The students fill them in daily, and parents can watch the books for teacher comments about progress. Every three weeks, the school sends progress reports home. Parents and students can check homework assignments on a telephone hotline. Involving parents of middle and high schoolers in their children's education is not always easy, noted Marguerite McNeely, the school principal, but it can be done. All teachers send home regular newsletters about classroom activities.
Parents put up bulletin boards, laminate learning activities, sort papers and on and on.
Generally, parents will do anything that helps teachers. Barbara Wood, principal at Marshall Elementary School in Lewisburg, Tennessee, saw a perfect opportunity to involve parents a few years ago. It has been wonderful for our school, our students, and it brings a group of very positive supporters into the building on a regular basis. Several other schools in our district have adopted the idea. Wood uses additional parent volunteers as tutors for the school's 700 K-2 students.