Your parent education program aims to engage your students’ families and help them feel like true members of your community. Your school puts hard work into holding events and creating materials, so it can be disappointing if only a small percentage of your families regularly participate.
It may be time to reposition your parent education program strategy to garner as much participation as possible. Your program should be seen as an opportunity to create and maintain an open dialogue with parents. Parents want to know what the school is doing, why it is doing it, why it matters, and how these efforts will help their child succeed.
In fact, a parent education program should ultimately help parents partner with educators to reinforce concepts at home that are learned in school. But parents today are busier than ever before.
In today’s always-on culture, parents have many demands on their time. Between job commitments, after-school activities for their children, social obligations, and more, every event must meet the criteria, “is it worth our time to attend?”
Static or passive events, such as a speaker talking to an auditorium of parents, are often failing that test. When you speak about your school’s educational philosophy and mission without allowing parents to see it in action, you rob them of the opportunity to truly understand it. It becomes hypothetical, rather than something they experienced in an interactive way.
Parents crave the opportunity to spend time as a family. They want to enjoy the company of their children and allow time for leisure and play. This relaxed time can support children’s primary development while helping families grow together.
Additional ISM Resources:
The Source for Academic Leadership Vol. 15 No. 8 The Importance of Positive Parent-Teacher Relationships
The Source for Advancement Vol. 16 No. 3 The Three C’s of Parent Communication
Additional ISM resources for Gold members:
I&P Vol. 29 No. 13 Use Your Parent Education Plan to Shift Parents From a 'Contract Mentality' to a 'Sense of Community'
I&P Vol. 39 No. 4 Conflict Resolution in the Context of Your Parent Retention and Education Plan
