Does improved school communication support student success?

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) blog has a post this week about a new report from a national public relations association that indicates strong school division communication efforts and parental involvement leads to better performing students.  I almost stopped reading the post when I saw it was a PR association touting improved communications, but I clicked through to the press release because I am a strong believer that Albemarle County Public Schools and our parent/teacher organizations should be communicating effectively inside and outside our school community. 

In fact, at tonight's School Board meeting, we will be passing our 2006-07 budget (leaders in Richmond, please go to school on that) and it will include significant investments in our new Community Engagement department which was started this year.  The Community Engagement office is working on initiatives in the following areas:

• Internal/external communications
• Equity and Diversity
• Community/service learning initiatives for students
• School-community relations and engagement in our strategic plan
• Career and business partnerships

So back to the new white paper... Ironically, when you get to the PR Association's press release, you have to send them an e-mail asking for the 38 page white paper.  I'll save you the trouble because the automatic e-mail reply gives you the "secret" link: http://www.nspra.org/WhitePaper.pdf

Some conclusions highlighted in their press release:

"The white paper, How Strong Communication Contributes to Student and School Success: Parent and Family Involvement, compiled and reviewed research investigating the links between school communication and the resulting parental and community involvement crucial to student achievement. A number of performance issues, the white paper reports, are linked to school communication and involvement, including:"

• Higher grade point averages and scores on standardized tests.
• More classes passed.
• Higher enrollment in more challenging academic classes.
• Better attendance.
• Improved behavior at home and at school.

Other key findings highlighted in the compiled study include:

• "Parents and principals cite lack of time as the most common barrier to increased involvement, but research identifies lack of planning for partnerships and lack of mutual understanding as the two greatest barriers to effective family involvement."

Based on my quick review of the white paper and footnotes, it looks like they have compiled and reviewed original research by others, but it is helpful to pull this together in a document and action plan.  Albemarle County's recent focus groups, strategic planning, and communications initiatives have put us on a path that matches up well with the direction recommended in this report. Now we need to deliver.

"Communication is the foundation of effective partnerships. To build effective partnerships with families and the community that will enhance student achievement, schools must first talk to — and listen to — parents, community groups, business leaders and others with a stake in student learning. Any strategy must accommodate the diverse language, cultural needs, lifestyles and schedules of all parties. This means the school often must take the initiative in reaching out to its community and parents. Successful partnerships require sustained mutual collaboration and support — from school staffs and from families at home, at school and in the community. It requires a school environment that welcomes its partners and encourages them to raise questions and voice their concerns, as well as to participate appropriately in decision-making."

Brian Wheeler

Comments

[Beth]

After teaching for more than two decades, I feel qualified in saying that the importance of communication, and its positive effect on student achievement, is nothing we didn't know twenty years ago. The intense focus on numbers and test scores, in addition to the plethora of "new" initiatives and goals each school year, has consistently buried what we have known for years to be "best teaching" practices. Effective communication is one of many practices to resurface as soon as someone, or something (such as an event), causes us to remember we're suppose to be doing it (bullying, character counts, inquiry based learning, Bloom's taxonomy - all recently brought back to life as "new").
Working with parents is the key to a successful school. However, teachers new to our school system during the last 6 years, especially at the elementary level, learn that the way to "prove" themselves is by getting their students to pass, or, even better, improve, SOL scores. I've witnessed many a teacher spend the year preparing children for the tests and leave little time for communcating with parents. As long as the numbers are good in June, little to nothing is done by administration to improve other areas of performance. Holding leadership positions with stipends is another time consumer that younger teachers see as a highly valued acts in the eyes of administrators.
Clear, effective, and consistent communication takes a lot of time and effort. It's so much more than a class newsletter once a month. Phone calls, notes, email, conferences, frequent examples of assessed student work sent home, individual contracts, and planning for parent involvement in the classroom take a large amount of time during the work day. If the time is not available, and teachers' concerns about this need are not addressed, the message received is that administration assigns little value to this effort . Perhaps effective communication between the educators in the school building should be an initiative.