Educator Lauren Tripp Barlis says: “What is the most underused resource in education today? Parents.” Decades of research confirms that the engagement of families in their children’s education improves school readiness, student academic outcomes, and graduation rates.
The longer daylight hours, warmer weather, new growth on plants and trees including blooms are all indicators of the coming summer months and the end of another school year. Students and staff have been working hard all year and are in the final stretch to complete another school year. There are several ways that you as a parent or community member can be engaged and make a difference not only for your child but also for all students and schools.
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6 – 10. Be intentional about finding ways to shower your child’s teacher with appreciation that week. It could be writing a note of appreciation or offering to buy something for their classroom. Many schools have a parent organization group planning specific ways to recognize teachers that week. If your child’s school is feeding teachers one day or offering duty free lunch for teachers and you are able to volunteer your time to help with those events, these are wonderful opportunities to support your local school.
End of Grade Testing – In just a few weeks students across Pitt County will be taking End of Grade Tests. If you have a child who will be taking an end of grade test, reach out to your child’s teacher to find out about ways you can help your child prepare for that test including what if anything you can review with your child, suggestions about what to do the night before and the morning of the test, or if there is anything you can do to help the teacher in the weeks leading up to End of Grade Testing.
Another way that parents can engage with their child’s school during End of Grade Testing is to volunteer to be a testing proctor. You can reach out to either your child’s school or another school and find out when testing proctors are needed at the school and volunteer your time to support the school in that way. Administering End of Grade Tests is an involved process and it is helpful to administrators to know in advance that there are proctors available to assist during testing. When parents volunteer as proctors it allows teacher assistants and other support staff to help in other parts of the building including for teacher assistants to remain in their regular classroom supporting the teacher during testing.
End of the school year celebrations and awards ceremonies – Many classes and or grade levels have end of year celebrations. Ask your child’s teacher if there is something you can do to contribute to an end of the year celebration or a particular way to help out during the celebration. Awards ceremonies are great opportunities to engage by showing up to acknowledge the hard work of all students and staff throughout the school year. You can also ask the school if there is a way to help before or after awards ceremonies such as helping to greet guests and hand out programs or to help clean up after the ceremony ends.
Everyone has different skills, abilities and availability to engage with their student’s school. Any form of engagement makes a huge impact. What are specific ways that you are able to engage with your child’s school between now and the end of the school year?
