Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":
Health Center Planned At Sacramento School
Community health center planned for Sacramento’s Johnson High is the headline of an article in the Sacramento Bee. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mention any kind of parent involvement in the effort, though it does mention the possibility of starting up a similar project at the high school where I teach. If that happens, I guarantee that parents will be engaged in the conversation — neither our princip
Parent Revolution Throws A Fit
I’ve written many posts about the destructive impact the organization Parent Revolution can have on schools, teachers, students and their families. Their march of destruction continues as they are now threatening to sue the Los Angeles school district if they don’t allow the use of the “parent trigger” (see One Good Thing Comes Out Of Ill-Conceived CA District NCLB Waiver: LAUSD Not Subject To Par
Charlotte Schools Say Undocumented Parents Can’t Volunteer In Schools — For Now, At Least
Here’s how the article, Solutions elude CMS on undocumented volunteers, in the Charlotte Observer begins: A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools team assigned to find a way undocumented immigrant parents can volunteer in schools is running short on time and even shorter on potential solutions to the hot-button issue. The team’s final meeting is Tuesday, and it has yet to find a quick, easily affordable f
Newark District Continues To Be Model For How NOT To Treat Parents
I’ve written so much about the ongoing disaster in Newark for parents and their children. Here’s the latest — a post from Bob Braun titled Cami’s Newark enrollment plan collapses in the heat, with these being the first two paragraphs: The implementation of the deeply flawed “One Newark” student-dispersal program all but collapsed Thursday as the state administration’s highly paid bureaucrats kept
Excellent Article About Teachers Making Home Visits In Helena, Montana
Educators find visiting students outside the classroom increases attendance, parent involvement is a really nice article, with photos, about teachers making home visits in Helena, Montana. You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About Teacher Home Visits,
Nice Post About A Teaching Making A Home Visit
Geniene Delahunty writes a nice post describing a visit she made to a student family’s home. It’s worth checking out….
AUG 19
The Best Advice On Engaging Parents At The Beginning Of The School Year
I have a fairly popular post titled The Best Sources Of Parent Engagement Advice For Teachers. I thought it would be useful to put together a different list focusing specially on advice to teachers on this topic related the beginning of a new school year. Here’s a short list — each post contains links to additional resources: Writing Letters To Parents At The Start Of The Year “I Want Parents To K
AUG 17
“I Want Parents To Know This…”
It’s that time of year when you start seeing posts and articles about what teachers want parents to know. I Want Parents to Know This… is a particularly good one by Matt Gomez (thanks to Sheila Stewart for the tip. You might also be interested in these other ones in the “genre”: My Advice To Parents In “USA Weekend” is something I wrote last summer. 5 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew: Your Childr
AUG 16
“Oklahoma PTA Unanimously Calls for End to High-Stakes Testing”
Oklahoma PTA Unanimously Calls for End to High-Stakes Testing is from Diane Ravitch’s blog. Here’s an excerpt: Over 340 delegates at the Oklahoma PTA’s annual convention voted unanimously to adopt resolutions that call for a ban on policies that force the state’s public schools to rely on high-stakes testing and put an end to mass administration of field tests. Wow! Wouldn’t it be nice if other st
“10 things teachers wish parents knew before the school year begins”
10 things teachers wish parents knew before the school year begins is from The Today Show. It’s a decent list working a fairly well-worn genre of “wishing what parents knew” pieces. If you want to see a terrible example of this kind of list, check out one of my previous posts, Jeez, What Was Ron Clark Thinking?
One Good Thing Comes Out Of Ill-Conceived CA District NCLB Waiver: LAUSD Not Subject To Parent Trigger
The U.S. Department of Education has granted eight California school district and ill-conceived waiver from No Child Left Behind. Fortunately, our Sacramento district — one of those eight — withdrew from the group earlier this year. The whole thing is doomed to fail. However, at least one good thing has come out of it — the Los Angeles Times writes about how, because of the waiver, those district
AUG 15
Video: Teachers Visiting Parents’ Homes In North Carolina
WECT TV6-WECT.com:News, weather If the embed code is not working, you can go to the news site directly to see the video.
“How to develop a strong parent/teacher relationship”
How to develop a strong parent/teacher relationship is an article in a New Jersey newspaper that offers decent advice to both parents and teachers. You might also be interested in The Best Sources Of Parent Engagement Advice For Teachers.
My Best Posts On “Conditional Cash Transfers”
Conditional Cash Transfers are payments made to families to encourage them to do things like go to doctor appointments, and to children for increased school attendance and higher standardized test scores, and have been in the news lately. I’ve published a number of posts about them, and I thought readers might find it helpful if I brought them all together: Politico Asks:”Can You Fight Poverty by
Useful Follow-Up Article On White House Family Engagement Conference
I’ve previously posted about the recent White House conference on family engagement (see “White House Symposium on Transformative Family Engagement” Was Held Today). Carla Thompson from the Kellogg Foundation, who sponsored the conference, just published a piece at The Huffington Post about it. Check out Family Engagement: The Top of Everyone’s Back-to-School Checklist.
Politico Asks:”Can You Fight Poverty by Paying Kids to Go to School?” The Answer Is “No”
I’ve previously published several posts on this blog about the concept of Conditional Cash Transfers, which are basically programs that provide money to low-income families to “incentivize” certain behaviors. As I shared in those previous posts, I’m all for getting more money into the hands of low-income people and, though I think there are more effective ways to combat poverty, who am I to criti
Ridiculous British Policy Of Punishing Parents For Student Vacations Continues — 64,000 Fines Issued
I’ve previously published a number of posts about the ridiculous British policy of punishing parents for taking their students on vacation during the school year. Here are two new resources: Number of parents fined for term-time holidays soars by 70 per cent is from The Telegraph. School holiday fines in England ‘unfair’, say parents is from The BBC.
“More Denver Public School teachers reaching out through home visits”
More Denver Public School teachers reaching out through home visits is the headline of a recent article in the Denver Post. Here’s an excerpt: In the past few years, kindergarten teacher Kori Leaman-Miller can’t think of any student who cried on their first day of school. She hadn’t given it much thought, but officials who are growing home-visit programs in school districts say it may not be accid
“L.A. literacy program unites families, boosts kids’ reading skills”
L.A. literacy program unites families, boosts kids’ reading skills is the headline of an article in today’s Los Angeles Times. Here’s an excerpt: The program, which has operated for nearly 20 years, brings families together for reading lessons, adult education opportunities and parenting techniques. The program aims to provide parents with the skills and knowledge to be successful at school, work
Parent Group Organizes In Chicago
In These Times has just published an article headlined ‘Bad Ass Moms’ Defend Chicago Public Schools. Here’s an excerpt: Though there are a number of parent organizations fighting for educational justice in the city—including Parents 4 Teachers (P4T) and More Than a Score (MTS), whose membership overlaps with BAM’s—BAM concentrates on a breadth of issues rather than advocacy around any one particul
“These Teachers Visit Every Student Before School Starts”
These Teachers Visit Every Student Before School Starts is a nice Ed Week article, including a number of links, about an annual home-visiting program by teachers in Kentucky. You can read more about it here. I’m adding the links to The Best Resources For Learning About Teacher Home Visits.
AUG 07
Useful Tweets From #hgseFAM – Harvard Grad School of Ed Family Engagement Institute
[View the story "Useful Tweets From #hgseFAM - Harvard Grad School of Ed Family Engagement Institute" on Storify]
“More Schools Open Their Doors to the Whole Community”
More Schools Open Their Doors to the Whole Community is a Wall Street Journal article about…community schools. Here’s an excerpt: WYOMING, Mich.—On a recent weekday here, a steady stream of people dropped by one central location for food stamps, family counseling and job ideas—their local school. While instruction has ended for the summer, these classrooms remain open as part of a wider trend arou
“D.C. charter school educates parents alongside children”
D.C. charter school educates parents alongside children is a Washington Post article that appeared a few days ago. Here’s an excerpt: The District’s Briya Public Charter School enrolls parents and young children together in the same school, a novel effort to improve children’s prospects by building the skills of those who are closest to them. It’s an approach that an increasing number of researche
