Thanks to the many channels available for technology today, charter schools have it easier than ever to connect with the parents of their students. Teachers and school administrators should make use of the many options of contacting and connecting with the family of their students to enhance the school environment as possible. Studies have shown that students who have parents involved in their schooling do better than kids who do not.
Parental involvement can help students succeed in numerous ways, including getting higher grades, having better attendance records, higher test scores and better behaviors and social skills. Additionally, students with involved parents have a better chance of attending college or other post-secondary types of education. Because parental involvement significantly increases the success of students, charter schools need to find ways to grow parental involvement.
1. Help With Parenting At Home
One way in which charter schools can enhance parental involvement with their students is to offer classes on information and tools that can help parents have a better understanding of their children. When parents have a better understanding of their children’s development, they will be able to facilitate changes at home that increase learning and engagement.
2. Ask Questions
In many cases, parents will become more involved when they are simply asked by teachers and staff about ways in which they would like to be involved in the school. Unfortunately, lack of parental involvement often boils down to parents not understanding the process of getting involved or what is available to them.
3. Communication
Schools need to use a variety of methods to communicate with parents. It is important to keep them up-to-date with class activities, school information and upcoming events. Ensure parents are aware of ways they can help and how to go about getting involved.
4. Decision Making
Parents prefer to be involved in the decision-making process for the school their children attend, especially decisions that affect the environment for their kids. PTO meetings, surveys and community discussions can help provide this opportunity for parents to speak their minds and get involved.
5. Volunteering
Charter schools should take time to recruit parents and their families to volunteer for school activities and other events outside of school grounds. Schools can go even further by encouraging parents and family to help out at local community events as well. This is to help the community and encourage teachable moments for the children.
6. Learning At Home
Parents must be kept up-to-date with the courses being taught to their children at school. This will allow them to better help their children with homework and other activities while at home.
7. Community Collaboration
Charter schools should form partnerships with local organizations and businesses to offer services to charities and the community.
How Schools Can Be More Effective When Reaching Out To Parents
Charter schools need to learn how to effectively reach out to parents for engagement. Many schools are unaware of the areas they need to focus their energy on. If the response from parents is not reaching the goals you want at your school, it may be time to figure out why you’re not effectively communicating with them.
These days, many schools still rely on traditional means of communication to reach out to the parents of their students. Unfortunately, this is not always the best way to get in touch with busy working parents. Consider using other methods of communication such as mobile communications, content created by other parents, surveys and social media.
As stated earlier, increasing parental engagement is a key ingredient in student success. Promoting it and encouraging it should not be done lightly. Charter schools should utilize many of the online tools available to them to start the process of improving the involvement of the students’ parents. For best results, a mixture of digital communications will offer the best results for your strategies.
