Continuing on with my Education A to Z blog series, I am up to the letter K. Today, let’s talk how to keep parents involved in education.
Let me start by expressing how important the topic of keeping parents or other family members involved in education is. Kids who have parents who show a vested interest in their education get better grades and have less behavior problems than kids whose parents aren’t involved. Unfortunately, in today’s world, many parents aren’t involved either due to time constraints or the fact that they just don’t realize how important involvement is. Many parents also feel that they just aren’t welcomed into the their child’s classroom or school. This should never be the case.
What can schools do to get parents or other family members involved in their child’s education and let parents know they are more than welcome to be involved?
Teachers should immediately let parents know that they need and want assistance in their classrooms. When teachers meet a parent for the first time, the teacher should share this with the parent. If the parent can’t be involved directly in the classroom, then teachers need to set up several modes of communication with the parent. This ensures that the parent and the teacher have several different options for communication throughout the school week and year.
Another great way to make a parent feel welcomed and keep them involved in education is to send home a monthly newsletter with each child. The newsletter should offer advice on helping with homework, any upcoming important activities that the parent needs to know about, good things about children in the classroom and a volunteer sign-up sheet for that month. These newsletters are a great way to keep parents in the know and give them some helpful advice to boot!
One last great idea to keep parents involved is to create a website for your classroom and give the site to all parents in your classroom. Your site should have a parent access area and a communication area for you and parents to chat or communicate with each other. Parents can log on and see homework assignments, when things are due and leave questions for you or other parents on the site to answer. It is a great way to keep parents current on what is happening with the class and the learning going on inside!
Keeping parents involved in a child’s education is so important. Are you involved in your child’s classroom? What does your child’s teacher do to keep you involved?