Parent And Community Relationships : Parent Community Involvement

It’s widely recognised that the more involved parents are in their child’s education, the better the pupil performs at school. Whether, it’s just being aware of their progress and understanding their achievements or parents taking a more active role and becoming involved with the school itself.

Family involvement plays a major role when helping students prosper in the school setting. In order for children to be successful, as a teacher, we have to provide support to the parent’s to make an effort in wanting to play apart in that success. Communication plays a major part in the effective relationship between families and school. Giving the parents a sense of idea as to how their child is doing in school is built through the student’s academic needs.

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.

Family involvement in education can help get families involved in school and knowing what their child is learning

As a result of the location of the school in a suburban community, the parents are very actively involved in the school. As a result of the active of the supportive parents in the community, the students arrived every day with a smile on their faces and generally prepared for learning. However, as with

Probably one of the most important issues when it comes to Family/Community Partnership is trying to get the families/community involved in what we are doing. By engaging parents, it will help us to see what we are lacking and what we need to do in order to have our families fully engaged. I feel that if our families/communities are not engaged in our program then we need to reevaluate in order to encourage their participation. By reevaluating our program we can further access what we need to work on. If parents/communities feel that they are not valued as part of our team, they won’t engage in our program. Both the parents and the community play a big role in the education of our children. Parents are their first teachers and the communities have valuable resources for the children.

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

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).

I believe that all families should be supported and involved in their children’s school and classroom. I think that all schools should back school and family partnership. “Collaboration between all school personnel and parents/guardians is essential to support student learning” (NC State Board of Edu.). When a family receives strong support in school they will do better in school and work harder at home as well. Parent involvement is just as important as student involvement, even more so as they are the ones that motivate and encourage students just as teachers do. Involving both communities and parents is a good way to better ready and help children to

Student and families can have collaborative partnerships with educators, by having contact and involvement opportunities created by the school that build connections with parents. Creating and involving parents in meaningful roles within the school can strengthen this partnership. Opportunities for parents and students need to be created by educators that will allow parents to show their interest in their child (Amatea, 2013). California Department of Education advocates with policies and laws to support parent involvement to support student’s academic success. Federal and state laws play a role in linking families and schools together to build and strengthen social, emotional, and academic growth of children (Amatea, 2013).

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.

More recently, the United States Department of Education, by submitting the 1996 proposal for National Education Goals, addressed the issue of parental involvement. The official U.S. government stood by the research of three decades that “parental participation in schooling improves student learning,” (U.S. Department of Education). Based on government research, family involvement programs don’t always need additional money to be successful, but leaders should stretch their own creativity to expand the programs that encourage community and family support. Parental involvement is found to be beneficial through high school, not stopping after elementary school, and parents that evolve as leaders should be encouraged to continue their role in their child’s education. The most successful parent leaders are found to play four roles in their child’s education: those roles are teacher, supporter, advocate and decision maker. The teacher-role supplements the child’s education at home, the supporter contributes his/her skills to the school, the advocate helps children receive fair treatment at home, and the decision maker participates in joint problem-solving with

Parental involvement in education is a vital essential for creating a cooperative environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. When a student knows that he or she is receiving support both inside and outside the school, the chances of that child becoming responsible for and active in their education are more likely. I know that there can be difficulties including parents for many reasons. Such parents may be too busy, uninterested or just feel helpless. However, as an educator, I will still have an obligation to reach out to these parents and assist them.

Everyone is responsible for developing positive relationships with parent and the community. This would include the administrators, certified teachers, teaching aides, secretaries, custodians, maintenance, and bus drivers. As in the video the principal talked about how it is important to make sure that all the staff felt like they were part of the team and was aware of what was happening in the school. The community sees any employee of the school district to be a trusted individual that should be able to explain and talk about what the school is doing. It is important for an administrator to have an open relationship with all staff where they feel like they can have input on decisions about school issues. No matter what their job title is they should feel like they are an integral part of the team. This in turn will allow all school employees to feel comfortable developing that positive relationships with the parents and community.