Parent/teacher leadership teams: get more parents involved - by design
It's the time of year when parent/teacher leadership teams are engaged in strategic planning sessions for next school year. This year, many districts are hit hard with budget cuts and engaging parents to fill gaps will be more essential than ever. As your leadership team turns their focus on next year, ask yourselves, "Is there room for improvement in how we engage parent volunteers?" This article has questions and ideas to help guide your dialog and planning.Involvement builds commitment
Most parents welcome a meaningful way to contribute that fits their interests and schedules – but it’s contingent on school leaders and teachers to ask for help in a way that parents successfully respond and engage. As much as many teachers like the thought of having parents help in the classroom, especially in younger grades, they shy away when it comes to implementation. It’s often perceived as too time consuming to coordinate parent schedules and plan their work, or they have had bad experiences with parents disrupting lesson plans and class arrangements. Providing teachers with quick access to simple volunteer scheduling software and online signup sheets makes it easier for them to ask for specific help and supplies, and proactively manage classroom volunteer opportunities.
Schools that successfully engage parents in the classroom, even in small ways like weekly readers, find more parents willing to take leadership roles in fundraisers and academic and enrichment projects. Parents at Oak Hill Elementary in Austin, Texas, for example, launched a drop-in after school tutoring program to boost reading skills. Parents in San Carlos, California, provide art instruction, and school gardens are sprouting up across the country thanks to parent/teacher teams. Online volunteer sign up solutions give parent leaders confidence and save time coordinating project like these by letting parents schedule themselves to help, quickly and easily.
Is your school a volunteer-welcoming place?
Does your school offer volunteer jobs to fit a variety of schedules and interests?
- Sporadic classroom opportunities, like readers and science helpers
- Ongoing day-time opportunities in the library, cafeteria or copy room
- Take-home projects like packaging materials and updating the website
- Weekend cleanup/beautification projects involving the whole family
- Special-skill projects like gardening, accounting, and updating computers
- Fundraising and Booster committees
Do teachers, administrators and parent leaders ask for help and solicit involvement regularly, including using online scheduling and sign-up tools?
Are processes for volunteer background checks, confidentiality and security well documented and easy to follow?
When parents show up to help, are they given clear direction and enough to do?
Are parents alerted if a volunteer shift is canceled due to field trips or special schedules?
Are parents promptly dismissed and thanked at the end of their scheduled shift?
Does your school orchestrate one or two large community-building fundraisers like a carnival, book fair or family movie night?
Is it clear how to make donations, including electronic equipment and classroom supplies?
Finding more ways to involve parents at school yields big results in terms of parent commitment to your school community, fiscal fitness, and most importantly, student success.
Save time and get more parents involved in your school community -- please visit VolunteerSpot and take our live or video tour today. VolunteerSpot is ideal for all kinds of school scheduling: classroom helpers, parent-teacher conferences, exam proctors, PTA fundraisers and more...
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This post was originally published on The Educator's Royal Treatment, where educators and education technology leaders share ideas and best practices.
by VolunteerSpot founder, Karen Bantuveris
