INTRODUCTION

The involvement of parents, family and community in the life of schools enriches the learning environment. Active community partnerships help to create strong, democratically engaged communities. Parent and family engagement in children’s education, both at school and at home, makes a strong contribution to student achievement and well-being. Strong partnerships between home and school have a positive impact on a child’s success and well-being.

The term “parent” is used in this module to represent parents, guardians, caregivers, and all with an interest in a child’s education. “Family” is used to embrace the diversity of parental and extended family structures in Ontario homes, including other adults who are caregivers and play an important role in a child’s life. The module will explore the vital importance of parent, family, and community engagement in education, Ministry of Education requirements, and the role of communities in supporting a vibrant public education system.

Strong school-community partnerships are good for schools and good for the communities they serve. Each school is a rich community resource with assets that include its facilities, equipment and materials, entertainment (sporting or artistic events), human resources (both the staff and the students), programs for students, and courses for the broader community. There is high correlation between parent, family and community partnerships, and student achievement. Regardless of parents’ socio-economic background, experiences in school or their own educational backgrounds, all parents can support their children’s success. Parental involvement at school is also linked to greater participation in the community. However, partnerships between parents, community groups, and schools need to be genuine partnerships and reflective of engagement methods that remove barriers and focus on learning opportunities and improved achievement Schools that engage parents and the community help build and sustain confidence and support. Respect and trust go hand in hand and are built when parents and members of the community are invited into the school.

The advantages of collaborative approaches work in two ways. The school benefits, as do families, community agencies, institutions, and other groups. The school’s capacity to understand and serve the needs of students and families increases as a result of proactive, authentic and reciprocal relationship building efforts with communities. Similarly, awareness of, and access to, services for children and families are increased.

Module 7 – Exercising Authentic Governance: The School Board’s Role as Policymaker identifies the board of trustees’ role in articulating policy on parent and community relations as a central governance responsibility of trustees. Boards can promote healthy partnerships with parents and communities through:

• policy that helps ensure accessible and welcoming climates for parents and community.
• ensuring that the public has open access to relevant information about educational policies, programs, and services, as well as disaggregated data on student outcomes
• encouraging meaningful opportunities for input and advice into decision-making.

The engagement activities of the board of trustees are focused at a system level through the structures the board puts in place for consultation and information-sharing.

The Parent Engagement Policy for Ontario Schools

The Parent Engagement Policy for Ontario schools formally recognizes and supports a vision of parents as both valued partners and active participants in their children’s education, encourages many forms of parent engagement, identifies ways to remove barriers, supports parents to be engaged and involved in their child’s learning, and provides parent voice through Parent Involvement Committees, school councils, and discussions between parents and school.

In Ontario’s education system, all partners acknowledge the positive impact of parent engagement on student achievement and well-being. Students are supported and inspired to learn in diversified settings with high expectations in which parents:

• are welcomed, respected, and valued by the school community as partners in their children’s learning and development
• have choices about how to be involved in the educational community to support student success
• are engaged through ongoing communication and dialogue with other educational partners to support a positive learning environment at home and at school
• are supported with the information and tools necessary to participate in school life

The policy provides the vision of parent involvement, sets out four success strategies to support parent engagement. A larger report, Parents in Partnership (2010) provides greater detail for planning purposes and also showcases some of the many exemplary practices across the province.

Benefits for Parents, Students, Teachers and Schools

The evidence of the benefits of parent and family engagement in their children’s education is compelling. Parent engagement in their children’s learning positively affects student success for children of all ages.

The benefits to parents and students include:

• improved academic achievement
• more positive attitudes about school
• more success with homework
• higher rates of high school graduation
• more consistent school attendance
• fewer behaviour problems
• a brighter future for students at school and later in life

Benefits for Teachers

Teachers who actively partner with parents enjoy better parent relationships and other benefits, including:

• more supportive parents who better understand what is happening in the classroom
• parental help to ensure homework and assignments are done
• sharing of the responsibility for student success between teachers and parents
• a more positive parental view of teachers and the school
• improved student attendance and classroom behaviour
• Improved student achievement
• stronger connections with parents, with higher job satisfaction

Schools

Schools are intimately connected to the communities around them. Together, parents, community members, and schools can create a powerful support network to provide children and youth with the services they need, develop innovative school-community programs and enrich the life of the school. Through proactive, strategic engagement from schools, the following results can be seen:

• families and community organizations more fully support the school
• school and individual student achievement often improve
• schools are better connected to businesses, agencies, and services in the community
• schools gain greater recognition for their achievements and their valued role as an important part of community life

BILL 98: THE BETTER SCHOOLS AND STUDENT OUTCOMES ACT BRINGS NEW REQUIREMENTS

In 2023, Bill 98, known as the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, was passed in Ontario. It contained five key focus areas to support future regulatory and education policy reforms – one of which is focused on parent engagement.

The Bill sets out mandatory requirements for parent and community engagement including encouraging “consistent information and approaches to student learning through more accessible information and opportunities for parents to get involved, and greater consistency in student mental health and well-being supports.”

This focus on parent engagement is being operationalized through increased opportunities for parents to bring their voices to the work that is happening in schools.

The Student Achievement Plan

In 2023, the Ministry of Education announced the Student Achievement Plan, which has three key provincial priorities. 

• Achievement of Learning Outcomes in Core Academic Skills
• Preparation of Students for Future Success 
• Student Engagement and Well-Being 

Each school board must engage with their communities in the development and implementation of the Student Achievement Plan and must publicly report on the ministry-defined performance indicators annually in April. Best practice involves working with community, using data and responsive planning, and monitoring impact.

This direction focuses on:

• providing a consistent set of performance indicators emphasizing student achievement and mental health and well-being outcomes
• ensuring strategic planning and policy development are data-driven
• facilitating involvement of families and communities in the process, promoting transparency from school boards

The ministry has also added other new requirements for school boards. With the implementation of PPM 170: Board Communication with Parents, beginning in the 2024-25 school year, schools are also required to:

• make information available to parents in an accessible manner to enhance transparency and accountability. Schools are to share resources that can assist their child’s learning. Specifically, boards are required to post, at the very least, a link to the parent guide to Ontario’s school system. Schools must make this information available to parents when a child registers and at the beginning of each school year.
• provide parents/caregivers with detailed information about school events, speakers and performances at least 14 days in advance to ensure parents are informed about their child’s education. Specific details are required such as: date, time and location, title and topic, connections to curriculum and purpose, names of presenters and what organization they represent, and any materials used. This is to keep parents informed about what is happening in schools and to provide choice.
• develop and comply with the Ministry of Education-directed protocols for acknowledging and following up on parent/caregiver inquiries in an effort to provide consistent, reliable and timely communication and outline how issues at the classroom, school and system level are to be addressed. Schools are to respond to inquiries within two business days and are to do so in a manner that is easily understood by parents, is relevant and is accurate. Boards are also required to let parents know when the inquiry will be addressed if the situation cannot be fully addressed within five days. Boards should develop protocols to deal with violent or threatening behaviour from parents and caregivers towards staff. In addition, school boards are to ensure that board committees such as the Special Education Advisory Committee, Indigenous Education Advisory Committee, Parent Involvement Committee, school councils, and equity committees are made aware of this information. It must be made available in multiple languages and be reviewed and updated regularly. ^[1]

PPM 170 is meant to foster effective communication between home and school, enhancing a sense of community and fostering a shared responsibility for students’ educational journeys. This PPM promotes the active engagement of parents in the education of their child. In providing timely information to parents and being responsive to their inquiries, school boards can enhance parent engagement, as well as confidence, in our publicly funded schools.

However, parent and community engagement should go beyond these ministry directives, as engagement can build trusting relationships. It is essential that engagement practices and processes consider all relevant communities – both those within the system and outside of it. It is helpful to identify who should be consulted, in what ways, and for what purposes. Consultation frameworks for engagement can assist in letting parents and community members know where they can contribute. Boards should also consider asking how their communities want to be engaged rather than assuming particular and past strategies of engagement.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT – KNOWING OUR COMMUNITIES

Parents and families: The number one community group. Involved parents and families can effectively advocate for schools with the general public. Often, informed parents and families are among publicly funded education’s best ambassadors. Parents want to know what their child is learning at school, how their child is progressing, and how they can help their child at home.

Facilitating ongoing involvement with parents and families is a major contributor to school and student success. When families are actively involved in schools, teachers learn more about the students in their class, and students are more able and willing to learn.

Students: Students are at the centre of our work in education. Fostering student agency and listening to student voice are critical elements of school improvement. Students will be more involved and supportive of the school board if they understand the goals and purposes of education beyond their own personal course of study.

Community (parents and people without children in school): This group receives most of its information from social media, news media, and through word-of-mouth from neighbours, friends, coworkers, and relatives. It’s important to find ways of informing and involving this large sector of the public about the goals and values of publicly funded education.

Employees: School administrators (principals and vice-principals), teachers, and education workers need to know and understand the board’s key goals, issues and opportunities. They need to understand how to effectively provide feedback and advice, as the board of trustees highly values input from stakeholders. Staff play a key role in promoting parent and family, as well as community partnerships. Principals, in particular, are leaders in the school community and are often the positive, welcoming face of the school. Through their work in setting budget and policy, trustees can build principals’ capacity to engage with families.

French-language engagement: For French-language school boards in Ontario, fostering strong partnerships with community organizations, cultural institutions, and local services is essential to reinforcing the vital role of publicly funded French-language education. These connections promote linguistic and cultural vitality, ensuring that Francophone students thrive in an environment that respects and nurtures their identity. By actively collaborating with Francophone groups, post-secondary institutions, early childhood education centres, and economic development agencies, school boards can create a comprehensive support network that strengthens French-language retention and student success. Paying attention to the cultural diversity with French language communities, particularly racial minority groups, is also important. Such efforts are critical in reducing assimilation pressures, expanding access to French-language services, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of Ontario’s Francophone communities.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit Engagement: All boards must have an Indigenous Education Lead as well as an Indigenous Education Committee/Council, who must co-develop the board’s Board Action Plan on Indigenous Education. Boards must also implement the vision of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ Calls to Action (2015), specifically those related to education. See Module 16 – First Nation Trustees: Unique Roles and Responsibilities for more information. Ontario Regulation 462/97: First Nations Representation on Boards speaks to First Nations trustees and their representation on school boards. These trustees are appointed by their communities and play a dual role in representing their community and also all students of the board. Other trustees of the board are also responsible for the achievement and well-being of First Nations, Métis and Inuit students.

Policy-makers: Policy-makers include legislators, locally elected officials, and municipal leaders, all of whom play a role in shaping the broader environment in which school boards operate. While Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) hold jurisdiction over education policy, fostering regular dialogue with municipal officials—such as city councillors, mayors, and regional planners—can help align local services, infrastructure planning, and community initiatives with the needs of students and schools. Strengthening these partnerships ensures better coordination on issues such as school zoning, public transportation, childcare services, and community programming, ultimately creating a more supportive ecosystem for student achievement and well-being.

Advocacy groups: Directors and board members must ensure that they take the time to listen to all groups. Too often these voices have gone unheard. Advocacy groups often work to affect change in school systems that have not always been open to their efforts, but they have been integral to affecting change. Unfortunately, many changes in public education have come because of legislation, human rights decisions and ministry policy. However, educators and trustees need to be open to listening and engaging in meaningful ways while being cognizant of their legal and ethical responsibilities and adhering to applicable legislation, ministry policies, and Ontario’s Human Rights Code. It is important to be proactive, to reach out to diverse communities, and to not only engage when there is a problem. For more, see the Council of Ontario Directors of Education (CODE) Framework for Engaging with Advocacy Groups.

Community agencies and services: Building partnerships with agencies such as those providing children’s mental health services, multicultural associations, and religious communities is critical to the role of publicly funded education in serving the needs of the whole child.

Business leaders: Many businesspeople know the skills needed for success in the twenty-first century work environment and are willing to advise and support boards of trustees in the development of their MYSP.

A FRAMEWORK FOR THINKING ABOUT PARENT/FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION

Joyce Epstein, a renowned authority on parent/family involvement and building educational partnerships, has created a framework of six types of parent involvement. Her work has evolved over the years to include a greater focus on engagement and more recently her work has considered technology’s role and the impact of COVID 19. The board of trustees can set policy and budget to support this type of involvement:

• Parenting
• Communicating
• Volunteering
• Learning at home
• Decision-making
• Collaborating with the community

Parenting: This approach involves school boards and their schools in helping families establish home environments to support children as students. Most school boards provide information on their websites about services for families in the community and provide tip sheets to help with issues that arise in the daily lives of families. Additionally, through EarlyON Child and Family Centres, free, high-quality drop-in programs are available for families and children from birth to six years old.

Communicating: This strategy involves the design of effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programs and children’s progress. In addition to report cards and parent-teacher interviews, effective communication involves regular sharing of student work via folders or online portfolios; encouragement of parent comments; curriculum nights; information about school policies, programs and events; regular newsletters; phone calls; e-mails; online access to information. School boards must also accommodate first language needs through translations of board and school communications and using interpreters for critical meetings and interviews.

Volunteering: An important school-based involvement strategy is recruiting and organizing parent help and support. Most boards have a volunteer policy and post information on their websites about how to get involved in school and board-level volunteer roles.

Learning at home: This strategy is about providing information and ideas to families about how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning. Many boards provide families with information on skills students need for various subjects at different grade levels through their websites and publish homework policies and resources for helping with homework.

Some schools also plan parent conferences on topics that support them in helping their children to be successful in school. Such opportunities may be an initiative of the board of trustees, but are typically run by board staff, through a partnership between staff and trustees, or the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC). Boards also encourage schools to have information nights on key issues of interest and may suggest topics and speakers while adhering to ministry requirements for informing parents/caregivers.

Decision-making: There are two formal groups, mandated by ministry regulation, that support parent engagement and board decision-making: at the school level, school councils with strong parent representation; and Parent Involvement Committees (PICs) at the board level. The mandate and structure of each group is set out in Ontario Regulation 612/00: School Councils and Parent Involvement Committees.

• School Councils: Improving student achievement and promoting accountability are among the key purposes of a school council. School councils are made up of individuals representing parents, the school, and the community. They provide advice to principals and, where appropriate, to the local school board. Part of a school council’s advisory role is to ensure their school responds to local needs and reflects local values.
  
  
• Parent Involvement Committees: The role of a PIC is to support, encourage, and enhance meaningful parent involvement to improve student achievement and well-being throughout the board and its schools. These committees are formal, led by parents, and considered important advisory bodies to the board. They are a vehicle for the participation of parents at the board level. Parent Involvement Committees advise the board on how to develop strategies and initiatives to effectively engage parents in improving student achievement and well-being, and how to effectively communicate these with parents. While school councils are school-based advisory structures, PICs focus on matters that affect more than one school.
  
  
• Other Committees: In addition to the PIC, boards of trustees are also required to establish an Audit Committee and a Supervised Alternative Learning Committee with representation from individuals outside the board. Each board must also have a Special Education Advisory Committee with parent representation that makes recommendations to the board of trustees about the establishment and development of special education programs and services. The Indigenous Education Council is another key partner that makes recommendations to the board about supporting First Nations, Métis and Inuit student achievement. Boards, through their websites and local school communications, make families aware of who their parent representatives are and what the process is for becoming a member of a council or committee. Many boards will also have a number of community advisory committees such as an Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee.

Collaborating with the Community: This strategy seeks to identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices and student learning and development. School boards provide families with information on community health, cultural, recreational, and social support. Some specific initiatives include summer programs for students, intergenerational programs, community use of schools and involvement of community volunteers who are not parents of children in the board’s schools.

PROMOTING FAMILY AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

An ongoing challenge for school boards is to have in place effective strategies for involving families who, for a number of reasons, may feel disengaged from the school system. It is essential that communities are asked about the ways in which they are most meaningfully engaged. A useful resource is Northeastern University’s Principles of Anti-Oppressive Community Engagement (2022), which identifies considerations and guidance for effective community engagement, including:

• Respect for community autonomy by engaging with communities as equal partners, recognizing their right to self-determination and decision-making.
• Understanding historical and cultural contexts by acknowledging and incorporating the historical and cultural backgrounds of communities to foster trust and relevance.
• Mitigating unintended harms through proactive identification and action on potential negative impacts of engagement activities.
• Reciprocity and mutual benefit through ensuring that engagement efforts are mutually beneficial, providing tangible benefits to the community as well as to the researchers or educators.
• Maintaining open communication and being accountable for actions and decisions made during the engagement process to ensure transparency and accountability.

Steps to eliminating barriers for disengaged families across communities could include:

• building awareness of the perspectives and experiences of the board’s communities, particularly those that are most reluctant to engage with the school system
• ensuring there is professional development for staff and trustees to strengthen cultural sensitivity and increase parent liaison skills
• providing friendly accessible information through community leaders that will encourage participation on Advisory Committees and community liaison groups
• ensuring there are staff who can support proactive outreach to specific communities that are not currently well-represented on school councils and PICs, or present at school events
• going out to the community to hold meetings or events, e.g., a “town hall” in a specific community or First Nation meeting place or a “reporting to parents” evening in the community; soliciting input that is community-initiated, not just input the board requires on a specific issue
• encouraging participation of extended family members, including grandparents who are often guardians or caregivers
• bringing community leaders into schools as role models for students, e.g., artists, First Nations Elders, Métis Senators
• approaching interactions with cultural humility and reflection about one’s biases, beliefs and cultural identity
• valuing lived experience to gain understanding and recognizing the parents come with cultural knowledge
• providing accommodations for parents so that they can participate, including interpreters/translators
• knowing who the advocacy groups are in a community, and then reaching out and working with them to address issues

Community engagement in public education values the right of community members to have input into the decisions that affect the lives and education of the community’s children. It is the process of building relationships with community members who will work with the school board as an ongoing partner and support its mission with the end goal of making the community a better place to live.

The Education Act underscores the importance of community engagement when the board of trustees sets strategic directions and establishes its goals. Trustees are expected to consult with parents, students and board communities on the board’s MYSP, and the board of trustees is obligated to make its communities aware of the plan, and report on progress with regard to its implementation. The plan demonstrates the board’s responsiveness and accountability to its community and reflects community values and priorities.

Community engagement is not an exercise in public relations; it is a collaborative process aimed at reaching a shared understanding of preferred solutions to identified problems or key community needs and priorities.

It is important to recognize, however, that school communities comprise a diverse range of people and interests whose views will vary and often be in conflict with each other. The job of trustees is to listen to all the voices, not just the loudest, or the ones they most agree with. Having listened, the board of trustees then has the responsibility to make decisions that will be in the best interests of the entire school board community. It goes without saying that the board’s decisions will not find favour with absolutely everyone who provided input. The challenge at that point is for trustees to be well-equipped to provide the rationale informed by data, the Human Rights Code, and legislation in service of students for the decision made by the board and to be able to respond to community questions.