Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent “Involvement”

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent “Involvement”:



 Sorry Again About The Multiple Emails
Sorry again for the multiple emails. This post is a test one being sent out by Edublogs staff to confirm the problem has been fixed. It’s another example of why I recommend Edublogs so highly — their customer service is unmatchable!
Prezi: “Syracuse: A Citywide Education Experiment”
Syracuse: A Citywide Education Experiment is a Prezi presentation (embedded below) by Sarah Sparks from Education Week. It’s on a pretty interesting effort in…Syracuse. It expands on the idea of community schools, and sounds great. I still have the same concern that I have with most community schools, however — that families might be viewed more as clients instead of partners. I’m adding this The
Sorry About Multiple Emails About The Last Post
Some of you who subscribe to this blog might have received four or five emails notifying you of the last post. Sorry about that — something in the email system went kaflooey. I hope that’s the first, and last time, for that problem.
Great Collection: “55 Best Back-to-School Articles for Parents”
Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchell has posted a great collection of the 55 Best Back-to-School Articles for Parents. I don’t think you’re going to find anything like it anywhere else on the Web!
“Parents Get Testy Over Philadelphia’s New School Report Cards”
Parents Get Testy Over Philadelphia’s New School Report Cards is a new article about parents and the more and more discredited idea of giving grades to schools. Here’s an excerpt: “We’re using consultants to grade schools instead of spending more time fixing them,” said school activist Helen Gym. Several saw the report card as little more than a thinly veiled effort to use consultants to justify
Excellent Article On Teaching Making Home Visits — & It Features Our School!
Home visits help Sacramento families see college path is an extensive article in today’s Sacramento Bee that features the staff and families at our school. It’s a good one, and I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Teacher Home Visits.
The Guardian: Parents Complain About Not Getting Comments On Report Cards
School reports: could teachers do better? is the headline of a recent article in the British newspaper, The Guardian. Here’s how it begins: The school report is the traditional end to the academic year. But parents are more critical of them than ever: some say computer-generated comments are too bland and general, while teachers grumble about having to produce hundreds of reports in the midst of
“New Orleans Schools Face Complaint About Treatment of ELL Families”
From Education Week, another example of how NOT to encourage parent engagement: A new complaint alleging that some charter schools in New Orleans are discriminating against the non-English-speaking parents of Vietnamese and Latino students has been filed with federal civil rights officials. Announced earlier today, the complaint—brought by two Asian-American civil rights organizations—says that a
“How To Do Student-Led Conferences”
How To Do Student-Led Conferences is a good post by Pernille Ripp sharing how to organize student-led conferences with parents and teachers. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Parent/Teacher Conferences.
Parent Involvement Advice For Principals
Parent Outreach for Busy Leaders is an article at the Responsive Classroom website that offers basic, but good, advice on eight things principals can do to help promote good relationships with families. It’s worth a look….
“Community Learning Centers” In Cincinnati
Here’s a pretty interesting piece in the Huffington Post about community schools in Cincinnati. Here’s an excerpt: A little more than a decade ago, voters passed a bond levy making possible the rebuilding or renovating of every public school in the district. The promise to taxpayers was that the facilities would be much more than just traditional academic settings during traditional school hours.
Big Benefits From Home Visits In Jamaica
I’ve posted a lot about the importance of making home visits to families, pre-school parent involvement, and parent engagement in countries across the globe (you can find those posts here). Now, here’s a story that combines all of those elements. A report has recently come out on pretty amazing results that came from making home visits to families in Jamaica. You can read an article about it in th
“Do Schools Work Hard Enough to Engage Parents?”
Do Schools Work Hard Enough to Engage Parents? is a new and useful post by Peter DeWitt at Education Week. He shares some practical suggestions. Here’s how the post ends: Parental involvement is about involving parents in all aspects of the educational conversation. Not everyone will take part in it, but those who do may help stretch everyone’s thinking. We want to make sure that when our parents
The Best Education Blogs For Parents
10 Amazing Education Blogs for Parents is a helpful post from Ed Tech Review that I learned about from Starr Sackstein. I think they missed a few important ones, though, so I decided to make my own list. Let me know if you think I’m missing some: Parent Cortical Mass Raising Modern Learners Joe Mazza’s blog, eFace Today Our School: Parents As Partners ParentNet Unplugged from Parent Involvement Ma
Video: “Parent Involvement Matters”
Here’s a new video from PTO Today. There’s probably nothing new in that’s new to readers, but it’s short and to the point: