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Health & Fitness

Involving Parents in Children's Education

While that sounds simple, it rarely is.  First of all, the parents most able to become involved usually already are.  So the target population is parents, either affluent or not, who are not currently involved.  Walt Gardner featured a program called Academic Parent Teacher Teams, (APTT) which was started by WestEd in 2009.  It reaches out to parents through parent conference, to provide skills that help their children learn at home.  Parents meet with teachers every 60 days to review their progress on established goals.  The program is in use at 158 schools in 14 states.

 

He rightly points out that a major obstacle to success is reaching and involving parents who are stress with multiple jobs and limited understanding of the school process.  I would add another major obstacle; the parent who refuses to be involved and, in effect, orders the schools to educate their children without parent assistance.  These are usually middle class, relatively affluent families who understand how to make their expectation clear.  And there are more of them than you might imagine.

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Any successful application of APTT must make concerted plans to address both populations.

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(Walt Gardner writes a blog (Reality Check) carried by Education Week.

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