Without parents, schools would not exist. Parents send their children to school so for a variety of reasons, and all parents want what is best for their children. They want their children to learn and to thrive, to grow and develop, to become independent and productive people in society. It is clear, though, that parents of school-age children come from a variety of backgrounds, and are diverse in terms of their thinking of how children should be educated, the role of the school and teachers, their own role in the education of their child, as well as their own experiences with schooling, the school system, and their cultural and linguistic heritage.
Our main focus in this course is to help in providing strategies for you and your school to become more focused on engaging parents not just involving them in pre-determined tasks.
This course will provide teachers with a variety of strategies and resources designed to increase parent engagement at the school and classroom level. The course provides an opportunity for teachers to analyze how the school environment welcomes parents, including considering the current effectiveness of activities designed to bring parents into the school environment, potential barriers to parent involvement, and ways to strengthen the current opportunities and minimize or eliminate the barriers that keep parents from being involved in the educational process.
Teachers will be provided methods which will greatly enhance what may already exist at the classroom level and determine ways to actively communicate with parents and encourage parents to participate in the educational process in a variety of ways. teachers will also learn effective communication and organizational skills for working with parents to solve academic and behavioral challenges to ensure positive student outcomes. Parental communication, classroom assistance, and helping parents get involved at home will be explored. Teachers will consider how to engage culturally and linguistically diverse families and will develop action plans throughout the course to increase parental involvement in a variety of ways.
This course is divided into the following modules:
- Why Is Parent Engagement So Critical?
- School-Level Parent and Family Involvement
- Classroom Level Parent and Family Involvement
- Engaging Families at Home
- Parent and Family Education Opportunities