Involvement vs. Engagement in School: What’s the Difference and How to Improve in These Areas
What’s the Difference
A parent’s role in a child’s life is by far the most important. Therefore, it only makes sense that a parent would be a vital part of their child’s education. While we think this happens naturally, it is not always the case. Let us look closer at parent involvement and engagement.
Parent involvement is about the activities and events taking place during the school year. Participating in after-school activities with the children, attending field trips, volunteering, etc. These are all critical in a child’s growth throughout the school year.
Parent engagement relates to the development and progress of their child’s learning. Parents are actively involved in understanding the curriculum and attending meetings to help make improvements to the school. It is an active partnership between the school, parents, and teachers.1
Involvement
Overall, parents do well with being involved throughout the school year. Schools host numerous events to encourage parents to participate, such as chaperoning, attending special events such as band or chorus concerts, and sporting events. Parents enjoy these activities as well. They can see what their child is working on in school, meet other families, and show support to their children.
Students love to share with their parents. They are excited to show their families what they have been working hard on and get to share where they spend their time. Kids look in the crowd to find their family members during these special events. Just to know someone is there supporting them, makes all the difference.
There are benefits to involvement. Students have fewer issues with absenteeism, their social skills are stronger, and have fewer issues with behavior both at home and school. This is due to the consistency of tactics. If parents and teachers are on the same page with behavior goals set, there is consistency with what is accepted behavior2.
Engagement
Engagement can be trickier to implement. Many schools offer parent-teacher conferences as a way for the teachers to express the successes and concerns of their students to the parents. These are usually timed and limit how in-depth the parent and teacher can discuss matters of importance.
The PTA is a great way to boost engagement. The PTA works to include parents. To help them understand what the school and students need. They are responsible for fundraising, planning, and executing events. They also participate in meetings to advocate for students’ needs.3 Many parents will sign up to participate in the PTA; however, as students get older or as the year progresses, the number of parents who actively participate declines.4
You will see many of the same benefits with engagement as you do involvement. The difference here is you will find that students' grades will be stronger. Students will have a deeper understanding of the content being taught due to the parent’s understanding of the curriculum. Engagement has also proven students to have lower substance abuse issues as they get older.5 While both involvement and engagement have benefits, there is a deeper level of positive outcome from parent engagement.
It’s All About the Relationship
You may ask yourself, as a leader in the education world, how can I help parents? What can I do to bring more engagement in my school or help promote the importance of engagement later in our students’ careers?
Let me ask you to reflect. How are you involving your parents now? How are you keeping them informed? Are you encouraging communication between staff and parents?
Building relationships with your parents is the key to increasing engagement. Involving your parents is the best way to make this happen. People naturally want to be included, and want to know what is happening in the lives of those they love. Building your relationship with your parent community is the first step.
Parents reading to their young children is the start to engagement. Helping them to understand the impact this has on their child is key to keeping them engaged throughout their child’s school career.
3 Ways to Boost Involvement
Calendars: Having a school calendar is a great way for parents to know what is happening throughout the school year. It is a great way to communicate important events your school will be hosting. You can utilize online calendars such as Outlook or Google to easily share school events.
Newsletters: Having a newsletter keeps parents up to date on school functions or simply school news. Your calendar will set up the layout of events for the year, but the newsletter keeps parents informed of the updates, the add-ins, and any changes. No need to fret about figuring out how to share the newsletter; sources like Mailchimp have you covered.
Word of Mouth: Share with the students. Inform them of events or activities they may want to attend. Get the students excited about activities the school is hosting. Kids love to share with their parents. It can be as simple as this; having the students tell mom and dad. And there are sources available for teachers to assist in communication. Class Dojo or Brightwheel are easy to use. I personally have used these and found them to be great at helping to communicate with parents.
3 Ways to Boost Engagement
Events: Hosting events is an effective way to boost parent involvement, leading to improved engagement. Events are a quick way to make announcements of any upcoming meetings or training. This raises awareness to the parents. It encourages them to engage in their child’s learning.
Meetings: Plan for the parents and teachers to meet. Allow parent-teacher conferences, even in the early childcare years. This is seen often in public schools, but don’t underestimate the power this can have in the early years: this goes beyond the quick chats at drop off and pick up. It allows parents and teachers to address the positive and negative traits shown by the child and allows for collaboration to find the best solution.
Training: Parenthood; to some, it comes naturally, but to others, they may need help. Offering training to parents will help them understand the role they play in their child’s education. It will help these students thrive. Understood.org is a great tool for parents who have children with disabilities. Active Parenting is another tool for schools and parents to use. This tool finds parenting classes in your local area. It also helps schools by giving them resources and training materials needed to host parent training. Giving parents an opportunity to understand their importance in the educational community will encourage them. They will become more active in the inner workings of their child’s development and growth in the classroom.
So What’s Next
Knowing the difference between involvement and engagement is essential in understanding the steps to take to increase parent participation in school. As you head back to your schools, think about whether the students’ parents are involved or engaged. Are we communicating with the parents effectively? What area do we need to improve or make some changes in?
There is no set way to bring about the change needed to increase engagement. It is a matter of knowing the needs of your school, and start by meeting the community where it is at. Build from there and in time, you will see the change; change in the students, staff and parents. The shift will be for the better!
