In Philadelphia, Reaching Kids by Teaching Parents is the title of an article in this week’s Education Week. It highlights efforts Philadelphia schools are making to connect with parents.
It particularly talks about their “Parent University.” It’s unclear, though, how much parents participating in developing its content. One of the main things, I think, that makes the “Parent University” at our school more “engagement” than “involvement” is that Elisa Gonzalez, its coordinator, made sure that parents determined what they wanted to learn, and then our school and the University of California at Davis worked with them to help deliver the content.
Larry,
I think that you have hit the nail on the head by defining the goal as parent engagement vs. involvement. Engagement seems to connote that we meet parents where they are, teaching them what they want and need to know so that they can be essential partners in their child’s education. Our students will be more successful when we can get all of their “team members” engaged. I look forward to reading your book! Thank you.