Education depends on work from not just the student, but the teachers, the administrators, and most importantly their parents. Schools provide the instruction and support to help students succeed, but parents can enhance and continue the work started in the classroom to ensure students flourish academically.
The Importance of Parental Engagement in Education
Parental engagement in a child’s education has proven to be successful. When parents are involved in their child’s academic journey, it improves student attendance and assignment completion rates, and lays the foundation for higher educational achievement. With parental support, students show improved literacy comprehension, social skills, behavior, and cognitive abilities. It’s clear that parents play one of the most significant roles in a student’s academic success.
The Challenges
Although we fully aware of the benefits of parental involvement in education, it still comes with a set of challenges. A generation ago it was typical for one parent to work and the other to be at home. This isn’t the case anymore, leaving less time for parents to be involved with their children’s education.
Some parents even find themselves with a lack of knowledge needed to assist their kids with homework. This can create a disconnect between the parents and the schools. There are ways to bridge these gaps and overcome the limited time and resources many parents have to deal with.
Tips to Help Foster Parental Engagement in Your School
A Parent Participation Plan is a key first step to fostering parental engagement in your school. Start by looking at your current level of participation. How much correspondence exists between the school and parents?
Opening the line of communication allows parents to learn how to help and have their questions answered by teachers and administrators. Schools can also offer open houses in the evening for parents who work, or workshops designed to learn about what their children are learning in the classroom, or contact parents to help them discover ways to become involved with the school via the PTA/PTO.
The best way to open lines of communication and engage parents is to contact them and listen to their needs. Find out what they need from the school that will help them be more involved. Even if they work long hours, or aren’t familiar enough with the material their children are learning, the school can find ways to foster the main goal of seeing the students achieve their highest level of academic success.