Parent Engagement in Schools

Parent engagement in schools is defined as parents and school staff working together to support and improve the learning, development and health of children and adolescents.¹ Parent engagement in schools is a shared responsibility in which schools are committed to reaching out to engage parents in meaningful ways, and parents are committed to actively supporting their children’s and adolescents’ learning and development.¹

Studies have shown that parent engagement in schools can promote positive education and health behaviors among children and adolescents. Research shows a strong relationship between parent engagement and educational outcomes, including school attendance² and higher grades and classroom test scores.³ Parent engagement in schools has also been identified as promising protective factors for adolescent sexual and reproductive health risk behaviors and outcomes, including ever had sex, early sexual debut, frequency of sex and pregnancy/birth.^4,5 In addition, when students find their school environment to be supportive and caring and their parents engaged in their school lives, they are less likely to become involved in substance abuse, violence, and other problem behaviors ^5,6 that are associated with HIV and STD risk.^7,8

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that schools use the following framework to increase parent engagement in school health:¹

1. Connect with parents by building a positive relationship and communicating the school’s vision to work together with parents to guide children’s health and learning.
2. Engage parents by providing a variety of activities and frequent occasions to fully involve parents including providing parenting support, increasing communicating with parents, creating volunteer opportunities, supporting learning at home, encouraging parents to be part of decision making in schools and collaborating with the community.
3. Sustain parent engagement by addressing the common challenges to getting and keeping parents engaged such as scheduling conflicts, transportation, making parents feel welcome in the school and supporting teachers in building relationships with families.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Parent Engagement: Strategies for Involving Parents in School Health. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
2. Epstein J, Sheldon S. Present and accounted for: improving student attendance through family and community involvement. The Journal of Educational Research 2002;95(5):308–318.
3. Fan X, Chen M. Parental involvement and students' academic achievement: a meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review 2001;13(1):1–22.
4. Guilamo-Ramos V, Jaccard J, Dittus P, Bouris A, Gonzalez B, Casillas E,et al. A comparative study of interventions for delaying the initiation of sexual intercourse among Latino and Black Youth. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 2011;43(4):247–254.
5. 10. Resnick MD, Bearman PS, Blum RW, Bauman KE, Harris KM, Jones J, et al. Protecting adolescents from harm. Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. Journal of the American Medical Association 1997;278(10):823–832.
6. Hawkins JD, Catalano RF, Kosterman R, Abbott R, Hill KG. Preventing adolescent health-risk behaviors by strengthening protection during childhood. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 1999;153:226–234.
7. Van Tieu H, Koblin BA. HIV, alcohol, and noninjection drug use. Current Opinion in HIV/AIDS 2009;4(4):314–318.
8. Maman S, Campbell J, Sweat MD, Gielen AC. The intersections of HIV and violence: directions for future research and interventions. Social Science and Medicine 2000;50(4):459–478.