Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Engaging Parents In School…

Engaging Parents In School…:



“Parents Taking Assertive Stance in Children’s Education”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Parents Taking Assertive Stance in Children’s Education is a useful compilation of tweets, articles and videos on various recent examples of “parent activism.” It’s worth a look….

What’s Missing In “Stand For Children” Article On Parent Engagement? Only The Most Important Thing….

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
The Hechinger Report just published an article by the leaders of the “school reform” group Stand For Children. It’s titled We’re not doing enough to engage parents, even though it improves achievement. It actually has a fair amount of good “stuff” in it, including briefly discussing the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project. Unfortunately, though, the [...]

“Professor: Time to Redefine ‘Data’ for School Closings”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Professor: Time to Redefine ‘Data’ for School Closings is a useful article over at Education Week. Here’s how it begins: Parent and community input—and the historical perspective of a community—represent overlooked data sets in decisions about school closings, according to Muhammad A. Khalifa, an assistant professor of educational administration at Michigan State University in East [...]

“Chicago School Closures Galvanize Parent Activists”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
I think it’s safe to say the Chicago Public Schools have not generated a lot of the kind of parent engagement they would like as a result of its heavy-handed closure of 49 schools. However, their actions has indeed resulted in an enormous amount of parent energy organizing against them. Read about it at Education [...]

Article & Video: “Parent-mentor program helps with education involvement”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
I’ve published several posts about the parent mentor in Chicago sponsored by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. Here’s another article, along with a video, on it. It’s titled Parent-mentor program helps with education involvement.

“Metro schools work with SurveyMonkey, Harvard to assess parental involvement”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
I’ve previously posted about concerns I have related to Harvard working with SurveyMonkey to help school districts do parent surveys (see I’m A Bit Wary Of Harvard’s Plan For Online Parent Surveys). I guess they’ve actually begun putting their plan into action, starting in Nashville. Read about it in the Nashville Business Journal’s article, Metro [...]

L.A. Times Has Good Editorial On Parent Trigger Mess

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
The ‘parent trigger’ trap is a good editorial in today’s Los Angeles Times. Here’s how it ends: Reformers might fear that a more open process would lead to more misinformation and even intimidation of parents by teachers or others with a vested interest in the status quo, but a closed petition means that parents are [...]

Another Story About How The Parent Trigger is Destructive To Just About Everybody….

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Watts teachers urge public notice for parent trigger campaigns is the headline of an L.A. Times article depicting the destructiveness of the parent trigger. It joins a long list of similar stories, many which you can find on this blog….

“Growing Readers” Offers Helpful Bilingual Advice

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Growing Readers offers a sizable collection of bilingual (English/Spanish) materials offering advice to parents on how to…grow young readers. You can also sign-up to received a new article free by email every month. I’m adding it to The Best Multilingual Resources For Parents.

“School leaders say Oakland’s community school movement will continue, even without Tony Smith”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
School leaders say Oakland’s community school movement will continue, even without Tony Smith is a good article from Ed Source about ambitious plans for community schools in Oakland. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Community Schools.

This Week’s #PTchat On Twitter

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Guest Post by Joe Mazza Image credit: graphics8.nytimes.com Last year the @NYTimesLearning blog held a conversation on summer reading, sharing many resources which added to the 2012 #PTchat discussion on summer reading. This week we’ve got a variety of amazing connected educators and parents ready to share out during the annual #PTchat on summer reading. We’ve invited [...]

““Parent trigger” as a pale shadow of community involvement”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
“Parent trigger” as a pale shadow of community involvement is a very thoughtful post by Sherman Dorn. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning Why The Parent Trigger Isn’t Good For Parents, Kids Or Schools.

“Helping or hovering? When ‘helicopter parenting’ backfires”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Having parents “too involved” with their children’s lives is not something I have had much experience with, but I do know that some teachers face that challenge. If you do, I’d encourage you to read this article from NBC News, Helping or hovering? When ‘helicopter parenting’ backfires.

Interview On Parent Engagement

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Hotchalk recently published an interview on parent engagement Pamela Moreland did with me. You might find it useful and/or interesting….

New Study: “Parent Involvement in Grade School Boosts Child’s Social Skills” (not the biggest surprise)

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Parent Involvement in Grade School Boosts Child’s Social Skills is an article summarizing the not-surprising result of a new study: The research team found that parents who increased school visitations and encouraged educational progress at home saw their child’s social skills improve. Among other things, students showed more self-control and cooperative behavior. At the same [...]

The Consequences Of Approving A Parent Trigger Petition

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Check out today’s Los Angeles Times article, Popular principal’s dismissal leaves a South L.A. school divided, to learn about some of the harmful consequences of a parent trigger petition. You can find out about lots of other negative consequences at The Best Resources For Learning Why The Parent Trigger Isn’t Good For Parents, Kids Or [...]

“Teaching Secrets: Learning From Parents”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Teaching Secrets: Learning From Parents is a nice little refresher at Education Week Teacher on the basics of what teachers can do to develop better connections with parents. It’s definitely worth a read….

Head Start’s “Importance of Home Language Series” Is Very Useful

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Head Start has a series of downloadable flyers in their Importance of Home Language Series that are in English and Spanish. They’re useful for educators and for parents. I’m adding it to: The Best Multilingual Resources For Parents The Best Ideas On How Parents Can Help Their Kids Succeed Academically

“Refining ‘parent trigger’ “

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Refining ‘parent trigger’ is the headline of a Los Angeles Times editorial that highlights a problem in California’s parent trigger law that has long been an issue for many of us: If enough parents sign a petition to initiate the trigger, only the parents who actually signed the petition get to vote on what happens [...]

“Parent End of Year Survey”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 29 minutes ago
Pernille Ripp just published a parent end of year survey she does with parents of her students every year. It’s a good idea. She does it online, but it can also be done with pen-and-paper. Of course, even though I think the vast majority of parents are equally committed to the well-being and success of [...]