California parents on school participation is a new article in The San Francisco Chronicle.
Here are some excerpts on the unsurprising results of a new survey:
Wealthy parents are more likely to make cookies for bake sales, volunteer in classrooms and be otherwise involved in their children’s schools than lower-income mothers and fathers. That’s the conclusion of a survey of California public school parents released Thursday….
“There had been no other poll, really, that drilled down to give us a baseline to see how involved parents are, what the attitudes are to their schools,” Freedberg said. “We asked parents what it would take to get more involved.”
The answer: Parents want to participate more, but schools need to make it easier, Freedberg said of the results.
“Parents are more likely to cite a lack of time, rather than a lack of interest or a system that is unreceptive to their input, as an obstacle to greater participation in advising and decision-making,” the survey concludes.
Parents want translators, advance notice of meetings, weekend options and perhaps most importantly, they want to know their input matters, the poll found.
Parent engagement goes way beyond serving on committees and volunteering during the school day. I wonder if this survey asked parents if they talk about school with their kids, do they read to them at night, do they talk about higher education even with their elementary age children, do they just talk with their kids? This is parent engagement with schools in mind book.