Parent Involvement -Giving Non-native Speakers a Voice

Often, urban schools decry the lack of parent involvement in school. Many schools have lost their PTO or PTA altogether.

A school in Tampa Florida used its community to full advantage by using translators to encourage the mostly Hispanic school community to get involved in the school. Where there was no PTA, the school now has a president, vice president and secretary who speak little or no English. The principal thinks it is working well. This new group gives a voice to the local community in important school matters and acts as a springboard to further involvement from the community.

To read the full story click here.
For more articles on parent involvement click here

Parent Involvement In Schools, Who are The Hardest To Involve Parents?

Parents approach the school experience based upon their
experience from their own education. If that experience
was positive, then they are likely to take a positive approach
to their child’s school. These parents tend to feel comfortable at
school, and some take active and visible roles in the children’s
education.

The group of hardest-to-involve parents includes those whose
school experiences have made them cautious, suspicious, and
distrustful when coming into the schools. It also includes parents
who face other barriers in becoming more involved.

These parents may be poor, employed in low-paying jobs with no time
off, or unemployed. They may have transportation, medical, or
childcare problems. They may not speak English as their first language,
have limited literacy skills, or have limited educations.
They may have had distasteful experiences with social services
agencies and see the schools as part of that experience.

As educators, we must do all that we can to proactively reach out to these "Hardest to Involve Parents. They will not show up to conferences or school events until they feel

• comfortable
• appreceiated
• and
• respected.

Communicating with parents by doing one of the following such as;

• Sending a flyer home
• Putting an article in the school newsletter
• Sending a note home
• Getting another parent to contact them

Won't work!

Nope, none of these ideas work!

But these methods used together will make a big difference in parents involvement in school, even the hard to involve.

More Ideas

7 Parent Involvement Ideas And Strategies To Help Build Parent Involvement In Your School

The superintendent and board of education in your district have decided that they need parent involvement ideas. They want to make parent involvement a focus in the new goals for the coming school year.
Your boss, the superintendent has chosen you lead this effort. What to do? Where to begin?
You begin by searching the Internet for information for parent involvement ideas that can help you get started. You’ve done the usual things, open house, parent conferences, ice cream socials, etc. but what else is out there that can help you make a difference in parent involvement?
Before you begin, take a look at some of these parent involvement ideas for jumpstarting parent involvement in your district... More here