On March 26th, The Rhode Island Foundation brought together a unique gathering of educators, community-based practitioners and policy makers from across Rhode Island to learn about an effective and proven community-wide and school-based strategy that supports meaningful parent and family engagement: Parent Academies.
SMI uses a uniquely collaborative approach to developing a Parent Academy, where the community as a whole serves as the "Academy campus" and organizations work together as a collaborative network to deliver a wide (and strategic!) range of educational resources, coursework and other oppoortunities to build the skills, knowledge and know-how of parents and families to become full partners in their child’s education.
Andy Beck from SMI spoke to what the collective research tells us about the impact of this work: “Family involvement and student success are linked. When parents are engaged in meaningful ways that provide opportunities for their own development and the development of their families and their children, student success goes up. Parent Academies is a new tool that is showing promising results in engaging parents, developing effective communication and collaboration between school and home. Results that students begin to demonstrate through increased attendance, decreased behavioral issues and higher achievement.”
Representatives from Westerly Public Schools and Springfield Public Schools shared their experiences and the path to building an Academy in their community. While the two districts are vastly different – small and rural vs. large and urban – the positive impact on parents, families and students has been the same. Academies can be developed at both the local level and district level. Whether regionally focused or citywide, size doesn’t matter. It’s the partnership and collective ownership of school and community stakeholders that make an Academy work. And this works for our children, our parents and our community!