Families & Schools
Families are critical to students' success in school. The following articles discuss the importance of teachers and parents working together on behalf of kids. If you're a parent, you may also be interested in what you can do at home — these articles can be found in Parent Tips.
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Does your school do a good job of reaching out to parents? Use this checklist to evaluate and improve parent-school partnerships.
Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences with Bilingual Families
How can you hold an effective parent-teacher conference with the parents of English language learners if they can't communicate comfortably in English? This article provides a number of tips to help you bridge the language gap, take cultural expectations about education into account, and provide your students' parents with the information they need about their children's progress in school.
Engaging Family and Community in Afterschool and Summer Programs
Informal literacy experiences often serve to shape young people's identity as readers and writers as much as or more than formal schooling.Community and family support can emphasize the importance of reading and writing, build confidence, influence young people's literacy habits, and encourage youth to seek out ways to engage in literate activities. Through a renewed national push for literacy on all levels, both families and community members have diverse opportunities in which to impact students' literacy skills.This article offers strategies to develop community engagement.
The U.K.'s National Literacy Trust offers ideas that schools and nonprofit organizations can implement to get fathers involved in their children's reading.
This checklist prepared by the PACER Center will help parents prepare for and get the most out of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings with the school staff.
Building Trust with Schools and Diverse Families
While increased family involvement is linked to improves student performance, it is not always fully understood and examined within schools. Different types of involvement may include parenting, communicating with schools, volunteering at schools, supporting learning at home, participating in school governance and decision-making, and taking part in school-community collaborations. In order to encourage and foster this comprehensive involvement with all families, school administrators and teachers must develop mutual trust, consider the different cultural attitudes some families may have towards schooling, and be diligent in reaching out.
How Parents Can Be Advocates for Their Children
Parents are in a unique position to identify and implement positive changes for their children. This article gives advice on how they can be most effective — by knowing the rules, keeping records, gathering information, and communicating effectively.
