Regardless of race or economic status, parental involvement in student performance is a significant indicator of success, former Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board member William Sampson said at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Sampson, a special guest speaker, addressed parents and elementary school board members about the achievement gap that he still feels is “your dominant issue” in Evanston. He presented his recent studies that showed how parental involvement in low-income black and Latino families can lead to higher grades and to positive teacher feedback.

Sampson, who served on the school board about 15 years ago, worked with Family Focus-Our Place, 2010 Dewey Ave., in analyzing 12 low-income black homes, which led to the publication of a book entitled “Black Student Achievement.” Trained observers studied the families two to four hours a day, once or twice a week for seven to eight weeks. The observers analyzed how often parents inquired about their students’ schoolwork and spent time working with them.

He later did a similar study, entitled “Poor Latino Families and School Preparation,” which followed 17 low-income Latino families that also showed better performance in homes where parents are highly involved with their children’s education.

One of the conclusions from the studies was that many parents did not know how to help their children, Sampson said.

“Almost all parents want their children to do well, but many don’t know how to make (improvement) happen,” Sampson said.

However, Sampson said he found parent involvement is crucial even if the parents don’t understand their children’s work.

Sheryl Phillips, a teacher at Willard Elementary School, 2700 Hurd Ave., said there is a need for better communication between teachers and parents. Phillips said she would like to see parents write a letter describing the strengths and weaknesses of their child. She said this could help teachers address the student’s needs and to show parental interest.

“It dispenses this excuse by teachers that parents are not interested in the children’s education because they are not visible in the school,” Phillips said.

Sampson’s presentation was based on his findings, but he stressed that he was researching, not telling the school board how to address the problem of low parental involvement.

Evanston resident Lori Osborne appreciated Sampson’s honesty in admitting that the complexity of the issue may mean there is a lack of immediate solutions.

“What was nice to hear was that he was acknowledging how complicated and difficult it is to address the achievement gap and that there isn’t this set of silver bullets and that everything is going to be better,” Osborne said.

The board also examined statistics on achievement by race in the district at the meeting. Overall, the statistics showed positive change in closing the achievement gap.

They also discussed adjusting the school calendar around local elections. Many families will be out of town for the April 5 school board elections because students will be on spring break.

Reach Lensay Abadula at [email protected].