“Head Start has not only given my child a head
start in life, but one for me as well.” Head Start Parent,
Massachusetts
How can I support the Head Start community as it endeavors to
engage all parents?
I can act on the knowledge ...
The concept of parent involvement is so ingrained
in the operations of Head Start that there is the risk of taking it
for granted. Certainly you and your staff members share the belief
that parents should be involved in the program that helps their
children gain the skills they need to succeed in school. Everyone
agrees that the children benefit from such involvement, and that the
parents do, too.
Even so, your staff needs to consider, at
regular intervals, some key questions. What do you mean by parent?
What do you mean by involved? Whose job is it to involve the
parents?
Such questions are especially critical now, with
both the structure of the family and the makeup of the U.S.
population going through rapid changes.
Today, the person who
parents a child in Head Start may be a teenager, a single father, a
recent immigrant, a grandmother, a foster parent, an aunt or a
great-aunt. Fewer parents are at home full-time with their children.
More parents are working two or more jobs or are in school or
training full-time themselves.
Families today are more
mobile, as they search for better employment and housing. Many
families served by Head Start have recently emigrated from Southeast
Asia, Central America, Eastern Europe and other distant points on
the globe. Families within a program may not share a common language
and they may represent widely different cultural beliefs, attitudes
and practices.
These and many other factors mean that there is no
typical parent and no one best way to get them involved. Traditional
strategies to involve parents in Head Start, such as classroom
volunteering or membership on the Policy Council, may not meet the
interests, needs or logistical requirements of all
parents.
Because of the more complex nature of parenting
today, parent involvement is too big a task to lay on any one
employee. It takes creativity, teamwork and the skills of the entire
staff.
The use of the word engage is deliberate. It has the
same meaning as the word involve, but it also suggests more. To
engage means to pledge or to commit oneself. The word engage also is
used in reference to the gears of a motor coming together to
successfully operate. In the same way, staff members need to make a
commitment and to come together to involve all parents
meaningfully.
That commitment must begin with the management
team. By holding the expectation that everyone has parent
involvement in his or her job description by encouraging,
recognizing and rewarding collaborative staff efforts for parent
involvement by setting aside the time and resources for staff to
reflect on these issues, share ideas and receive training you are
showing that you are committed to meaningful involvement
opportunities for all parents.
We all know the saying, Parents are their children's first and
most important teachers. Children learn not only from the active
instruction their parents give them but also from what they observe
their parents doing, from the way their parents talk to them and
behave toward them and from the home life their parents provide
them.
But parents do more than simply teach their children.
The greater truth is that parents are a child's first and most
important adult. Parents affect almost every aspect of a child's
life: self-esteem, health, attitudes, values, behavior, readiness
for school and success in life.
The reasons for this are
obvious. Of any adults, the parents of a child (or the persons who
perform the duties of parents) have the most responsibility for that
child. Over the years they spend the greatest amount of time with
that child. They have the most invested in that child and their
feelings for the child are the strongest and most
intense.
Because parents have so much at stake, they have a
great deal to offer to the Head Start program serving their
children. Head Start has long recognized this. Much of its success
has been due to its commitment to parent involvement.
Parent involvement benefits children in several ways.
There is the direct benefit from the parents working with the staff,
so that more can be accomplished for the children. Children benefit
when their parents know about and support what is happening in their
education. Parents who develop a habit of involvement are more
likely to continue that participation throughout a child's school
career. Finally, parents who are involved gain skills in decision
making, teaching, management, advocacy and other areas. They develop
habits of learning that will continue throughout their lives. These
gains can positively affect a parent's self-esteem, attitudes,
behavior and employment. This in turn can lead to positive effects
on the children.
Head Start programs often struggle to
maintain high levels of parent involvement. Traditional methods of
involvement, such as having parents serve as classroom volunteers or
on the Policy Council, don't allow opportunities for all parents to
be involved. They also do not take advantage of the many different
kinds of contributions that parents can make.
Head Start
developed a vision
for parent involvement [PDF, 775KB]. This vision maintains
that some of the most important goals for parent involvement in Head
Start are to:
- Support parents as primary educators, nurturers and advocates
for their children;
- Ensure that every parent has an opportunity for a significant
experience in Head Start; and
- Ensure that parents are involved in making policy decisions
for the program, which is the foundation of Head Start's unique
