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Effective Parent Councils: A constellation of factors...

EDER 619.10 L21 Issues in Educational Management LEARNING TASK 2: Group Presentation ==Welcome to our wiki presentation on Effective Parent Councils. Please use the links on the left sidebar menu to view the information gathered for this learning task. ==

__Initial Thoughts/ Introduction to the topic of Effective Parent Councils: __ = = The information regarding effective parent council groups is fractured, vague, and in many respects, shallow. Despite legislation requiring all publically funded Canadian schools to form parent advisory councils (see McKenna & Willms,1998, p.378), the research suggests that there is no overwhelming evidence supporting a correlation between parent council involvement in school and student achievement (see Corter & Pelletier, 2004; Pharis, Bass & Pate, 2005; Leithwood, Jantzi & Steinbach, 1998; Nygaard, 2010). However, Fullan (1997) notes that while the presence of school councils may not improve student achievement, "nothing motivates a child more than a climate in which learning is valued by a partnership of school, family and community" (as cited in Pharis, Bass & Pate, 2005, p.35).

Debates over the scope and capacity of effective parent councils aside, our group did agree that the metaphor, portraying a parent council as a constellation, is appropriate; "A constellation of school level factors appeared to support [parent] council’s work in schools" (Corter & Pelletier, 2004, p. 11). There is not one, shining star that is the answer to effective parent councils. Instead, it is a constellation of factors, similar in their support of more effective schools, disimilar in the factors making the parent council effective (as these draw heavily upon context).


 * Effective educational leaders and managers will find a balance of power that enables parent council groups and school staff to build capacity and support a caring community, while maintaining a focus on student learning. **