Child Advocate
- NCPIE (National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education)- Goal is to advocate parent and family involvement in their child's education and to strengthen the relationship between home and school. The NCPIE believes in 6 things that parents can be supportive in: supporting communication, school activities, home activities, life-long learning, promote advocacy and shared governance, and collaborate with community organizations. Parental Involvement is very important for a child to be successful in school.
- PA Parent Information & Resource Center (PA PIRC)- "Our priority is to deliver services to schools and communities that have families who live in poverty, minority families, families for whom English is a second language and families whose children have learning delays or disabilities." Their goal is to help schools improve their support services, parent involvement policies, and programs to engage parents in improving schools.
- Delaware County Intermediate Unit (DCIU)- "The mission of the Delaware County Intermediate Unit, a regional educational service agency, is to provide leadership in the development and delivery of quality, cost-effective programs and services to school communities." Provide services for parents to become involved at schools. Services include English Language Learners, Family Centers, Fatherhood Initiative, and Wellness Committee (parent volunteers)
- Upper Darby Kindergarten Center- Support services that are available to the students at the Upper Darby Kindergarten Center include a school psychologist and a school social worker. Any problem that involves the parents goes straight to the school social worker.
How Can We Help
- Who's Interested- Parents, teachers, guidance counselors, support staff, and administration need
- Share the Information- Parent-Teacher conferences (even though some parents do not show), newsletters that the teacher may send home asking the parents to return papers and homework and to become involved with the school.
- Parent Involvement- There could be a "Take Your Parents to School Day" or "Parents Day". Parents can come in and see what their child is learning and teachers can set up fun activities for the students to do with their parents. The students will proud showing their parents all of the hard work that they have been doing.
This video shows how parents can be involved in their child's education and why it is important.
|
Some ways for parents to be involved include: have a welcoming ceremony in the beginning of the school year, having parents come in and read to the students, keep track of when assignments are due, talk to your child about their school day
|
Classroom Teacher
- First Steps- Send home newsletters encouraging parents to become more involved, talk to administration about having a "Parents Day" or ways to promote parent involvement.
- Obstacles- Parents may still not want to be so involved in their child's education, still will not show up to parent-teacher conferences or forget to send students' Homework Folders back to school with papers still in it that were supposed to stay at home. Sometimes parents will forget to give their child a snack so the teacher will give them one.
- Success- Parents will become more involved and pay attention to what is going on with their child's education. They will return important papers on time and show up for parent-teacher conferences. The students will benefit as well. Research has shown that the more parents are involved in their child's education, the more successful the child will be.
- Consistency- The students are always the first priority. As teachers, we are providing them with valuable and important tools that they will use for the rest of their lives. Parent involvement is extremely important in a child's education. Students need support not only at school, but also at home.
Resources
- http://www.dciu.org/cms/lib04/PA28000298/Centricity/Domain/3/PSGuide1213.pdf
- http://kindergarten.upperdarbysd.org/pupil-services
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNApJnFw33M
- "About NCPIE." National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE): : Our Partners. Eric Bourland, n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.
- Shanoski, Karen. "Pennsylvania Parent Information and Resource Center." About PA PIRC. N.p., 05 May 2013. Web. 01 May 2013.