Family Involvement: A Key Component of Student & School Success
The term “parent involvement” describes participation by a child’s primary caretaker(s) – whether that is a single parent, two parents, grandparents, foster parents, or an older sibling. More broadly, many parent involvement programs also address the needs of the entire family and include younger siblings and others’ roles in creating school success.
Benefits of family involvement
- Higher academic achievement
- Better attendance
- More positive student motivation
- Improved attitudes about school work
Family Involvement has a positive effect on student behavior
- When families are involved, students exhibit more positive attitudes and behavior.
- When students report feeling support from both home and school, they have more self-confidence, feel school is more important, and they tend to do better in school.
- Student at-risk behaviors such as substance abuse, violence, and other anti-social behaviors decrease as parent involvement increases.
What we (teachers) can do:
- Make you feel welcomed at school.
- Provide information on how to help your children succeed.
- Provide positive feedback and personalized contact about your children whenever possible.
- Be timely in the notification of problems.
- Acknowledge when your children act in appropriate and exceptional ways
(Henderson and Berla, 1997)
School, Family & Community Partnership efforts should help families…
- Get a clear idea of what their children are learning and doing in the school
- Promote high standards for student work
- Gain skills to help their children at home
- Understand what good teaching looks like
- Discuss how to improve student progress
What you can do
- Share information about your student's culture, background, talents, and needs.
- Ask how you can participate in setting your student's goals
PBIS at Home: Example
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