Advocating for the Education of Students: Getting Parents Involved

BY DR. CLARA YOUNG-WHITE and DR. SHEILA AUSTIN

Although parents are concerned about their child’s academic success, who defines parental involvement and what does the school, teachers and community expect regarding parental involvement. Many researchers and writers have noted that parental involvement is associated with academic achievement.

Talking to a 29 year veteran teacher, I posed several questions, the first of which was this: “What is parental involvement’? The typical response was given, “I want the parent to come to the school when I contact him or her, to check on his or her  child weekly, and to let me know he or she  parent is concerned.” However, when I posed   the same question to a parent, a lawyer,  the response was different: The teachers want me to come to the school to be hands-on with my child.  That is not what teachers actually want. The question then is this, “What does the teacher want the parent to do to show concern?” The next question was, “Do you think every teacher has the same definition of parental involvement as you do?” The response given was, “I guess that is the problem. All teachers do not have the same definition of parental involvement.” Teachers define parental involvement as it relates to how each of their  parents is  involved or how a parent perceives that a  teacher is involved with his or her child.  Because of the different perceptions of parental involvement, it is important that the term  is defined so that parents will know what is expected.  We advocate that  teachers and administrators in a particular school define parental involvement so that parents  know what is expected.  An operational definition of parental involvement is a parent or parents helping a child to be accountable and responsible for learning by doing the following:

• making sure the child is at school on time
• making sure the child has eaten before school
• making sure the child has had at least eight hours of sleep
• making sure the child has school supplies
• making sure the child has homework completed and is correct
• making sure the child is dressed appropriately
• making sure the child is disciplined and respectful
• make sure there is weekly contact with the teacher (telephone, visit, texting, email or Skype)
• attending the child’s activities
• volunteering in the child’s classroom or school.

That definition and the items making it up, should be on the entry wall into the school, in the hallways, teacher’s workroom, office and parent handbook. The definition will provide a list of choices in terms of how the parent can become involved and make involvement universal for the school. It then becomes the responsibility of both parties to ensure that some form of parental involvement takes place. Each parent can then decide what of this list he or she can do. Teachers should play a role in helping the parent to become involved by doing the following:

• contact parents weekly to gain parental support (telephone, texting, written correspondence, email or Skype)
• encouraging parents to visit in the classroom
• always be a mature adult
• always give a child a second chance
• never make assumptions about a child’s background
• take time to self-reflect

Since the results of parental involvement are positive, why is parental involvement low for ethnic-minority and language-minority students?  Is it because ethnic minority parents do not love their child? Absolutely not. However, there are issues related to being involved.  Some ethnic minority parents did not have a good school-experience and, therefore, have issues related to going back into the experience that was not positive.  Some of the same teachers are still there, and the parental involvement may cause the bad memories to resurface.  Some teachers are not kind to parents. Some teachers do not understand the cultures of ethnic parents in terms of contact. Some parents are embarrassed by not being able to help their child.

How can teachers and administrators get parents involved?  Teachers should make a habit of contacting five to seven parents of students each week by telephone, email, texting, US mail, or Skype.  The contact can help parents become more comfortable in sharing what they can or cannot do academically to assist their children. I think parents will become more involved if teachers reach out to parents. The weekly contact lets a parent know that the teacher is concerned about his or her child. As such, the concern can be reciprocated. Parents need to know that they are welcomed in their child’s classroom.  The school can provide nontraditional ways to get parents involved, for example, by taking the school to the community, or by having PTO or PTA meetings in community centers, the local library or church facility. Another nontraditional means is by having give-a-ways for parents who have visited or volunteered at the school during the week, month, or grading period. Local grocers or merchants, movie theatres, restaurants, Wal-Mart, Target can donate gift cards to the school to use as give-a-ways. Finally, teachers can bring items to organize a gift basket that can be used as a give-a-way. We are not advocating paying parents to be involved, but we are advocating using incentives to encourage and promote involvement. Now is the time for parents and educators to form true partnerships that are open and honest to foster an environment for the success of students, for parents, and for educators.