Work with the existing PTA to create opportunities for new parents to get involved, or go above and beyond the typical teacher outreach by hosting events for parents. Some great event ideas include a “technology night” where you discuss the online curriculum students are using in the classroom so that parents can gain a better understanding.
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Sep 09, 2019 · A great way to do this is by building a classroom contract of expectations for both students and parents to sign and/or by having students create goals for their personal and educational growth. When everyone is on the same page, it builds a great foundation for a team approach going into a new school year.
Nov 01, 2018 · Students aren’t the only ones who benefit from family engagement: parents and teachers do, too. Teachers can prepare parents to help with homework or academic concepts. And engaged parents tend to think highly of teachers, which improves teacher morale. Knowing more about a student’s family life can also help teachers prepare lessons that ...
as involvement in pro-social activities (e.g., school or community sports). 5. Engaging parents in their children’s and adolescents' school life is a promising protective factor. Research shows that parent engagement in schools is closely linked to better student behavior, 6–9 . higher academic achievement, 10–12. and enhanced social ...
Jul 25, 2016 · Establish a rapport of equality and create a comfortable atmosphere. Place the student at the center of all communications, making sure that parents understand they are the priority. Avoid the education jargon and be concise. Don’t come with fixed answers. Rather, ask parents for their input and suggestions.
2. Offer opportunities for bi-directional, shared dialogue.Provide families with a way to contact you when needed. ... Hold parent-teacher conferences by video or phone. ... Hold a virtual home visit to check in with families on a personal level. ... Offer opportunities for parents to provide feedback around remote learning.
Ways to Get InvolvedAttend back-to-school nights or other orientation events. ... Ask your teacher how they would like to communicate. ... Demonstrate a positive view of education at home. ... Encourage reading. ... Help manage the homework process. ... Attend school events. ... Attend parent organization meetings. ... Volunteer in the school.More items...•Apr 24, 2019
How to increase parent involvementOnline advice videos. Parents and teachers can share ideas via web videos on your school's website. ... A dedicated blog and online calendar. ... Use social media at your school to connect to parents. ... Home visits and parent/teacher conferences. ... Family nights. ... Volunteer Opportunities.Jul 12, 2021
Parental involvement at home can include activities such as discussions about school, helping with homework, and reading with children. Involvement at school may include parents volunteering in the classroom, attending workshops, or attending school plays and sporting events.
For teachers, here are some tips to increase parent involvement:Connect parents and schools. ... Create an organizational structure. ... Consider parents' time. ... Encourage fathers to participate. ... Identify and support leaning environments. ... Learning centers. ... Develop or Enhance Class and School Web Pages.
Provide opportunities for parents to connect with the school. Volunteer shifts, class activities, or parent-teacher committees are all great engagement opportunities. Share your classroom goals or expectations openly with parents, and ask them to do the same. Connect with parents in-person as much as possible.Nov 1, 2018
See AlsoShow caring. ... Give families the benefit of the doubt. ... Open multiple lines of communication. ... Be consistent. ... Build community among parents. ... Offer flexible ways for families to support learning. ... Make communication family-centered.Dec 31, 2020
Ultimately, face-to-face meetings are a critical way to build rapport with parents, but virtual face time works just as well when in-person meetings are not an option. Being flexible is the best way to make sure that parents are making these meetings. In a technology-rich world, this can mean using something like FaceTime or Zoom when parents can’t be physically in your classroom for a one-on-one meeting. Allowing parent to know when you’re available and providing a variety of options and times can help parents not feel discouraged when schedules don’t line up.
A classroom website is a great spot to post grading policies, helpful online resources, class schedules, projects, and assignments. They’re easy to set up with templated websites like Wix or Squarespace, and they allow you to be proactive for the entire school year in minutes.
Parent involvement is when parents participate in school events or activities, and teachers provide learning resources or information about their student’s grades. Unlike in parent engagement, teachers hold the primary responsibility to set educational goals.
Try these parent engagement strategies to transform involvement into parent partnerships: 1 Give parents your contact information and get to know them early in the school year. That way, when they have questions, they’ll feel comfortable reaching out 2 Provide opportunities for parents to connect with the school. Volunteer shifts, class activities, or parent-teacher committees are all great engagement opportunities 3 Share your classroom goals or expectations openly with parents, and ask them to do the same 4 Connect with parents in-person as much as possible. Use emails, texts, or apps to keep parents up-to-date on upcoming class events 5 Address common challenges that inhibit parent engagement like scheduling conflicts or an intimidating atmosphere
According to experts, the definition of parent engagement is parents and teachers sharing a responsibility to help their children learn and meet educational goals. Parent engagement happens when teachers involve parents in school meetings or events, and parents volunteer their support at home and at school.
Teachers can prepare parents to help with homework or academic concepts. And engaged parents tend to think highly of teachers, which improves teacher morale. Knowing more about a student’s family life can also help teachers prepare lessons that better fit that student’s needs or interact more efficiently with families.
When parents are engaged in their children’s school lives, students have the home support and knowledge they need to not only finish their assignments, but also develop a lifelong love of learning. Teachers who focus on parent engagement often see a profound change in their classrooms.
Schools can also engage parents and students in health education activities at home.16,32 Engaging parents in homework assignments or other health activities at home can increase the likelihood that students receive consistent messages at home and in school.52,53
In particular, schools can coordinate information, resources, and services from community -based organizations, businesses, cultural and civic organizations, social service agencies, faith-based organizations, health clinics, colleges and universities, and other community groups that can benefit students and families.16,32 By working with community organizations, schools can help parents obtain useful information and resources from these organizations and give parents access to community programs, services, and resources. In addition, schools, parents, and students can contribute to the community through service.
Schools can include parents as participants in school decisions, school activities, and advocacy activities through the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) or Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), school health council, school action teams to plan special health-related events, and other school groups and organizations.16 ,32 In addition, parents can serve on school committees or in leadership positions to assist with school decisions in developing school health policies, emergency/crisis/safety plans, health and safety messages, health curricula, food and beverage selections for school breakfasts and lunches, health services and referral procedures, and other plans and programs.
Use a variety of communication methods, such as flyers, memos, banners, signs, door hangers, newsletters, report cards, progress reports, post cards, letters, monthly calendars of events, Web sites and Web boards, text messaging, and e-mail messages to communicate with parents about health-related topics and issues.16,25,42,43
The Virtual Café is an online tool that allows parents to view the foods offered each day and help their children select healthy meals at school. The tool helps parents monitor the types of meals children choose and also includes a feature that allows parents and school nurses to select appropriate meals for children with special dietary needs. In addition, parents are able to prepay online for their children’s meals.
The Action for Healthy Kids team in Idaho focused on the importance of parent involvement and participation in the successful implementation of local wellness policies. Parents and administrators from the Wilder School District and from Syringa Middle School in nearby Caldwell School District were invited to attend a free Wellness Forum. The goal was to provide information and answer questions about how to keep wellness initiatives active in the district, evaluate and monitor the policies, and get involved in school wellness. In order to incorporate families into the decision-making process, parents were encouraged to apply for $1,000 mini-grants, which could be used to improve an aspect of nutrition or physical activity of their choice at the school.
The Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) Asthma Program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, works to make the city’s schools more “asthma friendly.” The program aims to increase student access to health care, ensure that every student has a designated primary care provider, help students obtain medications, and improve students’ ability to manage their asthma effectively. This process requires collaboration among the school district, parents, and community organizations, so the APS Asthma Program created a community advisory board and linked with community health care providers. The program provided asthma education and management training to school nurses, mental health providers, school administrators and staff, and parents and community members at targeted schools and obtained feedback from trained recipients for continuous improvement. They also referred students and families unable to access state-funded or private health insurance to the New Mexico Department of Health’s Children’s Medical Services.
Empower parents by creating a parent-teacher group. This will promote open communication and understanding between parents and school staff. Ask the group for their feedback about classroom activities, school programs, field trips, and events.
Talk with parents, not at them. Establish a rapport of equality and create a comfortable atmosphere. Place the student at the center of all communications, making sure that parents understand they are the priority. Avoid the education jargon and be concise. Don’t come with fixed answers.
It’s critical to build a bridge and maintain an open door policy so parents can understand what you’re trying to achieve. Only then will they be able to complement your efforts outside the classroom. A good way to do this is to communicate about school programs and child's progress on an ongoing basis.
Seeing your face is a good way to humanize communications and to help parents to connect with you more effectively. This can be a friendly way for you to share major updates and methodologies with parents if you can’t do it in person. You’ll love Animoto. External link.
Learning doesn’t end in the classroom, yet most parents are at a loss when it comes to supporting their children’s intellectual development. Many try to do too well and hover around them when they do homework, which can stifle creativity and self-development. Others let them roam free and hardly monitor their progress.
Text messages. Some teachers use mass text messages or special messaging apps to communicate with parents. A number of text services cater specifically to teachers, such as Remind.
Teachers also benefit from parent-teacher communication, as parents can serve as a valuable asset in the learning environment. Teachers who cultivate relationships with parents will gain added cooperation, as parents are more likely to work with and reach out to teachers they trust.
Parents can also support children and help boost their confidence by encouraging them when they do well in school.
Effective communication helps establish a relationship of respect between teachers, parents, and students.
Parents who are more involved in their child’s education can help improve academic achievement, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. When parents take an interest in school activities, students are given an additional level of accountability.
Family support, equitable access to education, organized leadership, committed educators, and attainable educational goals play a significant role in every student’s academic success. Studies continue to show that parent involvement is one important factor in helping students engage in their learning, and parent-teacher communication is ...
Effective communication is essential to create strong school-home partner-ships and to increase parental involvement. Just as teachers are skilled in the art of teaching, they also require knowledge and skills to effectively communicate with their parent community. A number of communication opportunities are currently available to teachers, ranging from school-to-home communication books to parent conferences to the use of internet technology. Importantly, teachers should note that communication is rarely a discrete, individual act but rather occurs within the context of ongoing exchanges (Adler & Rod-man, 1994). us, teachers should strive to use a variety of effective strategies to make communication with parents as informative and interactive as possi-ble, incorporating new communication methods and yet retaining the human touch. Every communication exchange, regardless of format, should reflect a thoughtful, planned approach and should be viewed as an opportunity for teachers to promote parent partnerships and, ultimately, to support student learning.
Two-way communication occurs when teachers and parents dialogue to-gether. Effective dialogue “develops out of a growing trust, a mutuality of concern, and an appreciation of contrasting perspectives” (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2004). A teacher may contact parents to celebrate a child’s successful school ex-perience. However, more frequently, the contact is to share a concern about the child, which can be a source of significant tension for both teachers and parents alike. Teachers should strive to make these interactions as productive as possible.
Communicating with parents on a continual basis is a key ingredient for increasing parental involvement. If a parent isn’t going to take the time to keep track of their child, then the teacher should make every effort to inform those parents of their child’s progress.
Increasing parental involvement begins with having the capacity to educate parents on the ins and outs of how to be involved and why it is important . The sad reality is that many parents simply do not know how to be truly involved with their child’s education because their parents were not involved with their education. It is essential to have educational programs for parents that offer them tips and suggestions explaining how they can get involved. These programs must also focus on the benefits of increased involvement. Getting parents to attend these training opportunities can be challenging, but many parents will attend if you offer food, incentives, or door prizes.
Many parents simply believe that they have minimal responsibilities when it comes to their child’s education . Instead, they believe that it is the primary responsibility of the school and of the teacher. Getting these parents to spend a little time in your classroom is a fantastic way to change their mindset on this.
Derrick Meador, M.Ed., is the superintendent for Jennings Public Schools in Oklahoma. He previously served as a school principal and middle school science teacher. True school reform will always begin with an increase in parental involvement in education. It has been proven time and time again that parents who invest time ...
Be sure the first contact with parents is a positive one. Communicate with parents straightforwardly and simply, avoiding educational "jargon.". Ensure that all parents have regular access to clear, concise, and easily readable information about their children's school and classroom.
The National PTA. This site provides a number of documents offering ideas for teachers and schools who want to encourage and promote parental involvement in education.
Research shows that children are more likely to succeed academically and are less likely to engage in violent behavior if their families are involved in their education. Many parents say, however, that they feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in their children's schools. Teachers often feel under attack by parents who are highly involved.
One of the best ways to create a culturally supportive and sensitive atmosphere is by providing learning opportunities that embrace the variety of students represented.
Field trips are always an excellent way for students to experience multiculturalism. However, the chances of an entire classroom hopping on a plane to travel to a foreign country may not be realistic. So, a terrific alternative would be to take a virtual field trip.