In an effort to encourage more participation among families in their children’s schools, Watertown Public Schools is forming a pilot-program partnership with faculty at the Boston College Lynch School of Education to identify how to attract more diversity among families who actively participate in school programs and events, according to an announcement from BC. The first research collaboration of its kind between the town and the Lynch School is made possible through a grant by the Collaborative Fellows Program of the Lynch School. “I’m delighted to be partnering with the Boston College Lynch School on this important initiative,” said Dr. Jean Fitzgerald, Superintendent of Watertown Public Schools. “I believe that a strong school community is built through the positive connections we make with the families of our students. The collaboration between the Lynch School and the Watertown Public Schools will shine a light on the strengths and opportunities for increasing those connections and expanding family engagement here in Watertown.”
“Administrators in the school district have noticed that some families, often those more established in the community, are very engaged in schools – they come to all the parent-teacher conferences and are active members in parent-teacher organizations, the school-site council, that kind of thing,” said Lynch School Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership Rebecca Lowenhaupt, Ph.D., lead researcher in this project. “But other community members are much less likely to become involved.”
Dr. Lowenhaupt said her team, which includes middle school assistant principal Jason Del Porto, school district administrators, and researchers from the Lynch School, will undertake a system-wide needs assessment of family engagement using focus groups, data analysis, and conversations.
