What are some good ideas to get parents more involved in their child's education.?

Question

What are some good ideas to get parents more involved in their child's education.?

Answer 1

Well, I agree with the first poster.   Parents have to get their act together.

The parents who are involved are the ones that really care.  If you love your child, you'll take the initiative to the best of your ability.

Now, not all parents can be super mom and be at school every single day.    They might have to work or take care of a sick parent.    But, there involvement will show in many ways.

The kids will come to school on time, with their homework and appropriate learning materials.  The kids are focused on school and they general care about their grades and the opinion of the teacher.

The kids with uninvolved parents tend to be the ones who have behavior issues or just don't care about school.  Not every kid is a genius.  But, even lower achieving students will place an important emphasize on learning, if it's a value stressed at home.

Basically, teachers just need to have open line of communication.  This means they can call the teacher, write notes to them or set up appointments w/o hesitation from the teacher.

Answer 2

I don't think this question is as clear cut as it looks.  My kids begged me to volunteer so I even went to get daycare for my toddler 1day/week to do so (I am a SAHM).

So, I inform the teachers that I will be there every other Friday (2 sons - so have to toggle days) thinking I am going to help the teacher with these children's education; make a difference in their lives.  I mean here I am, woman with a Bachelors of Science Degree that can tutor; I understand a  lot of math and language.  I am thinking I can help those kids who are really struggling for say 20 minutes each - some private tutor time that their parents may not be able to afford - help in the classroom....

Nope, I'm spending $1,000/year on daycare to be in the copy room.  Copying papers for the entire grade levels teachers (not just my kids' teachers) or cutting colored paper.  If I'm lucky, I get to review homework papers.  That's where I still see the struggling kids still struggling and actually falling further behind because they just don't grasp the concepts.

So, I guess I'm helping a little bit by copying, but it's definitely not what I expected or hoped for.  And I do believe that teachers salaries include payment for "prep time" - which would be that copying for the class (not that I want to debate teachers salaries..)

I want to be involved in my children's success and I don't think I am doing that in the copy room.  I am planning on next school year to inform the teachers that I am available if they need help with work inside the classroom or to assist/tutor individuals in the class that would benefit from a little one on one help.

PTO involvement (in my experience) can be good or not live up to your expectations too - I think it depends on the school.  It can be a great source for extra educational field trips which are enriching to children's education.  But again I think there needs to be ownership on the PTO's part to commit to fundraising for a specific thing/destination and that it be equally distributed amongst grade levels.

So, the ideas I guess I'm suggesting is that teachers/schools find out exactly how parents want to be involved (their commitment level/experience/education/likes/dislike... - because for some, copying might be an answer to their prayers - for me it is not.

Answer 3

parents should schedule parent teacher conferences, start emailing the teacher, keep in touch with the teacher, to PTO/PTA, help sort out school supplies. volunteer, be an assistant school nurse, etc. have fun!

Answer 4

Our school holds family math/reading nights.  The PTO takes a night and has a local college come in and set up games and things for the kids and parent to due together.  We have a school on the small side but we still break it up.  K thru 3 and then 4-6 on another night.  We stress that parents should come with thier children.   Parents need to know what is going on in the classroom, they need to talk to teachers and thier kids to find out what they are doing.  Right after they get off the bus and get a hug, they first thing I say is "what did you learn today".

Answer 5

Well parents getting off their fat asses would be a start, Lol.

maybe the could ask their kids teacher now & again how they were doing.