Parent Involvement

Parent involvement in education correlates with higher academic performance and school improvement.

“When schools and families work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher level programs” - Caston Binger

For these reasons, it is critical for the building leader to engage families to involve them in the educational process. To do so, I would approach the situation in a variety of ways:

  1. Welcome family members to the school:

  • Post welcoming signs in hallways that direct families to a staff member who will make sure their needs are met. 

  •  Invite family members to eat lunch with their children. 

  •  Invite family members to visit their children’s classrooms during instructional time when a new concept or resource is introduced so that they can experience what the children are doing firsthand. 

  •  Have staff personally distribute leaflets in the community concerning school events, meetings, or other activities.  If needed, leaflets would be available in the family's native language.

  • Have staff make phone calls to invite families to participate in special events, meetings, or other activities such as open house, talent shows, science fairs, or spelling bees

  1. Encourage families to work collaboratively with the school by joining the PTO or the School Base Planning Team. Other options might include actively volunteering as classroom aides or language interpreters for other families.

  2. Conduct home visits at the beginning of the school year that help parents understand the school’s academic expectations and how they can support their children in reaching them; thoughtful parent communication around student progress conducted in their native language or with interpretation services; providing transportation and child care during school events and activities; allowing parents to choose from a wider variety of times when scheduling meetings with teachers; and providing teachers with additional support in overcoming cultural differences.

  3. Parents and teachers can collectively work together and review data and grades at parent-teacher conferences. Working collaboratively with parents to share data has great benefits. When parents are equipped with relevant data on attendance, behavior, and academic progress and performance, families can strengthen their role as supporters of their children’s learning and advocate for school improvement.  As the principal, I will make it my top priority to ensure all parents, including those from diverse backgrounds receive all data pertinent to their child's academic growth and wellbeing.  Such data can be shared through parent–teacher conferences or made available via electronic media such as school websites or user friendly data sharing apps.  When leaders share data with families, it opens up new possibilities for families to gain access to meaningful student data that can guide their actions in supporting their children’s learning and school success.

Meet on their turf:  Though inviting family members to the school is important, I would personally meet with families at locations away from the school campus to talk about ways they can foster home environments that support their children’s learning.  Strategies to promote meeting on the families’ turf might include the following: 

  •  Conduct meet-and-greet walks in the students’ neighborhoods. 

  • Offer classes to parents on strategies to improve home reading or other homework activities at a local community center, library, or church. 

  • Hold special meetings on parenting skills at a local community center, library, or church.

Parent involvement is often considered a pathway through which schools enhance the achievement of underperforming children.  We must continue to engage diverse families in a manner that keeps them well informed and actively involved in the educational process.

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