Family Involvement

After reading through Epsteins Framework for Parental Involvement I noticed two examples that really stuck out to me, which was volunteering and decision making. I think these are both great

aspects to have when dealing with parental involvement because they could be fun and educational.

For volunteering, one example from the field in order to get the parents involved was the idea about having a parent room or center for volunteer work. This not only benefits the students because their parents are more involved in their lives, but also benefits the parent because they actually have to

come into the school to set an opportunity up with their child, which gives the teachers an opportunity to see the parents. A big challenge from volunteering is being able to recruit those parents to volunteer. Everyones time is precious so it may be hard to persuade families into taking more time out their days to volunteer, but it would definitely be worth it. As an educator, I think I would loved to be involved with volunteer efforts at my school by attending the family center and going out with these families to do these tasks. This is a good way to connect with the community and get more involved with the students lives.

For decision making, one example from the field in order to get more parents involved is having a PTA for your school. If you have a PTA, then students can volunteer to attend meetings and be on the board, which would only influence their children's life even more and get the teachers more involved with the parents as well. I think some key benefits from this is being able to make the parents feel as if they have a real impact in their children schooling, even if it is not directly through their education. It makes the parents more involved and also betters the school. I think a challenge would have to be having students come along with parents. This would be the next step for involving the parents because the student is actually present in the meetings and is able to put their input in along with their parents input. As an educator, I would hopefully commit to attending some of these meetings to see and hear out parents on what they think would benefit their children the most. I would also want to attend to hopefully put in input about their children if they needed guidance!