The Louisville Courier Journal has published an extremely informative infographic about parent involvement. In fact, there’s so much information packed into it that it’s difficult to decipher it all!
It accompanies a very long article on parent involvement, which is okay, but doesn’t cover any new ground.
Happy to discuss this graphic/parent engagement since this is my school district and I was district PTA president during the term they mention in regard to PTSA membership numbers. However I was not asked to comment for the article to explain the efforts our District Board made to help school leadership at those schools as well as the PTSA leadership to increase membership and parent/family participation at those schools. We worked hard, but with little response from school principals/staff. Quite frustrating at times. Hope that this article brings attention to the fact that there is still work to be done. Please note, PTSA membership alone does not always reflect the amount of parent engagement in a school, as many parents support their children via booster clubs because of extracurricular activities. So a parent may be engaged in a school, but not as a card carrying PTSA member. However, in some circumstances it is painfully obvious that the school culture/community climate is less than willing to positively engage families with education and would much rather only look upon them as a fundraising vehicle for the school.
My blog in response to the CJ article and graphic.
http://www.rootsandwingslibrary.com/2011/11/parent-involvementbegins-with-hello.html?spref=fb
I will say this, we have an extremely active and supportive District PTA, but find it curious that they were not interviewed for the accompanying article, especially as it references PTA throughout the article.
As a point of reference, PTA is the supported parent engagement vehicle in the Jefferson County Public Schools. But parent engagement in any form, whether PTA, PTO, or an unnamed parent group, is essential if our students are to succeed in their education.