Parents find ways to remain involved

Some would think Wanda Alston was an AWOL parent because she didn't volunteer at school or attend daytime events.

They would be wrong.

Alston, a single mother who doesn't drive and worked 11 MBTA stops away from her kids' schools last year, wasn't visible in the halls, but she was plenty involved in their education.

She kept tabs on daughter Bianca, a junior at Codman Academy Charter School in Dorchester, by checking the intranet with a password that lets parents see grades and assignments. Every other day, she spoke by phone with teachers at Codman and at Mildred Avenue Middle School, where son Rashad attends seventh grade.

"You are staying on top of your child; you are staying on top of their education," said Alston, an administrative assistant at Codman Academy. Teachers, she said, "have my work number, home number, cell number; they have my mother's number."

Alston -- and working parents like her -- are turning the picture of the "involved parent" on its head, according to findings of a new study by The Family Research Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

For years, research has made connections between parent involvement and student school success. But most of that "parent involvement" has been defined as the visible stuff: putting in "face time" helping out in classrooms, attending teacher meetings, open houses, staffing the parent-teacher organization, or providing refreshments on a moment's notice. But researchers say conventional views of involvement miss key efforts by working parents.

"Parents have all kinds of ways of connecting with the school that never get on the checklist of parent-teacher conferences, etc.," said Heather Weiss, director of Harvard's Family Research Project. "So much of the way we do research on parent involvement is done from a school perspective."

Weiss said schools must "get beyond that view that parents don't want to be involved" simply because they cannot attend functions held during work. The study, to be published this month in the American Education Research Journal, analyzes data from 390 children in three cities from low-income working families and in-depth interviews with 23 children.

Among the findings, it shows parents using workplaces as operation centers, where they can keep tabs on children after school, supervise homework, and give kids access to computers and even co-workers' expertise.

The study also points to the critical role of nontraditional parent-teacher connections, like the mother who spoke with her child's teacher at the dry cleaners where the parent worked. Other parents used relatives as stand-ins for school events or to help with homework.

What's so surprising is that this is news at all. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says 69 percent of two-parent households with school-aged children have two working parents, and 78 percent of single mothers with school-aged children work.

And yet, teachers' complaints about low parent involvement are common, particularly in low-income schools and districts. Where are the parents who don't show up at open houses? Don't sign up for teacher conferences? Might as well complain about parents who miss school field trips, aren't there for the 10:15 a.m. chorus performance, or available to help with classroom gluing projects.

The study offers a vote of confidence to working parents, who feel guilty missing school events, some of which seem to be minor happenings with little advance notice. But everyone still feels sorry for the kid whose parent doesn't show up for the author's breakfast or Math Morning.

Parents who can't help out or who miss events battle the perception of apathy. It's no secret that there's tension between working parents and the parent volunteers who receive the code to the school copy machine.

Tim Sullivan, publisher of PTO Today, a national magazine for parent groups, based in Wrentham, regularly urges PTO leaders to avoid the appearance of a clique.

"It's an ironic fact of PTO life. Parent group leaders are desperate for help, but a lot of parents feel shut out," said Sullivan.

Sam Mayhew, a father of two school-aged children, said it's frustrating when school events clash with work demands. He's a carpenter, and his wife, a plumber, also works full time.

"This group of people will schedule events at 9 or 8:30 a.m.," said Mayhew, of Cambridge. "At 8:30 a.m., I have been up for three hours and been at work for two hours. They want you to look at portfolios; come in and sit down. Well, the business I'm in does not allow that. If you don't work, you don't get paid. If you miss a day, it costs you about $200."

But Mayhew said that just because he and his wife, Jane MacDonald, aren't visible PTO members doesn't mean they aren't involved. For example, when seventh-grader Louis, 12, gets home from Cambridgeport School, he calls his mom to check in. Then he knows the drill: have a snack and do homework.

MacDonald said she's had guilt over the years because she couldn't chaperone field trips or be a room parent. But she also sees a benefit to Louis and sister Kayla, 15, a freshman at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, making some decisions on their own.

"I don't buy into that idea that they will be better students if you are there all the time," she said. "I think some kids are babied too much and protected too much."

Schools must make more of an effort to accommodate, or at least acknowledge, parents who work during the day. Weiss, of Harvard's Family Research Project, said research shows when schools reach out to working parents, many get involved. Just ask Claire Crane, principal of the K-8 Robert Ford School in Lynn, who knows better than to schedule daytime events. "Parents can't come because they work," she said. "Most of the low-income families work two and three jobs. We are very aware of that."

Accordingly, Crane holds school events at 5:30 or 6 p.m. and provides food, a formula that produces 85 percent to 95 percent attendance among parents.

"They really care and they come, and they participate," said Crane. "It's all in the way you accommodate their schedules."

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