The educational system in place in the United States is constantly under scrutiny and reform in an attempt to provide our youth the best opportunities possible. Issues such as block scheduling, choice of curriculum, and tracking are often debated among teachers, parents, and administration. These debates occasionally escalate into heated emotional arguments where both sides have the students' best interests in mind, but a different theory on how to meet them. This is a critical point to realize; everyone involved in the educational system, ranging from teachers and administrators to parents and community members, all want to see the children achieve their maximum potential. One topic that frequently comes up when discussing factors in student achievement is parental involvement.

The issue of parental involvement is different from other traditional educational issues because there is no defined side to argue or policy to implement. Everyone believes that parental involvement is critical in preparing a child for school. The reason society finds this involvement to be so important is that "research indicates that parents who are involved in their children's education have a profound effect on the children's ability to learn and can help to instill a lifelong appreciation of learning."(Pape 1999) The debate begins over what parental involvement should consist of and where does the involvement stop. The answers to these questions have been evolving along with the educational system in place and the conditions present in our society.

The idea of parental involvement has underwent drastic reform over the last two decades. Fifteen to twenty years ago, the idea of parental involvement consisted of parents making sure their children went to school, chaperoning an occasional field trip, and asking how their day at school went. Parental involvement today not only incorporates these ideas, but it also consists of ideas which demand a lot more time and energy from both the parents and the teacher. Such ideals as control over the curriculum, preschool preparation, and reading to their children are now common among the issues relating to parental involvement.

A majority of parents are interested in being involved in their child's life and doing everything in their power to see them succeed. The problem that arises in this situation is that most parents do not know where or how to become involved in their child's schooling. In the article, "The Seven P's of School-Family Partnerships", we see a goal set forth stating "that by the year 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children."(Patrikou and Weissberg 1999) Through meaningful communication, parents and teachers can build a relationship that will be more effective and enjoyable. It is not the amount of contact made with the parents that counts, but instead how welcome they feel and the quality of the conversation that takes place.(Patrikou and Weissberg 1999)

It is established that parental involvement is a positive thing, so the question, as stated in a previous paragraph, is how do teachers effectively involve the parents. This issue is discussed in Barbara Pape's article "Involving Parents Lets Students and Teachers Win" where she puts forth four ideas on how to get the most parental involvement. These ideas are "meet the parents on their own turf, make schools parent friendly, cover all languages and involve parents in the school's decision-making process."(Pape 1999)

The first three ideas that Pape puts forward are useful and actually essential in achieving the last idea. The first step, meeting parents on their home turf, is necessary because it makes them feel more comfortable and in control of the situation. This will allow the parents to provide more input and result in a more beneficial relationship. The second step, to make schools parent friendly, consists of making the school easily accessible to parents and easy to navigate. This step is needed because parents will be more willing to come into the school if they can easily find their way around. The third step, cover all languages, is becoming more and more important each day. Our society is culturally diverse so consequently parents do not necessarily speak English or just may not feel comfortable doing so. Speaking to parents in the language they are most comfortable will show that the teacher is sincere and is willing to put forth the extra effort. All of these steps lead to the parent becoming involved in the decision making process which helps parents, teachers, and students.

Taking part in the decision-making process can be in many forms such as those made in the PTA, deciding where school funding is spent, hiring teachers, and deciding the curriculum. All of these can be touchy situations because teachers and administrators may feel that parents are not knowledgeable on the topics or they are trying to completely take over. Although this is a risk, we can look to a school in California who not only lets parents participate in curriculum choice but actually encourages it. The school in California is a revolutionary school named the Tesseract School, where the students and parents cooperate with the teacher in order to set the curriculum. The key to making this system successful is the quality communication between the parents and teachers. "Teachers monitor it by using weekly progress reports, making adjustments as skills are achieved or unexpected problems occur, and conferring regularly with parents either by phone or in person."(Vassallo 1998) By letting the parents be involved in the process of setting the curriculum they can better meet the learning needs of each individual student much better.

Education has many issues that are being debated each day and all have one goal in mind; maximizing student achievement. One of the most influential factors that can easily be effected is parental involvement. Parental involvement has become far more sophisticated than the days where picking the children up after school was considered being involved. Parents are becoming involved in more and more decisions when given the chance ranging from teacher wages to the case where parents assisted in deciding the curriculum in the Tesseract School. Parents want their children to succeed and with a little direction from teachers on how to become involved they will, more than likely, be happy to do so.
 
 

Resources:

Vassallo, Philip. "The Tesseract School: A Model for Tomorrow?" Principal. V.78 no1(Sept 1998) pg. 36+.

Patrikakou, Evanthia N. and Weissberg, Roger P. "The Seven P's of School-Family Partnerships" Education Week. February 3, 1999. (wysiwyg://16/http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-18/21weiss.h18)

Pape, Barbara. "Involving Parents lets Students and Teachers Win" The Education Digest. V. 64 no. 6(February 1999) pg 47-51.