Getting Parents Involved Is the Foundation of Student Success Edutopia:
"Most educators agree that parental involvement is a key ingredient in how well a student learns. A small school in the Silicon Valley town of Saratoga, California, has taken this truism and run with it. Christa McAuliffe Elementary School (named after the schoolteacher killed in the Challenger shuttle disaster) has a program that not only encourages parents to be active members in their children's education but also requires it.
Parents with kids at McAuliffe are expected to spend two roughly ninety-minute sessions (three if they have two children) every week in their children's classrooms. And they don't simply drop in. Rather, they are initially required to attend a seven-session STEP (Systemic Training for Effective Parenting) class, designed to help increase their usefulness when they do appear in class. That usefulness goes well beyond simply being teachers' adjuncts."
"Most educators agree that parental involvement is a key ingredient in how well a student learns. A small school in the Silicon Valley town of Saratoga, California, has taken this truism and run with it. Christa McAuliffe Elementary School (named after the schoolteacher killed in the Challenger shuttle disaster) has a program that not only encourages parents to be active members in their children's education but also requires it.
Parents with kids at McAuliffe are expected to spend two roughly ninety-minute sessions (three if they have two children) every week in their children's classrooms. And they don't simply drop in. Rather, they are initially required to attend a seven-session STEP (Systemic Training for Effective Parenting) class, designed to help increase their usefulness when they do appear in class. That usefulness goes well beyond simply being teachers' adjuncts."