The contributions of parents to school effectiveness

The core mission of this book, the originality of which is the exploration of the links between parental involvement and school effectiveness , is to examine ‘what works?’ and ‘how we know it works’.
This is more than an academic text. It takes the reader on a journey through the government initiatives which involve parents (National Literacy Strategy and family literacy, National Numeracy Strategy and family numeracy, SureStart, education action zones, baseline assessment , home–school agreements) to the practice at both local education authority (LEA) and school level. Part 1 provides a theoretica l perspective , part 2 explores the examples of parental partnership practice and part 3 focuses on literacy and learning.
One of the strengths of the book is the authors’ honesty in reporting the outcomes of the studies. Each acknowledge s the difŽ culties of quantifying the positive effects of parental involvement on school effectiveness . However, qualitativ e data expoundin g the value of parental partnership to schools, parents and children ’s achievement is recorded in abundance . Chapter 4, which reports the Birmingham LEA initiative, INSPIRE (Involving School Parents in Reading and Maths), is particularly inspiring! For too long, too many schools have erected and maintained barriers to keep parents ‘in their place’ at the school gates. A carefully planned and effectively implemented parent partnership with schools, as part of a whole LEA approach, as reported here, will empower parents in an all too frequently unequal partnership . It can only be hoped that other LEAs are already implementing such a project.