Parents Write Up - Parent-School Connections

Introduction

Parent-school connections are an integral part in meeting the needs of children within the school community. I believe that families who are involved in their child’s school have more opportunities to learn more about how their child learns, as well as, how to support their child’s success in and out of school. Through collaboration parents are able to share their knowledge about their child so that teachers and other professionals can better understand what strategies may be more successful. By providing this information teachers have a better picture of the child’s needs, and to provide information and services that meet the needs of the family.

For this study, there were nine questions that were created to gain a better understanding of parental experiences and views on how their school experience may have been similar or different from their own. I was interested to know their child’s attitude toward school, and how their child may have viewed their educational experience thus far. I was interested in knowing what challenges their children may have faced in school and what strengths the parents wanted their child’s school and community to possess in order to help their child meet those challenges effectively. Parent involvement plays a big part in school communities. In this study parents were asked if they volunteered in their child’s school, and those who did not volunteer were asked what activities they would like to participate in. Many children come from single parent homes sometimes with multiple children in the household. In an attempt to involve all parents in school activities, they were asked if there were any issues that may prevent them from participating in activities at their child’s school. During this interview it was important to know if parents felt welcomed at their child’s school and if they didn’t they were asked to explain why.