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Volume 75 |
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Dec. 2007 |
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Educating, Assisting, Supporting, and Informing through this newsletter... A newsletter for and by parents with sons & daughters with disabilities and education advocates. |
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(All toll free numbers for Kansas parents & education advocates) |
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Inside this Issue...
Family Voices ............ p. 2
Special Health Services Family Advisory Council ......................p. 2
Family Story .............. p.3
Success .................... p. 4
Safety Awareness for Empowerment ........... p.5
Project ..................... p. 7
Donations ................. p. 7
Calendar of Events…..................…p. 8
Statewide Conference Registration .......... insert |
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Kansas City Center 1-877-499-5369 Garden City Center 1-888-820-6364 Topeka Center 1-800-264-6343 Statewide Spanish parent line 1-800-499-9443 |
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National Standards for Parent Involvement Submitted by Nancy Kraft, KPIRC
The research on the impact of parent involvement is consistent in one point: when parents are involved, children do better in school. Yet parents often face many challenges to being involved that include such things as a lack of time, lack of transportation, and difficulty in communicating their and their children’s needs to school personnel. Also many parents just don’t know how to become involved and feel helpless and unable to help their children. But to remedy this sense of helplessness, the National PTA has revised a set of standards that focus on quality family/school partnerships to encourage and support parent involvement.
While your children’s schools may not even be aware of these standards, the reality is that the standards were the basis of parent involvement in the federal education legislation – No Child Left Behind and influence many of the parent involvement requirements under the Individuals With Disabilities Act. Both laws require that school personnel find effective means to communicate with, and involve, all parents. Listed below are the national standards for parent involvement and questions you might ask to determine to what extent your own school embraces and supports quality parent involvement:
Welcoming all families into the school community – families are active participants in the life of the school, and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class. Questions to ask: 1. How welcome does my child’s school make me feel? 2. Am I greeted in a friendly way by teachers, administrators, and school staff? 3. Is my principal open and available to meet with me? 4. Does my school have a family center where I can access resources and information on how to help my child?
Communicating effectively – families and school staff engage in regular, meaningful communication about student learning. Questions to ask: 1. Do teachers avoid educational jargon when communicating with me? 2. Do teachers use a wide variety of communication techniques such as telephone calls, personal notes, email, newsletters, etc.? 3. Do teachers listen to me and my concerns? 4. Do teachers communicate academic and behavioral expectations to me?
Supporting student success – families and school staff continuously collaborate to support students’ learning and healthy development both at home and at school, and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge and skills to do so effectively.
Questions to Ask: 1. Do teachers share information on how I can help my child at home with reading and math and other content areas? 2. Do teachers provide homework tips on how I can better monitor my child’s homework and study habits at home? 3. Do I receive regular reports on how well my child is doing and what I can do to support his/her learning?
Speaking up for every child – families are empowered to be advocates for their own children, to ensure that students are treated fairly and have access to learning opportunities that will support their success. Questions to ask: 1. Am I being made aware of school and district policies and practices that affect my child? 2. Am I asked to participate on school committees that focus of student advocacy? 3. Does my school have a parent involvement policy that parents have been asked to help develop? 4. Does my school have an active parent group that focuses on issues of advocacy?
Sharing power – families and school staff are equal partners in decisions that affect children and families and together inform, influence, and create policies, practices and programs. Questions to ask: 1. Does my school involve me in decisions that affect my student? 2. Does my school welcome parent participation and decision making concerning school policy, the budget, school reform, safety, and hiring personnel? 3. Does my school offer training to help parents understand the data on school performance and how to interpret the school’s annual report card?
Collaborating with community – families and school staff collaborate with community members to connect students, families and staff to expanded learning opportunities, community services, and civic participation. Questions to ask: 1. Does my school provide me with information about available community resources to assist me in helping my child to be more successful? 2. Does my school encourage a variety of partnerships with businesses and community members?
For further information on how the National Standards on Parent Involvement could be integrated into your school, please contact the Kansas Parent Information Resource Center (KPIRC) at 866 711 6711 (toll-free). The KPIRC is a federally funded resource for parents to help you make sense of No Child Left Behind and provide you with resources on how you can help your children be successful in school. Please visit our website – www.kpirc.org – where we have hundreds of resources available to parents.
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