Parents in action
Research indicates that student performance in school is better when parents get involved and often communicate with their children’s teachers. There are a lot of ways for this kind of communication to take place, including parent-teacher conferences or regular meetings. The main idea is for parents and teachers to maintain close ties to help the student improve.
Things to do for parents are:
- Become more involved in school activities and events to have more chances to communicate with teachers.
- Join parent-teacher organizations to interact with the teacher outside the classroom and give input on decisions affecting their child’s education.
- Volunteer to be part of school activities and events. This will depend on the parent’s availability, interests and needs in the school. But it helps to foster cooperation with teachers in school events.
Students in a regular high school show a good number of contradictions and conflicts. They are adolescents during this stage, after all. Therefore, it is important for students to have their own strong support team behind them.
Results of recent research say that parents who are actively involved in their child’s education do better in school. Among the results are:
- Higher grades and test results
- Positive student attitudes and behavior
- More successful academic programs
- Effective school system as a whole
- Better understanding of the school system for the family’s side
- More support from adults
- The school becomes the natural extension of the home
So what can parents do in high school?
It is not uncommon for teenagers to become embarrassed by their parents. But getting involved will help so it’s best to persevere with some teenager complaints. Here are some tips for the parents:
- Get to know several teachers, not just one.
- Include the guidance counselors in the “get to know” list.
- Be familiar with all the school policies and curriculum.
- Review school records every year, and keep them in a file.
- Stay updated on the student’s grades and test results.
- Request for meetings with teachers.
- Get to know other parents too, so it’s easy to form a support group in the face of mutual issues that affect the class.
- Answer letters sent by the school.
Once parents become more comfortable with the teachers, it’s easy to disclose problems at home that might affect student behavior. It just takes a little encouragement, some effort and a lot of commitment.
Sources:
“Parent Involvement at the Middle School Level.” Retrieved December 3, 2009 from
http://www.middleweb.com/ParntInvl.html
“Parent-Teacher Communication.” Retrieved December 3, 2009 from
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/succeed/communication.cfm
(Published 4 January 2010, Smart Communications Inc.)
