The publication has met such standards. The publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Depart- ment of Education, under contract no. OERI-R 188062004. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the posi- tions or policies of the Department of Education. No federal funds were used in the printing of this publication. The University of Oregon is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution committed to cultural diversity. ii Mission of ERIC and the Clearinghouse The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is a national information system operated by the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC serves the educational community by disseminating research results and other resource information that can be used in developing more effective educational programs. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, one of several such units in the system, was established at the University of Oregon in 1966. The Clearinghouse and its companion units process research reports and journal articles for announcement in ERIC’s index and abstract bulletins. Research reports are announced in Resources in Education (RIE), available in many libraries and by subscription from the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. Most of the documents listed in RIE can be purchased through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service, operated by Cincinnati Bell Information Systems. Journal articles are announced in Current Index to Journals in Education. CIJE is also available in many libraries and can be ordered from Oryx Press, 2214 North Central at Encanto, Phoenix, Arizona 85004. Semiannual cumulations can be ordered separately. Besides processing documents and journal articles, the Clearinghouse prepares bibliographies, literature reviews, monographs, and other interpretive research studies on topics in its educational area. Clearinghouse National Advisory Board Jim Bencivenga, Education Editor, The Christian Science Monitor Gordon Cawelti, Executive Director, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Timothy J. Dyer, Executive Director, National Association of Secondary School Principals Patrick Forsyth, Executive Director, University Council for Educational Administration Joyce G. McCray, Executive Director, Council for American Private Education Richard D. Miller, Executive Director, American Association of School Administrators Samuel Sava, Executive Director, National Association of Elementary School Principals Thomas Shannon, Executive Director, National School Boards Association Don I. Tharpe, Executive Director, Association of School Business Officials International Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director, National Association of State Boards of Education ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Philip K. Piele, Professor and Director Keith A. Acheson, Associate Director Stuart C. Smith, Director of Publications iii PREFACE T he benefits of parent involvement in educa- Management is pleased to offer this comprehen- tion are now well known. When families become sive, practical report. Like other publications of involved in their children’s education, the the Clearinghouse, this book uses the technique of children’s academic achievement rises and their “information analysis.” It is a summary and syn- motivation, behavior, and attendance improve. thesis of the most pertinent ideas from literature Other benefits accrue to the parents themselves and practice, spelling out the steps that can be and to teachers and the school. taken by teachers, administrators, policymakers, For these reasons, educators in many school and others. systems today are renewing their efforts to reach This report owes its existence to several out to parents. New books and articles on parent people. It was conceived by Stuart Smith, director involvement appear daily, and new programs are of publications, who collaborated closely with the begun. But as we survey all this activity, our author, Lynn Balster Liontos, on its scope and attention in the end comes to rest on a sobering structure. Liontos is a research analyst and writer irony: most parent involvement programs aren’t who has been commissioned by the Clearinghouse reaching the parents who need it most—those to write several syntheses of literature on parent whose children are most likely to fail or drop out. involvement, collaboration between schools and In values, expectations, and environment, social services, and at-risk students. most schools are reflections of middle-class fami- Successive drafts of the report were edited by lies. To communicate with and involve parents Smith and associate editor Linda Lumsden. who are poor, nonwhite, or speak a language other Deborah Drost, assistant editor, also contributed than English, educators must be able to bridge the to the editing and proofreading. Lumsden and cultural gap. Drost assembled and verified the information in To help educators meet the challenge of in- the Appendix and the bibliographic citations. volving parents and extended families of at-risk Design and layout of the report was the responsi- children, the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational bility of graphic designer LeeAnn August. Drost, iv August, and word processing specialist Meta Finally, we are grateful for the contribution Bruner carried out the data entry and revision. of Don Davies, president of the Institute for Re- sponsive Education and codirector of the new In the final weeks before the report went to National Research Center on Families, Communi- press, Smith and Lumsden incorporated into the ties, Schools, and Children’s Learning, for his text the most recent data on dropout rates, poverty critique of a draft of this report and for his insight- status, and racial/ethnic composition of the popu- ful Foreword. lation obtained from the U.S. Bureau of the Cen- sus and the Western Interstate Commission for An earlier version of the first seven chapters, Higher Education. which compose part 1, “Background, ” was pub- lished by the Clearinghouse in January 1991 as a We are indebted to many organizations that Trends and Issues paper titled Involving the Fami- supplied us with complimentary copies of publi- lies of At-Risk Youth in the Educational Process. cations used for this report, as well as those that gave us permission to print excerpts or adapta- Philip K. Piele tions of their publications in sidebars. Professor and Director v CONTENTS FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Literature on At-Risk Family Involvement.................................................................................................... 1 Pioneers .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 A Note about Ethnic Terminology................................................................................................................. 3 Who This Report Is For ................................................................................................................................. 3 PART 1: BACKGROUND Chapter 1. WHO IS AT RISK? ......................................................................................................................... 7 Definition of ‘At Risk’ ................................................................................................................................... 7 Spotting At-Risk Children ............................................................................................................................ 8 Poverty: The Bottom Line ............................................................................................................................. 8 Minorities: A Second Factor .......................................................................................................................... 9 Parental Involvement and Our Bottom Half ................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2. WHY AT-RISK CHILDREN ESPECIALLY NEED FAMILY INVOLVEMENT ................... 11 Bridging the Gap .......................................................................................................................................... 11 The Importance of Human and Social Capital............................................................................................. 11 Attitudes and Expectations .......................................................................................................................... 12 What Schools
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