But we can not guarantee what happens when a parent goes to school. Schools must be sending the message that what the parent does matters and must be setting high expectations for parents, too. Responsibility of schools Just as professional development for teachers must be fully integrated into the life of schools today, parent engagement must be woven into every school's fabric. It is easy for school leaders to think parent involvement is taken care of because they have an active PTA, or parents on the SBDM council, or a parent support coordinator. Two scheduled days for parent-teacher conferences, while very important, should be just the start of serious thinking on the part of faculties about how to engage parents.
Schools do have to reach out.
A school that's truly committed to parent involvement continuously identifies ways parents can help, using all levels of parent expertise. The school comes up with strategies for reaching the parents of all students. Just as parents must work to gain the knowledge and skills to take an active role in and responsibility for the education of their children, so too schools must do their part. The engagement of parents must become an integral part of what schools do on a regular, sustained basis. Bev Raimondo is Director of Community Support for the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.