The ASPIRE Survey: Establishing Resources for Engagement via a Web-Based Application

January 1, 2013
M. BagwellM. Femcbagwell

Abstract

Aspects of the school reform movement call for and include parent engagement; a widely defined and loosely implemented term encompassing academic and non-academic interaction between school and families. Research underscores the importance and efficacy of parent engagement but few tools exist to assess the specific but multiple resources a school community contains and then align them with the specific academic and non-academic needs of the school. Emergent web and “smart” technologies are allowing social infrastructures to reform the methodology of their missions as software applications are built around specific needs. A pilot program within an underperforming high school in the northeastern United States demonstrated the use of a database web application in garnering six dimensions (assets, skills, professions, interests, relationships, and physical environment) of school community interaction to use in supporting family and community interaction with the curriculum as well as ancillary non-curricular programs within the school. The use of the web application in less traditional and broader resource to consumer contexts is explored in this presentation.

Paper

Introduction: Parent / School Engagement

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), enacted in 2001 defines parental involvement as the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities including: assisting their child’s learning; being actively involved in their child’s education at school; serving as full partners in their child’s education and being included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; and the carrying out of other activities such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA. (Section 9101 32).

NCLB provided a standard of definition and a mandate of compliance.  Epstein (2009) delineates six types of parental involvement, of which volunteering and community collaboration are germane. In the ensuing decade many states passed teacher evaluation legislation that includes parent engagement in the final assessment of  teacher performance.

Some Benefits and Challenges of Mentoring

Developmental relationships benefit youth - studies show they increase the likelihood they will undertake higher education, improve communication with adults, encourage healthy social relationships, and reduce the probability of drug and alcohol abuse (Wiley and Sturtevant,  2005). Non-mentors cite insufficient information on how to begin the mentoring process, and lack of understanding about what they could offer as a mentor, as barriers to involvement. Surveys reveal a gap between the number of people willing to mentor youth in special situations (i.e. youth who are immigrants, or have a developmental or physical disability, have a parent in prison, etc.) and those currently doing so (Wiley and Sturtevant, 2005). This reveals a specific need - not just for more mentors, but to find mentors whose interests and abilities align with the unique situations of some youth.

Because mentoring can foster change across numerous spheres of life, it need not take place in, nor be affiliated with an education institution. In fact, Lawner, Beltz, and Moore (2013) found that “community-based programs have positive impacts somewhat more consistently” than school-based programs, even if the measured impact was educational rather than social, emotional, behavioral, or health-related. However, most mentoring relationships are still facilitated by teachers and parents - adults who interact most often with youth (MPMN, 2013). Though not contradictory, these studies suggest that a successful mentoring community be able to accommodate myriad referral sources (parents, teachers, friends, anyone familiar with a mentor or mentee, including him/herself) while being “institution-agnostic” in terms of the final mentorship arrangement - essentially focussing on the individuals involved.

Technological Trends and Engagement

Traditional public institutions and infrastructures (transportation, communication, education, civics) are reemerging in the wake of mobile technology and social media to engage stakeholders in convenient, informative, relevant ways. Examples include the social connectivity of Facebook and Twitter, physical location services of Google Maps and Foursquare, and the civic and governmental software developed by Accela Inc., PublicStuff, and MindMixer. ASPIRE seeks to continue this trend by providing an intuitive web-based interface that improves efficiency and relevance when establishing meaningful mentoring relationships.

A statewide survey by the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota (MPMN) showed word of mouth to be the most widely used method for finding new mentors, followed by recruitment from current mentors.  On the other hand, social media and online volunteer databases were among the lowest-rated strategies. Incidentally, among the mentoring resources provided by the MPMN itself, e-newsletters and web-based mentoring program lists were the most extensively used, demonstrating an interest in these modes of access (MPMN, 2013). We can conclude that technology effectively organizes and enhances individual connections, but rarely creates them where they do not already exist in some form. ASPIRE combines the personal connection and networking that is so essential in discovering community resources such as mentors, with the efficiency and accessibility of a web-based program.

Overview and Implementation

ASPIRE is a web-app that serves as a framework for organizing and inventorying resources in any kind of community. For the purpose of forming developmental relationships, ASPIRE is useful for finding areas of shared interest, and facilitating a connection between mentor and mentee using underlying social relationships (who knows who).

ASPIRE comprises six factors: Assets, Skills, Professions, Interests, Relationships, and Environment. Because ASPIRE can be applied across a wide variety of situations, each factor is not always applicable - the most pertinent factors involved in the mentoring process are Skills, Professions, Interests, and Relationships. The web-app is built on a relational database that integrates resources, individuals who have access to those resources, and users of the app.

Upon creating an account, the group (ex: school or community organization) establishes an online presence on the ASPIRE website. Users (staff members) can add to the group's database of resources (Skills, Interests, Professions) culled from in-person meetings with mentors and mentees. The result is a web-based inventory of potential mentors/mentees, containing both relevant details on a mentor/mentee's areas of interest, and contact information.

Users can quickly browse or search the database find mentees with mentors who share a common passion, and facilitate a mutually meaningful relationship. Once established, these relationships can be tracked and annotated with notes, outcomes, and feedback.

Mentors and mentees can also access the database, but personal information is withheld when they view individual resources. This semi-open hierarchy enables broad sharing of community resources, while being mindful of privacy. It ensures the organization responsible for administering ASPIRE remains "in the loop", facilitating and organizing developmental relationships as they form.

 

 

REFERENCES

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, § 115, Stat. 1425 (2002).

Epstein, J.L. et al. (2009) School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, Third Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.

Harris, A. and J. Goodall (2007). Engaging Parents in Raising Achievement. Do Parents Know They Matter? Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Lawner, E., Beltz, M., Moore, K. A. (2013, March 28) What Works for Mentoring Programs: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Programs and Interventions. Child Trends #2013-14.  Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/  2013/03/Child_Trends-2013_03_28_RB_WWMentor.pdf

Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota. (2013). Mapping the State of Mentoring: Collective Impact of Mentoring in Minnesota.  Retrieved from http://www.mpmn.org/Files/2011StateofMentoringReport_FINAL.pdf

Volunteering in the United States, Reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U. S. Department of Labor, 2004

Wiley, T., Sturtevant, C., Appleby-Carroll, C., & O’Connor, R. (2005). Mentoring in America 2005: A Snapshot of the Current State of Mentoring. MENTOR. Retrieved from http://www.mentoring.org/downloads/mentoring_523.pdf