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Matthew Lynch published in Parental Involvement

4 Ways to Improve Parent Involvement in K-12 Learning

By Matthew Lynch

Students benefit when there are parent-school partnerships surrounding their school work. However, it is not always easy to promote such a culture of shared responsibility, especially given the great time demands placed on parents and teachers today. Schools may face difficulty in attaining an efficient collaborative framework among stakeholders, which include teachers, parents, students, the community, and the administration.  Trust between schools and parents, in particular, is vital for creating a healthy learning environment.

So what can be done to foster stronger relationships between parents and teachers, administrators and whole schools?

1. Encourage collaboration. In general, parents who are supported by regular interactive meetings with teachers often show greater trust levels in teacher-parent relationships. Schools can create an environment favorable for the development of teacher-parent relationships by sharing the responsibility of improving learning processes and the academic performance of children. Many schools that claim to support collaborative decision-making patterns hold complete decision-making authority in their own hands, which can reduce the positive influence of collaborative decision-making pattern. Let parents feel empowered in the learning paths of their kids by allowing them certain input and choices.

2.  Work toward creating a friendly school environment. A healthy and congenial school environment, with an enabling and flexible structure, can help develop trust between school administrators and parents.  Generally, education and school leaders try to generate a social framework that will help teachers, administrators, and parents resolve differences in a peaceful and supportive manner. Overall improvement of student performance can be the outcome of improved relationships between teachers and parents.

3.  Reduce bureaucratic barriers.  Many times, barriers are created that prevent teachers from developing effective student-teacher relationships and discourage parents from taking part in helping students develop their learning skills. A parent who feels that his or her input is not wanted may give up on trying to be an influential part of his or her child’s life. The bureaucratic system of schools should allow plenty of room for parent and student input – and then take that feedback seriously. The centralized or hierarchical authority of schools can be used to implement these supportive regulations and policies to enhance parental involvement. Both can work together for a better outcome for the students.

4. Respect the deep-rooted importance of family.  Parental involvement in education and its effect on the academic performance of a child requires recognizing the fact that parents are children’s first teachers. Home is the first school, and as such, it is the place where children learn an abundance of skills, knowledge, and attitudes, some of which supports what is taught in schools. It’s true that some parents are more involved in the academic strides of their children than others – but with the right encouragement, teachers and schools can give parents the tools and encouragement needed to help their children succeed to the next level.

When parents get involved with their children’s educations, the children tend to succeed academically, and tend to perform better on exams (which, as we all know, is certainly helpful to teachers). They miss fewer school days and tend to be more conscientious about completing school-related work outside of school.

Conversely, children whose families are not as involved in their school experiences are often unable to compete academically with peers, their attendance is less regular, and they are less likely to graduate from high school.  Clearly, any movement toward building a stronger relationship between schools and parents will have a positive impact on student performance. Involved parents are the key to success when it comes to the improvement of K-12 students inside classrooms – and teachers, administrators and schools should encourage parents to play that pivotal role.

 

 

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Parental Involvement

How to Help Your Child Cope with ADHD

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding a P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

By JaVohn Perry

A lot of parents wonder what to do once their child is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, commonly referred to ADHD. This is a very good question because it’s not enough to just know that your child has the disorder. It’s imperative to know what the next steps should be.

Form a support team. To start, one huge way to support your child is putting together a strong team. Your child’s support team should include family members, educators, parents and doctors. Cooperating as a team with the people in your child’s life is the best way to support him or her with the ADHD diagnosis.  This means you should be in constant contact with everyone involved in your child’s life. Frequent communication with your child’s educators is always a good idea. Find out as much as you can about your child’s learning environment. It’s also good to ask about your child’s strengths, struggles and areas of improvement. Take opportunities to share the same information with your child’s educator about home progression. This helps to keep things consistent from school to home and keeps everyone in the loop.

Reprioritize at home. Children who have been diagnosed with ADHD may sometimes give you a challenge when it comes to parenting. They often have a hard time following instructions which can get quite frustrating for adults. They are also very active which can make it a bit hard for adults to keep up with them. Another struggle your child may have is focusing their attention for long periods of time. Because of these factors and a few others, children with ADHD have a tendency to need more organized home lives and vivid expectations. These reasons may require you to adjust or alter things at home to support your child.

Offer rewards. One good idea is to praise and reward good behavior. Instead of focusing so much on behavior that is unacceptable, try to acknowledge when you observe good behavior. This can be anything from a pat on the back to buying a new toy. The most important thing is that your child knows that you noticed good behavior and you are rewarding him/her for it. Play off of your child’s desires and interests when it comes to rewards. Some children enjoy sticker charts, while others would like extra privileges. If you choose to implement a reward system, make sure it is based off of things your child is interested in and that is remains consistent.

Exercise attention span. Setting times for specific activities that require your child to be focused and engaged might help with attention span. Choose (or have your child choose) an activity to work on for a certain amount of time. You can set a timer and once the time is up, give your child the option to be finished. This helps your child to practice focusing attention. When introducing this for the first time, you should start with small sessions or a time frame in which you are sure you child can focus. After about a week or so, try adding on a little bit more time and see how it goes.

Maintain routine. Another way to support your child through ADHD is to make things predictable. You can do this by making a daily schedule and posting it for your child to see. Specify certain times for homework, television, going to bed, and chores. Having a predictable schedule makes it easier for your child to transition to the next task or activity. Having a set routine is really important. If there will be any changes, it is a good idea to tell your child ahead of time. A consistent routine may assist your child in having a sense of stability.

Keep in mind that these things aren’t the “fix all” but supporting and helping your child cope with this disorder may get you further in the progressing stages. This also shows your child that you care and will be there to guide them through his or her struggles with ADHD.

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JaVohn Perry is a devoted mother of three, Early Childhood Educator, Freelance Writer and Business Owner. As a writer, she holds many titles including Seattle Childhood Education Examiner for Examiner.com. With writing and working with children being her two passions, she makes it her duty to utilize her skills in those areas.

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform, Teachers

Reforming K-12 Education: How the Activists are Doing It

By Matthew Lynch

Activism when it comes to public K-12 education is flourishing. Laws regarding K-12 education are no longer simply handed down and enforced without pushback – student, parents, teachers and outside activists have a larger voice than ever when it comes to the decisions impacting the future of their public schools.

After some thought, I came up with the most impactful things (in no particular order) that education activists have done in the past few years when it comes to K-12 education:

Student-driven change. When it comes to the paths of their educations, K-12 public school students are standing up for their rights more than ever before and empowering positive changes in their learning experiences. In April, over 100 Chicago Public Schools students made news when they skipped their standardized testing to protest the tests instead. Speaking to the press, one CPS student said that the protest was designed to draw attention to the fact that “standardized testing should not decide the future of our schools and students.” Student-led zombie flash mobs took place in front of the Philadelphia School District headquarters to oppose the closing of public schools in the city. Hoards of students in other cities like Denver, Providence and Philadelphia followed suit and spoke out against the advance of high-stakes testing and school closing. They rallied together and marched relentlessly to prove their strong dislike against standardized testing – and the belief the effects are not a true measure of success in the real world. While there may have been some parental encouragement behind the scenes, these students appeared to act alone in their pursuit of a better public school learning experience.
Parents as reformers. In California, the parent-led “trigger movement” made waves as parents demanded more from failing public schools. Dessert Springs Elementary School in Adelanto is an example of a school that was transformed from a consistently failing school (students had reading scores in the bottom 10 percent of the state) to a public charter that better served its student body – all because parents took a stand and demanded the change. The Lone Star State had some big news this year when a coalition led by parents was successful in petitioning the state to reduce by two-thirds the number of tests required to graduate high school. In 2011, the state required at least 15 high-stakes tests on students prior to earning their diploma. Two years of hard work later, the Texas legislature passed an education bill reducing the number of tests to five.

Activists stepping up. During 2013, civil rights advocates found an audience with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In January, these public-school supporters gathered in DC to discuss their grievances to the Department of Education. The Journey for Justice came as Chicago was on the cusp of closing around 50 schools, and New York and Philadelphia had voted to close more than 20 each. These activists had every right to speak up – research shows that the closing of public schools in urban areas has the biggest negative effect on Latino and Black students. Mass school closures often shake up communicates and disrupt children’s learning, among other effects on displaced students. Perhaps the biggest public school activism success story for 2013 was the teacher union-led Scrap the Map in Seattle. After months of protesting Washington’s mandatory MAP standardized testing at Garfield High School, a decision was made to make the test optional for students throughout the state. In 2013, public school activists came out en masse and took to their local, state and federal legislators to protest detrimental closings and other public school legislation.

Pushing for increased funding. In 2013, activists were vocal about the need for stronger programs in science, technology, engineering and math. Thankfully, President Obama listened. His 2014 budget includes $3.1 billion in investments in federal STEM programs – an increase of nearly 7 percent over the budget of just two years ago. Of that total, $80 million is intended to recruit 100,000 well-qualified educators and another $35 million is earmarked for the launch of a pilot STEM Master Teacher Corps. The rest of the money will go to supporting undergraduate STEM education programs and investment in breakthrough research on the way STEM subjects are best taught to modern learners. At the urging of advisors and activists, the president realized that demand for STEM-related jobs is there and the money allocated to STEM learning initiatives will better prepare today’s students for the worldwide workforce.

Supporting Race to the Top. Over the last 2 years, education activists have continued to support the president’s incentive-based Race to the Top program, which was launched in 2012 and it rewards states that are willing to reform their education models to best adapt to modern student learning needs. The Race to the Top initiative has raised standards for learning to reflect a push toward college and career readiness. Each year, the program gives even more in federal funding to states that prepare plans for reforming their student offerings and 2013 was a big year for it. To date, the program has allocated more than $4 billion among 19 states that have shared well-developed plans to improve learning standards, teacher effectiveness and struggling schools. The states that have been granted the funds represent 42 percent of all low-income students in the nation – making the initiative an effective way to close the achievement gap and equalize funding in areas where schools may struggle based on their geographical location.

Lobbying for college affordability. College affordability activists urged the president to make earning a college education more affordable for all Americans and convinced him that this will impact future K-12 classrooms. In August 2013, the President announced plans to assign a ratings systems to colleges by the 2015 school year that takes items like tuition, graduation rate, debt and earnings ratios of graduates and percentage of low-income students who attend into consideration. The grand plan? To base the amount of federal financial aid colleges receive on the rankings system by 2018. The overall principle is not to call out colleges but rather to make them more accountable to students, and to ensure that every American with college degree aspirations has the actual means to make it happen. Long term, this will impact the quality of teachers in the classrooms, particularly in urban settings where research has shown that the most effective teachers are generally those who come from the same background. More lower-income college students earning degrees will have a positive impact on the entire education system and the college scorecard initiative is a step in that direction.

What would you add to my list?

photo credit: Steve Rhodes via photopin cc

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