How Advocacy Has Become An Important Part Of Educators

There are many ways for parents to actively participate in their student’s education. Scholastic.com recommends including tips for helping parents get involved. In this 6th grade classroom, each EC parent will receive a copy of their child’s IEP goals, along with the date of their annual review and re-evaluation date, if applicable to this school year. Parents are asked if there is a preferred day of the week and time to best schedule future IEP meetings. Attached to this information will be contact information for both co-teachers including email address, school phone number, planning time and a calendar denoting the designated monthly parent-teacher conference days and times. Additional components of the parental involvement piece to Curriculum Night includes an invitation to join our PTO, sports schedules, and information about proctoring. Parents are also encouraged to occasionally eat lunch with their child in the school

Barrier, I. (2012, November 21). MV Parent Involvement Policy. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://mountainview.wesdschools.org/mv-parent-involvement-policy

Parent and Community involvement does not occur overnight. I feel that schools must make parent and community involvement a priority, valuing and accepting each other’s differences. Schools, families and communities must work together to support all students in a learning environment to ensure every student is a successful learner. Positive family and school involvement fosters a partnership among my school encouraging students to reach their highest potential academically and in life. Parent and community involvement does not mean stay-at-home mothers coming to school to help as needed, or a businessman stopping by to see events occurring on campus. The role of school, family and community involvement is a partnership incorporating goal-oriented activities for all grade levels linked to academic success and student growth.

272) By allowing our parents/community members to have a voice in our program, we can actually see how much we are engaging them in our program. By listening to the parents, the community members, and assessing our program we can see what we are lacking in when it comes to their involvement. As I spoke in the previous paragraph about the parents being their child’s first teacher, our community also plays a big role in the education of our children. When children have the support of their community, it shows them that their community cares about them so the children will in turn want to care about and support their

Parental involvement is essential for the school’s effectiveness. We see ourselves as partners of the family, reinforcing parents' efforts to guide the intellectual, emotional and spiritual development of their children. We offer seminars and classes for personal enrichment of parents as they strive to become even more the kind of person they want their children to

Parent involvement is key to a child’s academic success; this can be accomplished through the parent’s participation in an advisory council. A parent-teacher organization meets regularly to discuss the workings of the school and the parents that take part in the meeting are rewarded with a voice to make suggestions and give active feedback to the school. This enables parents and teachers to discuss matters dealing with the education of their child. Another council that advocates the voice of parents is the Mississippi Read

Academic scholars have noted that students who are thoroughly engaged are high academic achievers (Fullan, 2016). However, the subject of parent involvement has been introduced into the discourse over the past decades and now most educational leaders agree “ the closer the parent is to the education of the child, the greater the impact on child development and educational achievement” (Fullan, 2016, p. 158). As a result, the Ontario Ministry of education created Parents in Partnership: A parent engagement policy for Ontario schools. This policy is directly aligned with the ministry’s goal of creating and maintaining a welcoming and inclusive education system. The policy identifies parents as key individuals in education as they contribute to the work of educators, schools, and the community (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010). An investigation into the framework of the policy reveals the main actors, which are the parents; who are defined as caregivers, guardians, and parents, the government, school boards, teachers, principals, students, and the

I am quite fortunate to work at a site that I was able to be part of creating our school’s vision. Lorena Falasco Elementary School’s mission statement is: “In partnership with our community, Lorena Falasco Elementary School is committed to creating a safe and positive environment with high expectations that encourage success and lifelong learning for everyone.” With that in mind, parent education and involvement are crucial for a school to be successful in doing so. At this time I am co-leading a parent education class that is being held at Lorena Falasco Elementary School we have completed seven of the eight workshops. The parenting workshop combines parenting and leadership skills that will empower parents to become vital contributors to their children’s academic success. There are eight workshops that we will present, which will create parent leaders and also provide positive

Understanding the importance of a family-school partnership is essential in order for school districts and families with children to grow and strive. If an imbalance occurs within any of the various parts that play a key role, difficulties will rise to the surface. Several of these roles include: communication, decision making, volunteering, and learning and parenting at home. All of these factors must work together in order to create a successful school environment in which children are able to learn and strive. When a school is successful in fulfilling each of these roles, there are several benefits. These benefits include: better positive attitudes toward school, higher achievements, better attendance, higher graduation rates, an increase in enrollment rates in post-secondary education, and overall better schools to attend (University of West Virginia).

An obstacle I have witnessed in my school is the lack of parental involvement. Throughout this year, I believe the parents' investment in their children education has been disheartening. I can say in my own classroom, nearly one-third of student’s parents have no idea how they are doing in school academically. About one-sixth of student’s parents don’t sign daily agendas or notes that are sent home. Only about one-fifth of parents consistently attend school programs. My biggest concern is that too many parents are disengaged. Parent involvement can indeed make a difference in a child’s education. Students would perform better academically and behaviorally if their

Recently, I read an article by Jen Orr called “Raising Our Teacher Voices: A Call for A New Generation of Leadership”. Ms. Orr is a teacher in nearby Fairfax County who was chosen as a 2013 ASCD Emerging Leader. Consequently, she was asked to serve as a panelist at ASCD’s 2014 Whole Child Symposium.

Parental Involvement has been a focus of education for decades. In the 1960’s, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) was introduced and focused on emphasizing the involvement of parents in their child’s education (Lunts 2003). Around the same time, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, advocated for the importance of family involvement in the education of children with disabilities (Lunts 2003). More recently, the Federally mandated government policy, Section 1118, Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted, which specifically requires public school districts to work collaboratively with parents living in the community to author a family involvement policy in order to receive Title I funding from the

Although it is important for families to be involved with their child’s school, school personnel should also strive to create a positive interaction with families of students. Carl Dunst (2002) states that school and parent collaboration is necessary, and if schools take on a more family-centered approach, it will help create a supportive environment and help to strengthen a family’s capacity to enhance and promote a child’s development and learning.

The symbiotic relationship between teachers and parents is crucial to the educational success of a student. Parents must be involved with their child’s education through consistent attendance of IEP meetings and advocate for their child and their needs at school. Teachers can encourage parent involvement through, traveling notebooks home and note home programs which establish an open line of communication between teacher and parent. Parent-teacher conferences are a great way for teachers and parents to be involved in the success of the student's educational experience.

“We are open to all parents coming to the school but due to safety reasons there is a high level of security that can deter parents from being more involved. We view parents as a valuable part of a child’s early learning however in our title environment we often see a lack of involvement that hinders their child’s early learning.”