Three Parent and Family Interventions for Rural Schools and Communities

Dramatic changes involving rural parents and family systems are impacting schools, communities, and entire provinces and states. The out-migration of individual parents and entire family systems world-wide is especially noteworthy becaUSeit contributes to incipient urbanization at the same time that it UShers in consequential demographic changes—with economic development ramifications. For example, as parents migrate in search of jobs and better educational opportunities for their children, vulnerable families may replace them. Meanwhile, more mothers are in the work force.Mother-headed, single parent families are commonplace, and an unspecified number face employment challenges. Comparatively more, culturally diverse families are not fluent in their new nation’s dominant language. Where rural schools are concerned, a conventional parent involvementmodel (PI) founded on the idea that stay-at-home mothers will volunteer no longer will yield desired benefits at scale.Additional parent and family innovations are needed, and they mUSt be founded on intervention logic. Two such innovations are a collective parent engagement intervention and family support interventions. With PI, they form an intervention triad with the potential to strengthen connections among rural families, schools, community organizations, and faith-based institutions. These new connections in support of parents and family systems will help advance comprehensive planning for rural education and human development.