Family and community involvement

As research shows, family and community involvement has a positive impact on student learning. Therefore, it is imperative for schools to expand community involvement interactions and support from parents, relatives, businesses, and agencies.

In this module’s analysis, you will describe and analyze two of your school’s community involvement programs, their goals, their levels of participation, impact on student learning, and various aspects preventing and promote their success.

• View/Download the Template Tables (DOC) for use in this assignment.
• Create a Word document for your response. Use APA format.
• Include a title page, a labeled conclusion paragraph, and references page in APA format.
• Complete the assignment by following the steps.

Step 1. Compose
Compose a well-developed introductory paragraph for your paper to introduce your school and its school/parent/community involvement programs.

Step 2. Create
Create a table in your Word document to chart information. You may use the template (Table 1) provided in the Template Tables document (linked above), or recreate the table yourself.

In the chart, identify up to four parent/community involvement programs your school currently has in place. Your list needs to include at least one parent program and one community (external partner) program.

• List the student need(s) each program addresses.
• Rate the current level of participation in each program by the three contributors: School personnel, families, and communities. A rating of 1 indicates minimal participation and 5 indicates full participation.
• Rate the current impact of each program’s contributors on student learning. A rating of 1 indicates lowest impact on student learning and 5 highest.

Step 3. Analyze
Analyze and consider the partnership information you gathered. Respond to each question in a well-developed paragraph.

1. Which programs most effectively involve parents/family, school, and community? Explain.
2. Which programs most effectively impact student achievement at your school? Describe.
3. Overall, who provides the most support for your school’s programs? What evidence do you have to support your choice?
4. How is program information communicated to parents/family, the community, and throughout the school? How could the communication be made more effective?
5. Who could become involved in specific programs to increase the programs’ effectiveness? Explain why these stakeholders are appropriate.
6. How could additional participants be drawn into these community engagement programs? Suggest several strategies.
7. What unaddressed needs do students at your school have? What type of community engagement program might best address those student needs?

Step 4. SWOT
A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a program or organization.

Create and complete a SWOT table in your Word document. You may use the template (Table 2) provided in the Template Tables document (linked above), or recreate the table yourself.

Step 5. Analyze
Referencing the list you developed in Step 2, select two programs (one involving parents/families and one involving the larger community). Analyze each program by completing the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Table 2 analysis.