A Strategic Plan for Enhancing Parental Involvement through Parent Training Workshops to Increase Student Achievement

Enhancing Parental Involvement through Parent Training Workshops to Increase Student Achievement. Kenner Wilcox, 2024: Strategic Research Project, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice. Keywords: parental involvement (engagement), collaboration, communication, feedback, parent-teacher partnerships, two-way communication. This strategic research project was delineated to address the issue of the lack of parental involvement by encouraging feedback from parents. Parental involvement is a crucial aspect of student achievement and socio-economic development. The discrepancy in how effective parental involvement is cultivated is based on the numerous definitions of what it is and how it is interpreted by stakeholders. Renaissance Academy was established in August 2021 as a charter school that felt families should have quality school choice options for students and have an inclusive and collaborative community that would prepare students to be lifelong, successful individuals academically and careerwise. Following an evaluation of the internal and external factors of Renaissance Academy through a SWOT analysis, it was determined that there was a lack of parental involvement within the organization. To address this issue two-way communication processes were selected from four proposed solutions analyzed through an extensive literature review assessing the influence of the alternatives offered. Utilizing communication apps in two-way communication and encouraging parental feedback were chosen to implement this solution. Applying the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) resulted in encouraging parental feedback as the most appropriate strategy which received a total attractiveness score (TAS) of 6.11 when determining the extent of the attractiveness of this strategy considered relative to each factor. An action plan was created and detailed the required steps for strategy implementation. The steps for the action plan are (a) to identify participants, (b) development of workshops, (c) pre and post-activity simulations, (d) to assign teacher and parent groups, and (e) conduct a parental involvement seminar. Encouraging parental feedback as a way to involve parents in the educational process facilitates school and home relationships which ultimately lead to partnerships because communication is the fundamental aspect and is most effective when two-way communication is incorporated in the process. The literature review contributed to the many ways that parental involvement can be increased and in deepening understanding of how to be involved in students’ education by soliciting feedback from parents through various ways of communicating. The approach or manner of engaging parents in the process presented limitations. The recommendations are to evaluate the effectiveness of engagement and involvement with activities consistently throughout the school year. Tracking participation and activity effectiveness will ensure an increase and improvement in the parents’ participation and contribution. The findings revealed that the literature on parental involvement warrants the recommendations needed to execute the outlined action plan steps at Renaissance Academy.