REIMAGINING PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN A SCHOOL COMMUNITY BY CO-CREATING A PARTNERSHIP MODEL FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL

Abstract

This inquiry engaged school leaders, teachers, and parents in a collaborative process to reimagine parental engagement in a rural-suburban middle school. The Community Learning Exchange (CLE) methodology was used to simultaneously collect data and to facilitate a shift from the traditional school-centric model toward co-created partnerships. The main finding details the school leaders’ role in building a healthy school culture by cultivating conditions for meaningful, co-constructed engagement. Three interdependent factors emerged as essential to this partnership: (1) a deep understanding of barriers, (2) accessible, clear, and consistent communication, and (3) structured opportunities for collaborative discussion. Participants in the CLEs led to leadership changes in practice, shifting from directing outcomes to intentionally designing conditions that honor multiple perspectives, resulting in new, collaborative strategies for parental engagement.