Parent and Community Involvement In Education

Here is an interesting article about how crucial parent involvement in education is, and how powerful the PTA can and should be in the movement to increase parent involvement and effectiveness in school.

I found this piece very interesting: "Parental effort is consistently associated with higher levels of achievement, and the magnitude of the effect of parental effort is substantial," University of New Hampshire economist Karen Conway recently reported. "We found that schools would need to increase per-pupil spending by more than $1,000 in order to achieve the same results that are gained with parental involvement." Could parent involvement be the key to reigning in the budget a bit requiring fewer layoffs and other budget cuts? It certainly is something to think about.

At a recent PTA training, I took part in a workshop that focused heavily on touting a PTA as a community rather than school based organization. This article touches on that a bit and I couldn't agree more. One of the reasons I signed on and was elected as my local unit President for an additional two year term was so that I could help reshape and rework the image of PTA on a local, state, and national level. It is becoming increasingly clear that our work needs to extend beyond the bake sale and in to the community. With parent involvement, community support and the continued work of our teachers and administrators, our students are sure to succeed!