How to Get Parents Involved at School

Motivating Parents to Become More Involved in Their Child's School

Sep 21, 2009

Parent involvement is severely lacking at many schools and teachers need to help rectify this situation for the sake of the students.

Many teachers work in lower income areas struggle to find ways to motivate parents to become involved with their child’s education. Whether this is getting a parent to show up for back-to-school night, parent conferences or just to show an interest in their child’s education, teachers need new ideas to increase parent involvement.

Increasing Parent Involvement in School

Teachers often ask parents to come to the school for a meeting. This can be for back-to-school or to discuss their particular child’s educational needs, but can be difficult for many parents to attend. While it may seem like a hassle to the teacher, here are a few steps that a teacher can take to ensure that the parent shows for the meeting:

It is also possible to motivate the parents to attend by raffling off a gift certificate or by asking the parents to bring a snack to share. Often the fact that others are counting on the parent to bring something to share will motivate the parent to attend.

Teachers can also provide several alternate meeting times/dates for the parent to choose from. Since both parents most likely work, best times for meetings may be early before school or later in the afternoon, sometimes even after dinner. If the parent repeatedly declines to schedule a meeting, the teacher can simply ask what day and time would work best.

Student Performances May Bring Child’s Parents to School

If simply getting parents more involved in their children’s education is the goal, teachers may find success with individual performances. This can be any creative idea the teacher can think up including class plays, recitals, or speeches. Many parents who are otherwise unwilling to step foot in the school will be willing to come to school to watch their child give a special performance.

Show and tell is another way to motivate parents to show up at school and be involved. Each child has a turn to invite his or her parents to come to the class. The child can introduce them and tell the class a little bit about them. This is a great way to add a family dynamic to the student of the week bulletin board.

While getting parents involved in school may be difficult for many teachers, it is important that they do not give up encouraging those parents to participate. Through multiple invitations, reminders and meeting times parents may be able to fit a meeting into their busy schedules and a special performance might get even the most reluctant parents to show up.

The copyright of the article How to Get Parents Involved at School in New Teacher Support is owned by Jennifer Wagaman. Permission to republish How to Get Parents Involved at School in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.