Demographic Shifts, Interventions, and Parent Engagement in Suburban Schools

By Fang (Lisa) Yu

Increasing diversity in suburban communities challenges the prevailing myth that students educated in suburban schools come from White and middle-class families. Instead, recent studies have found that suburban schools are undergoing a demographic shift with upticks in African-American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian students. These schools are also serving rising numbers of children growing up in poverty. Together, these demographic shifts require adjustments in how academic intervention and parent engagement are approached, along with other changes in practice.

NYKids Partnering with Suburban Schools to Address Changing Needs

Arongen Elementary School, located in the suburbs of the Capital District, has worked with NYKids’ improvement teams to identify and then systematically get ahead of changes in their district.

To support Arongen’s improvement efforts, NYKids and the Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA) have partnered with Arongen staff in a multi-year improvement effort using NYKids’ COMPASS-AIM processes and tools.

In the first phase of this improvement effort, Arongen staff engaged in causal analysis (asking “why do we get the results we get?”) and then through analysis of NYKids’ case studies and other research, they set two specific goals:

• All Arongen students will demonstrate targeted growth in math and ELA on indicated measures
• Arongen will improve relationships among all community members

Tweaking Interventions

A growing body of literature has shown that Response to Intervention (RTI) can be used as an effective strategy to improve the academic performance of all students, but especially struggling learners. Key features of RTI are regular monitoring of student progress and subsequent use of data to make instructional decisions. These decisions include how one might adapt lessons or specific assignments, but also can include modifying objectives and student-grouping arrangements.

• A key recommendation from the research: Technology is recommended to be used for systematic monitoring and analysis of student achievement data.

In addition to using interventions to improve academic performance, educators also draw upon data to inform behavioral and social-emotional interventions. Studies have shown that students who struggle with “soft skills” like self-regulation, for example, are more likely to struggle with academics.

• A key recommendation from the research: Teachers need to collaborate with school psychologists to identify students who require additional behavioral supports.

Addressing Variability in Parental Engagement

Research literature has shown that parent involvement in schools is correlated with better student outcomes. However, parents or family members of children coming from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may hold different beliefs about the role they play in their children’s education, which could effect their involvement.

• A key recommendation from the research: Teachers need to gain a better understanding of the cultural and linguistic diversity in their students’ learning environments at home and provide corresponding resources and support.

Perceiving cultural and linguistic diversity as an asset is key for suburban school educators to successfully engage each and every parent. School programs and activities that celebrate cultural and linguistic differences are good starting places. According to some of the research in this area, making clear the objectives and expectations of school events to ensure they are inclusive of all families is necessary. Notably, provision of translators and translated materials to parents alone does not help to improve parental engagement in suburban schools. Instead, parents need to have more opportunities to engage in school decision-making processes rather than passively receiving information from teachers and administrators.

• A key recommendation from the research: Suburban educators need to apply a culturally responsive approach to engage culturally and linguistically diverse parents in school activities as well as in decision-making.

Stay Tuned

With shifting demographics and subsequent changing student and family needs, suburban educators benefit from revisiting their intervention and parent engagement strategies. Stay tuned for updates on lessons learned from NYKids’ COMPASS partner schools as they continue to engage in their improvement efforts. If you or your colleagues are interested in learning more about COMPASS and our upcoming workshops, reach out to NYKids at 518-442-5171 or nykids@albany.edu