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Some people wonder what the most concise indicator of academic success is. Apparently, it’s not one’s economic status, nor is it the stature of the school that the child is attending. The best indicator of academic achievement is the degree to which families provide support and inspiration for them to learn at home and participate in their child’s education.
When parents are involved in their child’s academic lives, students have the support and knowledge necessary to not only complete their projects but to instill a lasting passion for learning as well. Most teachers agree that with students whose parents are sufficiently involved, there is definitely a significant change in their performance in the classrooms. The more participation is seen from parents in their child’s education, the more motivated and inspired the child becomes, and the better their grades. Encouraging parents to be involved is more than just a consideration. It’s one of the greatest methods to help promote a constructive and successful learning environment for each student. To build a community that is rooted in good parent-teacher relationships in the school environment, know more about parent engagement, and how to support it.
Parent Engagement
Experts define parent engagement as a sharing of responsibility of teachers and parents in order to support children in their learning and to be able to meet their educational goals. This occurs when teachers encourage parents to attend school meetings or affairs, and in turn, parents spend time with their children at home and in school as well. This way, they are encouraged to make a commitment. With parent-teacher learning collaboration, parents vouch to give priority to their child’s academic goals, and teachers vouch to listen and give ample space for parents to collaborate.
Parent engagement in the child’s school is unlike parent involvement, although both of these are beneficial. In parent involvement, parents typically participate in school affairs and activities, while teachers offer their skills for the children to learn, and they provide them with their grades. Teachers are also mainly responsible for setting students’ academic goals. They don’t consider parents as partners but chaperons or directors that help guide them through the students’ learning process.
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It helps to consider parent involvement as the initial step to parent engagement. While teachers can provide assistance to parents in some aspects, parents, too, can provide vital information regarding their child that teachers might have no knowledge on. Both can actually provide different viewpoints that can help improve the student’s learning experience. Both complement each other.
Importance Of Parent Involvement
The involvement of parents and their engagement in the education of their child does play a tremendous role now more than ever. A study done four years ago revealed a decline in parents who were engaged in close parent-teacher communication. Parents nowadays choose remote ways of communicating, such as online classrooms, and they have been attending parent-teacher meetings and activities less and less. This change is abrupt and troubling because of what it implies for parent engagement. While devices and other tools help families stay cognizant, students still miss out when parents don’t give their time and support.
Parent involvement in the school environment is the initial step to parent engagement and, consequently, parent-teacher partnership. When both parties work on building a comfortable and flourishing classroom, the impact of this on the students is truly significant. Children whose parents are sufficiently engaged do not only have high grades – their self-confidence, attendance, and graduation rates increase too. Parent-teacher connections are much more than a voluntary student benefit. They are crucial in helping students in a classroom as well as on a personal level. Educators must provide space for parent involvement to improve the classroom’s potential for growth.
On the other hand, there are other benefits of family engagement. Parents and teachers benefit from it as well. Teachers can ready the parents to help with assignments and projects, and active parents typically look up to teachers, which in turn boosts a teacher’s self-confidence. Being aware of a student’s family life can also guide teachers in how they will organize their lessons to suit the student’s needs better. And when students get more support from parents and teachers, they perform better in the classroom. It’s a win-win!
Increasing Parent and Family Engagement
It’s not too late to establish strong grounds for parent-teacher communication in the schools and communities. But the earlier you do this, the more capable your students will become in reaching their academic goals and dreams.
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- As teachers, you should willingly share your contact information with the parents and know them earlier. If you start a connection sooner than later, they can easily ask questions and are more comfortable to reach out to you.
- Give parents a chance to be oriented with the school grounds, administrators, and policies. Inform them about volunteering, school activities, or parent-teacher groups so they will have better participation opportunities.
- It is essential to make personal connections with parents. If this is not possible always, reach out to them through texts, emails, and other online applications to keep them updated about current and future class events.
- Confront common problems and challenges that hinder parents from engaging. Examples of these include a daunting environment and different types of conflicts.