This article originally appeared in the January-February 2001 issue of the Children's Advocate newsmagazine, published by Action Alliance for Children. You can also read this article in Spanish, Escuelas que dan la bienvenida a padres: Las escuelas pueden contactar a los padres y crear maneras de que éstos participen. Spanish-language articles are an occasional feature in the Children's Advocate.

Schools that welcome parents

How schools can reach out to parents and create ways for them to participate

By Adrianna Khoo

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Most of our parents don't even have a high school education or they are recent immigrants," says Cheryl Shrewsbury, principal of Turnbull Learning Academy in San Mateo. "They can feel intimidated." But when parents participate in the school, "we get tremendous results because parents realize they have something to offer."

"The important thing," says Veronica Beltran, a parent volunteer at San Joaquin Elementary School in Stockton, "is listening to the children, whether they have problems or not, just to know that somebody cares what they have to say.… Just spending 10 minutes a day with them. It's the greatest thing they'll ever look forward to."

Because so much research shows that parent involvement is crucial to children's educational success, it's part of the school's job to reach out and involve parents. To find out how, we interviewed parents and staff at schools that were federally honored for successful parent involvement: South Bay Union Elementary in Imperial Beach, Turnbull Learning Academy in San Mateo, and the Stockton Unified School District. Local experts also pointed to Ramona Elementary in the Alhambra City School District for outstanding work with immigrant parents.

Action Tip: To help your school involve parents more, bring these ideas to your principal or parent organization:

Communicate with parents

• Use languages the parents feel comfortable with. The Alhambra City School District, for example, holds meetings for parents and prints materials in five languages.

• Send home frequent notes and newsletters about school activities. Every week Turnbull Learning Academy in San Mateo sends home "Wednesday Envelopes" with news about parent meetings and family events.

• Call parents and make it easy for parents to call teachers. Thomas Woo, assistant principal at Ramona Elementary in the Alhambra City School District says, "You need that personal touch so they know that you care, not only for their child's discipline. Call parents just to talk about how their kid is doing." Creating and publicizing voice mail and e-mail systems also helps parents contact teachers.

• Visit parents at home. In the Sacramento City Unified District, teachers visit their students' homes to meet parents and establish two-way communication. That example inspired new state legislation to help other districts create similar programs. In South Bay Union Elementary, a parent liaison visits the parents of students with many absences and helps solve problems. Last spring, for example, she helped six families avoid homelessness.

Welcome parents

• Encourage parents to stay and visit when they drop off their kids. South Bay Union Elementary, for example, holds a "Second Cup of Coffee" every other Friday. Parents chat with teachers and administrators after dropping off their kids.

• Arrange "parent-friendly" meetings. The schools we interviewed all hold parent meetings on evenings and weekends so working parents can attend. Some schools also provide child care and/or food at meetings

• Hold family learning events at school. Turnbull, for example, holds a regular bilingual story hour. Other schools sponsor Family Math nights or evenings when families come and read aloud together.

Educate parents

• Offer parenting classes. Since most of the parents at Ramona are immigrants, says Woo, the school offers parenting classes that emphasize ways of dealing with the cultural split between generations. "When you're in America, you have to learn American ways," he says. "But sometimes kids "learn them wrong and it causes discipline problems at home. So we teach parents about the American school system and how to communicate with their kids at home."

• Create special parent conferences, like the Alhambra district's annual day-long conference, held in five languages on topics from state testing to bicultural parenting.

• Create a district-wide parent center, like the Stockton Unified School District's Parent Resource Center, which trains parents to participate in their children's education. Coordinator Jimmie Sasaki says parents learn how to listen to their children and how to talk to teachers about sensitive issues, such as discrimination in the school or tension between students outside school. Wes Maldonado, a Marshall School parent who went through the training, says, "We have better communication now—teachers aren't always just calling about something bad. Now I can go to the school and ask what is going on. Now I know it's my right."

Build parent-to-parent bonds

• Encourage parents to mentor others. In Stockton, parents trained at the Parent Resource Center become mentors who recruit other parents. "I have taken a few of my friends to the meetings," says Maldonado, "and now they are really involved in the school."

• Hire a parent coordinator who can communicate with parents and ensure that their feedback is heard.

• Use the Internet to create ways for parents to communicate.

Involve parents

• Ask parents to sign contracts. South Bay Union Elementary requires parents to sign a nightly contract verifying that their child has read or been read to for 20 minutes. "I have the kids read for 15 minutes and then I read to them for 15 minutes," says Kelly Noga, the school's parent coordinator. "It's a good time that we're just sitting down together communicating."

• Give family homework assignments that require parent participation, such as making a family tree or writing down a favorite family story.

Help parents contribute

• Encourage volunteering in the classroom, lunchroom, or playground. Having parents in the classroom gives children role models besides their teachers, says Shrewsbury. "The kids see me interacting with the children in a friendly way, and they know it's a comfortable, positive place to be," says Noga.

• Ask parents to share their expertise. Teachers can invite parents to enrich their children's classrooms by sharing their national or ethnic cultures or talking about their jobs.

• Ask parents to commit time to the school. Before enrollment at Turnbull, parents sign a pledge to participate in the school four hours a month. They can supervise the lunch area, lead classroom activities, or bring their children to a bilingual story hour or book exchange. Parents who can't come to the school can help by preparing teaching materials at home.

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Resources:

California state PTA, (213) 620-1100, www.capta.org

Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, 1 (800) USA-LEARN

Stockton Parent Resource Center, Jimmie Sasaki, (209) 953-3133

National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, (703) 359-8973, ferguson@ncea.com