Parent “universities” or “academies” seem to be all the rage these days, with school districts organizing these trainings typically to help parents understand how the school works. I’ve written plenty of posts about these types of programs, and have been critical of many of them. They tend to fall on the parent “involvement” side of things instead of the “engagement” side. Parents usually don’t participate in determining their content, and they don’t tend to cover any of the other important issues affecting families — it’s just the schools’ agenda.
I was reading an article from Sonoma, California, about a program that appears to get — at least, a little bit — of how to run one of these programs in the right way:
The program (Parent University in English) brings parents together for monthly discussions of their choosing, from positive discipline and couples communications to bullying and the value of video games.
That got me thinking that it might be useful to bring together a collection of my posts on the topic, including ones describing how we do it at our school.
Here are My Best Posts On Parent “Academies” & “Universities”:
Some Of These “Parent Academies” Just Don’t Get It….
Press Conference On Parent Engagement
New Haven Seems To Do “Parent University” Right….
“Parent University 101: Launching a Successful Event”
Philadelphia “Parent University”
Video On Our School’s Teacher Visiting Program & Parent University
Parent University Program Begins In Birmingham
Boston Schools Begin Parent Program
“In Philadelphia, Reaching Kids by Teaching Parents”
Seems Like This Canadian “Parent Academy” Has Some Good Ideas
Not Your Typical “Parent University”
The “California Educator” Writes About Parent Universities
Parent University Network Formed
You can see all my previous “The Best…” lists related to parent engagement here.