Parent Involvement

Parent involvement is an integral part of the academic success of the student. To ensure parent engagement is not a guarantee. However, an attempt needs to be made. This can be done in a variety of ways.
Firstly, it's important to know is acceptable or what is the norm in the school in which you plan to work. Then, the next relevant point is to communicate to parents that you have a sincere interest in the well-being of your students /their children. This can be communicated via a telephone conference, or in an in person format. Also, it's important not to call only when things are going wrong. Parents/guardians can become wearied and build up a wall between themselves and you if you are seen as always trying to find fault with the student. Before such an encounter can occur, it is important to invest time in researching the community in which the students are from.
When the teacher takes ownership of the responsibility to learn more about the community and culture from which the students have come, it shows that the teacher is willing to invest upfront in the student's academic progress. The parents/guardians interpret this gesture as an act of sincere dedication to the success of the learner. The student, also of course gets excited about having a teacher take the time to get to know them. This contributes to the teacher having a better understanding of how to make culturally appropriate accommodations to assist the student, which would include having respect and dignity for the student as an individual, capable of differentiated and scaffolded autonomy academically, socially and emotionally.
Many students do not have a stable upbringing/home life or are coming from extremely difficult circumstances. Gaining an understanding as to the students' varied backgrounds better equips teachers to be useful instruments to their educational success. In addition to considering these factors, teachers can make phone calls home, and send letters of progress via school communication, directly by the student, or postal service. According to the course reading, "Most federally funded grants mandate a parent involvement component. Title I, Head Start and the Bilingual Education Act all have provisions for parent involvement in the planning, implementation, and evaluation" The impetus is that parents cannot take a back seat to their child's learning, especially when the student is receiving government services. Systems of accountability make it harder for parents to check out or be unaware of how their child is developing academically. In all, it is important to remember that we can bring a horse to the water, but we cannot make it drink. As Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov posits, we as teachers must focus only on what we can control. That means doing all we can to keep the lines of communication open between parent and teacher, and facilitating shared ownership with the parent and oneself.