Building parent involvement
Parent-teacher community associations (PTCAs) have one main goal: building parent involvement. Oftentimes, reaching this goal is quite difficult because most parents do not have the time or are working. This is a disadvantage since there are a lot of benefits of getting involved in a PTCA.
So if people say they don’t have time, make it clear you only need them for an hour or two. Make the school welcoming. Find ways so they can contribute their time and effort at home.
To make for an even more compelling argument, researchers’ studies show a consistent positive effect if parents are involved in their children’s academic success. This includes:
- scoring higher on tests
- earning better grades
- passing their classes
- attending school regularly
- having better social skills
- showing improved behavior
- being more positive in their attitude toward school
- completing homework assignments
- graduating and continuing their education
Therefore, the earlier parents become more hands on, the more pronounced and longer lasting the results. Parents should get involved because they make a significant difference in the success rate of their children.
Parents benefit too in that they enjoy better rapport with teachers, more support from families, good reputation in the community, more confidence in school and perhaps more opportunities for continuing education.
Once they see the importance of participating in the PTCA, you can begin asking people to participate. Communicate the PTCA’s message, accomplishments, events, issues to parents and the media.
To further harness this wellspring of untapped volunteer potential, you can:
- Diversify your projects and target sector (civil status, class, race, age) because the school, organization and students will eventually benefit from it.
- Evaluate projects constantly to decide what is working and what is not.
- Don’t forget to have fun so many more will participate.
- Keep it down to a maximum time of one hour per PTCA meeting.
- Recognize accomplishments, give compliments and thanks, and always let people know their help and time is appreciated.
- The leader should spearhead the laying out of long-term goals. This can get people excited and have something to work for.
- Give parents, officers, fellow teachers and volunteers work that they are capable of doing.
- Keep a list ready with email addresses and contact information of committee chairs and board members.
- Organize the group with a set of bylaws, complete with job descriptions for the committees and volunteers.
- Manage tasks by splitting them in smaller chunks to spread the work around, and/or pairing a particular job for the person best suited for it.
Sources:
“6 Tips for Volunteer Coordinators.” Retrieved December 16, 2009 from
http://www.ptotoday.com/ideabag/idea/863-6-tips-for-volunteer-coordinators
Bystrynski, Craig. “26 Ways To Build Involvement.” Retrieved December 16, 2009 from
http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/359-26-ways-to-build-involvement?position=popular
“Involvement Matters: What To Tell Parents.” Retrieved December 16, 2009 from
http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/399-involvement-matters-what-to-tell-parents?position=popular
(Published 25 January 2010, Smart Communications Inc.)
