Families & Schools
Families are critical to students' academic success. 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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Building Trust with Schools and Diverse Families
While increased family involvement is linked to improved 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.
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.
Engaging Parents in Literacy Learning
Students whose parents are involved in the academic school experience tend to be good readers and are successful in school. Even for those who struggle and perhaps read below grade level, if their parents are involved in school, then parents provide a support system to ensure achievement. Use the template in this article to generate ideas both from teachers and from parents themselves about how to engage parents with literacy assignments.
Engaging Parents to Support Academic Achievement
Academic achievement is a strong predictor of high school graduation and is critical to long-term success in college, work, and life. A sixth grader who fails math or English, has unsatisfactory behavior, or poor attendance has a 75% likelihood of dropping out. Freshmen in Chicago public schools who earn a B average or better have an 80% chance of finishing high school with at least a 3.0 GPA.
Engaging Parents to Support Academic Attainment Over Time
Chances for success are improved when adults offer children, starting at a young age, positive expectations and aspirations about what they can do and achieve. Learn ways to help parents support students' long-term success in school, career, and life.
Engaging Parents to Support Good School Attendance
Poor school attendance is a strong predictor of school dropout. Children can’t learn if they aren’t present in school, so attendance is a must. Parents are best positioned to ensure children attend school and to build the expectation around attendance.
How Parents Can Be Advocates for Their Children
Parents are often the best educational advocates for their children, especially children with a learning disability. The Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities (CCLD) has developed the following tips to help parents champion their child.
Does your school do a good job of reaching out to parents? Use this checklist to evaluate and improve parent-school partnerships.
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.
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.
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.
