The Importance of Adult Involvement

Building professional and positive relationships with parents and other adults is imperative to student achievement. Studies show that students perform best in schools where teachers openly communicate with parents regularly. It is important that parents are actively involved in their children’s education. It is equally important that a strong, consistent, professional, and healthy school climate is maintained encouraging parent involvement. It is imperative that close communications with parents and strong leadership skills from a caring teacher, not just the principal of our schools, be established to encourage student achievement.

Parent involvement can significantly improve the school climate and educational experience. It is a best practice for empowering teaching and learning for at-risk youth. Though we have students whose parent’s are not involved in their lives, there is usually some other adult whom they respect that will become involved in their education, when encouraged to do so. Thus, parental involvement can easily be replaced by the involvement of a surrogate in the form of an older sibling, a grandparent, a family friend, a concerned neighbor, a probation officer, a mentor, an aunt, an uncle, an older cousin, or some other concerned adult in the student’s life. Even the most disruptive student respects some adult involved in their lives. Most students have a responsible adult involved in their lives in some way.

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It is important that teachers build professional relationships with students. An article from The October 21, 2008 edition of the Wall Street Journal supports this idea. Read the article to find out what happens when students who are at risk of failure or who drop out of school know that someone cares.

Economic Ripple Effect on High School Students
Take a look at this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455013168452477.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

These are 10 tips to help teachers begin to form relationships with students, especially at-risk students.

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What can parents do?

Your child’s teacher would like your help. Here is what is needed. Encourage your child to read. There is still time, the school year has only recently begun. Reading will be the catalyst to help boost your child’s overall grades as well as standardized test scores this spring.

The purpose of reading is:

*to promote continuous reading habits,
*to encourage reading for pleasure,
*to establish a springboard for classroom discussion,
*to be the catalyst for boosting your child’s grades,
*to help increase his or her standardized test scores this spring.

Consistent reading develops independent readers who will continue lifelong reading habits. Readers find personal value in reading and sharing good books. Research proves that reading boosts a students overall grades in all subject areas including mathematics and computation. Recognizing the interest of parents in their children’s reading development, parents are encouraged to nurture that development and to make recommendations to their children throughout the year. Provide a variety of books, fiction, nonfiction, everything.

In order for children to be successful academically, they need to be encouraged to read. It’s is like riding a bicycle, skating, driving a car, or sewing. In order to get better at it, young people must do it. The more a child reads, the better he or she gets at it.

Teachers will see your efforts and appreciate it!