Parental Participation

Surveys are great, I participate in them when I get called, I fill out the comment cards at restaurants, I even filled one out at the baseball game I attended the other night. Comments received from surveys and comment cards are invaluable to people who run the organizations that solicit comments. If modifications can be made based upon comments to improve service, this is a good thing.

The other day I came upon a website, and on this website there was a "parental participation" survey. Going through this survey, I thought it was great. I wish that every parent in the district would take this or a similar survey to self-assess their level of participation in the education of their children. One thing some of our district's schools lack is parental participation. If we can find a way to increase parental participation--particularly at schools that struggle academically--we will increase student achievement guaranteed. The million dollar question is, what strategies do we need to employ to make this happen?

from the Project Appleseed Survey:


How Well Do You Support Your Child's Learning?Parenting

1.
Have you identified a regular time and place in your home for your child to do homework.
Yes
No
2.
Do you monitor your child's homework?
Yes
No
3.
Do you monitor your child's television viewing habits?
Yes
No
4.
Do you ensure that your child has excellent attendance at school?
Yes
No
5.
Have you discussed with your child the importance of a good education?
Yes
No

take the entire survey here


We hear often that it's "seat time" or "great teachers" or "this new curriculum delivery system" or "or better facility" or "this great new software program"--this is what it takes. Yeah, these things are great, but if the parents are not on board, reading to their child, encouraging him/her to achieve higher grades, checking in with the teacher, checking on thier homework, etc. etc. etc.--then every other gadget/widget/concepts' importance is greatly diminished.

Having a student that wants to learn and engaged parents who participate are the BIGGEST part of a student's shot at success. Challenging parents, holding them accountable to do their part should not be the taboo, 900 pound gorilla in the room! (as it currently seems to be)

Every parent ought to be given this survey--I'd love to see a compiled database of these surveys accurately and honestly filled out--that would be a useful database.