Including Every Parent

Look Inside: Table of Contents Introduction Book (78 pp.) Video (12:15 min.)	Watch video trailer! Video + book Based on a Successful Program at: Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School Written by teachers: Danette Adams, Parent, Kathleen Boyd, Parent, Dawn Cunningham, Teacher, Amy Gailunas-Johnson, Parent, Kim Sprague, Parent, and Sharon Williams, Parent

Description of Including Every Parent

Modeled on a successful program at the Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School (O’Hearn), this book explores specific practices that have been critical to engaging and empowering parents at the O’Hearn. It is divided into four sections, based on four essential goals for involving parents and families: that they be present, that participate, that they be partners in their children’s education, and that they be empowered as leaders and decision makers who take the initiative to support and improve the school.

The Patrick O’Hearn is well known in Boston as an exemplary elementary school. Under Boston’s Controlled Choice Assignment Plan, so many parents rank the O’Hearn as their first choice that all available seats are filled, and many families line up on a long waiting list. What makes the O’Hearn School so special? According to teachers and parents, one key factor is that 100% of families are involved in the school in some way.

Throughout the 2002-03 school year, a group of nine teachers and parents worked with the Project for School Innovation (PSI) to explore and document the many elements of their school’s effective parent-involvement practices. Some members of this group have been at the O’Hearn for over ten years. Others have been at the school only one or two years. All share a commitment to the ideas and practices that make the O’Hearn welcoming to all families.

The lessons that came out of this process are documented in Including Every Parent, which is the eighth how-to book in PSI’s By Teachers for Teachers series.

Major Topics Covered
Struggling Students, Special Education, Parental Involvement, School-Wide Communication

Table of Contents for Including Every Parent

1. Read the Introduction
An introduction to the O’Hearn School, the case for parent involvement, and some guiding principles

2. Parents are Present
Four important ingredients for making families feel welcome, so they are present at your school

- A Welcoming Principal
- A Family Outreach Program
- A Strong Welcome in the Entry-Level Grades
- A Family Center

3. Parents are Participating
Three tools for recruiting and engaging parents as participants in diverse school projects and activities

- Parent Volunteers
- A School Newsletter: The O’Hearn Star
- A Talent Show

4. Parents as Partners
Four simple, but powerful tools to equip parents as your partners in educating their children
- The Home Reading Program
- The Book Swap
- The After-School Program
- Family Math Night

5. Parents are Empowered
Two strategies - one formal, one informal - for empowering parents as leaders and decision makers, who take the initiative to support and improve your school
- Parents on the School-Based Management Team
- Parent-Initiated Projects

Praise for Including Every Parent Books, Videos and Workshops

Principal Bill Henderson and his team have built a superb model of a school where children and parents of all skills and abilities are welcomed seen as valued partners. Including Every Parent captures so much of what gets parents involved and keeps them involved to support student achievement.
Karen Mapp
Interim Deputy Superintendent for Family and Community Engagement, Boston Public Schools

The presenters have experience in doing the work. They are approachable and easy to speak with.
Participant
Massachusetts Charter School Association conference workshop

What makes this book so special is that it is written by parents and teachers who are actively participating in a successful family/school partnership and it is filled with ideas that can be replicated around the country.
Sue Ferguson
President, National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education

This workshop was a great combination of expertise shared and an opportunity for schools to set goals.
Participant
On-site workshop at the Patrick O’Hearn, March 2003

I have concrete information to take back to my school.
Participant
Federation for Children with Special Needs conference workshop

Read the January, 2004 Press Release for Including Every Parent

PSI Can Help You Implement These Strategies:

Customized Workshops
Our staff can come to your school to help you implement these school-tested strategies for effectively engaging and empowering parents.

School Visits
We can coordinate a visit to the Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School, so you can see their successful strategies first hand.

Planning Tools
PSI can help you create a personalized step-by-step strategy for implementing successful student-support programs in your school.

Workshop/Presentation Roundup

The Including Every Parent team has led presentations at:

•  Coalition of Essential Schools/New England Small Schools Network Spring Forum 2004, Boston, MA

•  Federation for Children With Special Needs Annual Conference, Boston, 2004

•  Massachusetts Charter School Association 2004 Convention, Worcester, MA

•  Rhode Island Parent Information Network, Newport District Training, 2004 (Keynote Address)

Useful Parent-Involvement Links

National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education

Harvard Family Research Project FINE Network

Institute for Responsive Education

National Institute for Urban School Improvement

Whole Schooling Consortium

Teachers Network