Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":
Important NY Times Article: “Can Marriage Cure Poverty?”
As most people know, there is a common narrative suggesting that single-parent households can be a cause of many problems affecting children — in and out of school. I wonder about that view, and have previously published The Best Articles Questioning The View That Single Parents Are A Problem. The New York Times has now published an exceptional article titled Can Marriage Cure Poverty? I think it’
” The Flip Side of Parent Communication”
The Flip Side of Parent Communication is a blog post from ASCD In Service that discusses taking the popular ideas of flipping classrooms and applying to parent communication: DeWitt started documenting school events and introduced parents to the concept of flipped communication. Some of the videos he shared recapped the week’s activities (e.g., 11-26-13 and 11-18-13) and others chronicled bigger o
FEB 04
“Parent Universities help districts tap into feedback required under funding formula”
Parent Universities help districts tap into feedback required under funding formula is an article in Ed Source reporting on Parent Universities in California — particularly in Long Beach and Fresno. It sounds like some good work is being done. However, as I have written regularly in this blog, they do some to be falling into the typical Parent University “rut.” As I’ve said: Parent “universities”
“How to Increase Parental Engagement in Urban Education”
Dr. Anthony Moore has written two posts in Ed Week about How to Increase Parental Engagement in Urban Education. You can see Part One here and Part Two here. Part Two has a useful list of ten pieces of advice to parents about how they can help their child, and the might be worth sharing with parents (though you might want to make modifications). Here are six of them: Make school a priority and ins
“Parents Look to Teachers for Help Using Educational Media at Home”
Parents Look to Teachers for Help Using Educational Media at Home is a useful article from The National Writing Project. It shares different ways schools are providing assistance to parents in helping them guide their child’s use of online sites. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents.
Arkansas School District Expands Parent Involvement Programs — At A Price
Last month, the Springdale School District in Arkansas won a major grant to expand parent involvement programs. Unfortunately, they’ve received the monies through the federal Race To The Top program. Here’s how the National Center For Families Learning described the grant: half the $26 million RTT-D award will go toward family engagement programs — strategies first introduced to SPS by Toyota Fami
New York Schools Chancellor Moves On Parent Engagement
New York City schools have a recent history of not being very effective around parent engagement, but it appears that new Chancellor Carmen Fariña might be beginning to change that…. Here are two recent articles from Chalkbeat describing her plans: Fariña’s parent engagement strategy starts with index cards Parent coordinators look for specifics, and reassurance, from Fariña
JAN 31
I Don’t Think Taking & Throwing Out Students’ Lunches Because Their Parents Owe The School Money Is A Good Idea
By now, you may have already heard about what happened in Salt Lake City this week — the parents of a number of students owed money on their children’s lunch account and, because of that, after those students were served lunch it was taken away and thrown in the garbage. You can read about it in these articles: Utah School Draws Ire For Taking Kids’ Lunches; Debt Cited is from NPR. Utah school dis
JAN 30
Newark Parents Revolt
I’ve been posting about some wild stuff happening in Newark recently. It got even wilder last night when hundreds of parents and educators protested actions being taken by the state-appointed school superintendent. Read about what happened here and here. It sounds like the superintendent is being very successful in getting parents engaged….in organizing against her.
Suspended Principals & Banned Parent File Lawsuit In Newark
I’ve previously posted about the bizarre stuff happening in Newark (see I Don’t Think A Supt. Suspending A Principal Because She Supported PTO President Will Encourage Parent Engagement). Well, now the principals are no longer suspended, though not all are back at their schools, and the parent is still banned — and they’ve filed a lawsuit: Five Newark school principals suspended for speaking out a
JAN 28
“Parents Should Demand Partnerships With Schools to Boost Achievement”
Parents Should Demand Partnerships With Schools to Boost Achievement is a post over at Education Week reporting on a recent meeting of parent convened by the National Assessment Governing Board (they’re the ones who administer the NAEP tests, which I believe are being given this week). I’m not really sure how valuable or important the meeting was, but the Ed Week post reports on a talk given there
JAN 27
“Parents’ campaign leads to reforms at Cudahy elementary school”
Parents’ campaign leads to reforms at Cudahy elementary school is an article in the Los Angeles Time describing a successful effort by parents and teachers to replace an ineffective principal. Here’s an excerpt: United Teachers Los Angeles also worked with parents, organizing meetings to help plan strategies. Mario Andrade, the union’s representative at Teresa Hughes, said 25 of the school’s 40 te
Nice Wash. Post Article on Teachers Visiting Families, But Terrible Headline
Students won’t learn? Go visit their parents. is the terrible headline of a decent article in The Washington Post about teachers visiting families. As the article points out, the purpose of the visits is to build positive relationships with families, not to punish students. I’m still adding the article to The Best Resources For Learning About Teacher Home Visits.
“The Defiant Parents: Testing’s Discontents”
The Defiant Parents: Testing’s Discontents is an excellent piece in The New Yorker. Here’s an excerpt: Parents who complain about testing—particularly affluent, educated ones—are easily derided, as they were by Arne Duncan, President Obama’s Education Secretary, a few months ago, when he described critics of the Common Core as “white suburban moms who—all of a sudden—[find] their child isn’t as br