9/22/06
Parental involvement at teacher conferences is good thing
by Joe Nathan
It really bugged me, every time I heard it. ìItî was a comment from teachers at parent conferences, that ìwe never see the parents we really need to see.î While I understand the sentiment, I strongly disagree.
To be fair, teachers were saying that they wanted to talk with parents of youngsters who were not doing well. That makes sense. Teachers were frustrated or disappointed when parents of such youngsters did not attend conferences.
But EVERY parent ought to be attending conferences with teachers. Every parent has insights about her/his children, and every parent needs to know what is going well, and what might be improved.
Our youngsters, now 27 and 20, generally did well in school. But in the course of attending conferences with teachers over more than 20 years, I learned about
* Assignments that our youngsters had done particularly well on, which would be cause for much deserved praise at home the next day
* Assignments that the teacher thought had not been turned in. Sometimes one of our youngsters really had neglected to turn in an assignment. In a few cases, it appeared that the teacher had lost or misplaced what had been turned in. Either way, it was something that needed follow-up.
* Ways my wife or I could help out the teacher
* Challenges the school was facing, that parents might be able to help with
It also was important for our youngsters to see that we really cared about what was happening with their education. A few years ago researchers determined that students whose families were involved through high school were 4 times more likely to graduate from college, than youngsters from families that did not stay involved through high school.
So there were plenty of reasons for us to attend parent conferences.
Now, what about youngsters whose children were not doing well? Frankly, most parents do the best job they know how to do with their kids. Thatís why the Center for School Change, where I work, encourages schools to hold late afternoon or evening meetings to help parents understand how they can help kids in school.
Sometimes those meetings should be scheduled outside the school building, in places where families feel more comfortable. There are PLENTY of adults who did not have a lot of success in school, and are not eager to return.
I am not offering excuses for parents who do not attend conferences. But Joyce Epstein, a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who has studied family involvement over the last twenty years has reached this conclusion: The best predictor of family involvement is not the income, race, marital status or other form of background of the family. The best predictor is what the school does to promote it.
So ñ if all families are welcome, and if school events sometimes take place at community centers or other sites, more families will participate. And that will be good for everyone: kids, families and educators.
Joe Nathan, a former public school teacher and administrator, directs the Center for School Change, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota jnathan@hhh.umn.edu
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