Motivating Parent Involvement

Are you motivated as a parent to be involved at your child’s school? Or is it just about fundraising? And test results/report cards? Maybe you attended the Open House at the start of the year or maybe that first PTA meeting. Concerts are coming up, so if your child is active in chorus or band, you’ll probably show up around this time of the year as well.  But in this day and age, with everything that children need to learn in school today and the focus on educational reform, especially here in Delaware, is showing up at your child’s school once or twice within the school year effective?

Researchers have found three key factors that affect whether parents are motivated to become involved in their children’s learning:

1.   How parents develop their job descriptions as parents: Do they know what the school expects them to do? What do their friends and family think is acceptable?

2.   How confident they feel about their ability to help their children: Do they feel they have the knowledge and skills to make a difference?

3.   Whether they feel invited, both by their children and the school: Do they get strong, positive signals from teachers and students that they should be involved?

Kathleen V. Hoover-Dempsey, Joan M.T.Walker, and Howard M. Sandler, “Parents’ Motivations for Involvement in Their Children’s Education,” in School-Family Partnerships for Children’s Success, ed. Evanthia N. Patrikakou and others

(New York: Teachers College Press, 2005).

The research questions above are interesting for the public school system to tackle.  And yes, each school is different but as a district as a whole, I believe there should be some commonality so that I, as a parent, can be effective and informed as my child works their way through the 12 grades – each and every year and at each and every school, regardless of which school my children attend.

Here are my responses to the questions proposed above – what are yours?

1.)   I do not know what my school expects from me as a parent – especially at the middle school level.  High school we’ll have to wait and see.  I don’t see my children’s friends’ parents actively involved unless we’re volunteering for a once-a-year chaperone event.  We all go to award ceremonies and concerts when they come up. I’m not sure if that is all my middle school expects; that seems to be all they are asking for.  At the elementary level, it seems to be all about fundraising – attention, I hate Chuck E Cheese night outs! And the fundraising might be school lead, PTA and/or teachers.  It might be for a charity, like leukemia, or for school programs, like PBS (Positive Behavior System), or just fundraising in general.  There has to be more to family engagement than just fundraising!

2.)   I do feel my knowledge and skills can make a difference; however I’m not sure where they are the most effective – in the classroom, organizing an event, attending district meetings?  I do not see a mass of parents standing up for the betterment of the schools or pushing for a specific cause within the system.  Ever once in a while, I’ll hear about a recess effort or a transportation concern, but I’m not sure what the end result was as energies seem to fizzle out. I hear about it once or twice and then that’s it. At least a few are advocates for just their child, so may be vicariously, they’ll improve the whole system – but that hasn’t really been effective as we’re counting on all of this RttT money to make a magical difference without aggressively engaging all parents.  Parents seem to still be sitting on the side lines without holding our administrators accountable.

3.)  At the middle school level, my child is too cool to listen to me, their parent.  Thus, I need the school and teachers to give me even more invites to be involved, in specific ways and more information as to the “life of a middle schooler in the classroom”. And I just don’t see that happening on a consistent basis.  PTA meetings are poorly attended, email communication is when the teacher needs it, and the phone alerts seem random at best.  I don’t want to feel like the only way to be engaged is to enter the building week after week.  (Then you have to get past the front desk issues.)  With so much technology around us, I expect us to do better as adults at staying informed.  But in reality, it comes down to the relevance of the message and connecting with your audience.

How connected do you feel as a parent to the overall environment of your child’s school?  Let me hear your thoughts on the three questions proposed above.