Family Engagement Activities From A - Z


When parents are involved in children's learning, at school and at home, schools work better and students learn more. Project Appleseed is working with schools, families, employers and community organizations to develop local partnerships that support a safe school environment where students learn to challenging standards. To get the best results from your parental involvement efforts we want you and your schools to join our movement to plant the seeds of school improvement in your local schools with National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week! Here are some activities your schools can get involved in from A-Z:

Ask your school board, mayor, city council, state representative or governor to issue a proclamation celebrating National Parental Involvement Day (Third Thursday in November) and Public School Volunteer Week (Third Week of April) to highlight the value of parental involvement your schools.

Breakfast for families, community members, school leaders, teachers, and students. Food is a big draw! Host a series of breakfast forums on volunteering opportunities, higher standards, the school's curriculum, conflict resolution, dealing with peer pressure, linking community art, museum and cultural resources with the schools and applying to college.

Brunch in the Plum Borough School District, Pennsylvainia -Volunteer Recognition Brunch - Pivik staff and students appreciate all of the hard work of our volunteers. During Public School Volunteer Week, we recognized almost 200 volunteers at a brunch in their honor. Each grade level and staff member contributed to this event and we are thrilled to give back to these very generous individuals!

Checklist For An Effective Parent-School Partnership. One way to start improving your school's parent-school partnerships is by assessing present practices, says Joyce Epstein at Johns Hopkins University. Asking the right questions can help you evaluate how well your school is reaching out to parents. Which partnership practices are currently working well at each grade level? Which partnership practices should be improved or added in each grade? How do you want your school's family involvement practices to look three years from now?

Duplicate and Distribute the Parental Involvement Pledge which ask parents to volunteer 10 hours each in their local school and spend 15 minutes each night reading with their children. Sending the Pledge home with students will get a response rate of about 25%--or less. Asking parents to take the Pledge during their parent teacher conference will get a response rate approaching 80%. Constantly ask parents to take the Pledge at every opportunity. Use Project Appleseed's web site as a place in which parents can take the Pledge or Report Card online. The web site will print a hard copy for the school and parent. Once parents take the Pledge--CALL THEM and get them involved!

E-How to Volunteer at a Public School  Looking to volunteer at a school and work with children? Looking to volunteer at a school and work with children?

Do you want to do something good for yourself and for your community? Are you looking for a great volunteer opportunity? Do you enjoy working with school age children? You may want to volunteer at a public school. So, how do you go about doing this? By  Christi B, eHow Editor.

Get the Parental Involvement Tool Box. Project Appleseed can send your schools the tool that will dramtically increase parental involvement. This cost efficient tool is the learning compact called the Parental Involvement Pledge. With the Pledge the average school district can create thousands of hours of new volunteer time with a minimum wage value that is worth tens of thousands of dollars. A small investment that yields enormous dividends.

Host an open house at the school for parents and community members. Hold it in the evening or on the weekend so that more people can attend. At open house, ask every family to bring a member of the community to the picnic who did not have kids in the school. It provides parents with an opportunity to see the school firsthand and feel more comfortable with the idea of getting involved.

School volunteers get
as much as they give

From Brad Hughes, spokesman for the Kentucky School Board Association: If it's an overstatement to claim that volunteering in schools has changed my life, it's not that much of a stretch. Ask my colleagues at the Kentucy School Board Association (KSBA) if they can't tell which day of the week I've been to Second Street School to read to "my kids." Ask my wife, Judy, if I don't come home with stories and smiles that lifted my day and eased any tensions.

An hour a week is a pitiful contribution to get so much of a boost to the human spirit. Yet the Kentuckians who volunteer in our schools give more than just time. They give children the sight of someone outside the school who comes in and cares. It may be mentoring a fatherless teen. It may be tutoring a student who is having a tough time in math. Or handing out ice cream in the cafeteria. Or cutting out diagrams so a teacher can spend more time working with her class. Or greeting children as their buses arrive each morning and urging them to get to the homerooms quickly.

In whatever form, for whatever length of time, school volunteerism is a message worth getting out.

Initiate a parent involvement policy. Start with Project Appleseed's learing compact, the Parental Involvement Pledge. The Pledge provides a great opportunity to convey a school's commitment to involving families and the community. Set up a parent resource center where families can come to get more information on topics of interest and where families can meet and talk with one another and with school staff.

Join Project Appleseed. As a member you are part of a network that shares and implements promising practices in family involvement and in improving our schools. You may be interested in participating in the exciting national activities of Project Appleseed -- such as National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week. On our web site, we will keep you informed of these and other Project Appleseed activities and we invite you to keep us informed of your achievements and initiatives as well.

Kick off National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week with a special welcome for new students and families in the community.

Launch a community mentoring program where parent volunteers and college students mentor high school and middle school students who, in turn, can mentor elementary school students. Mentoring can involve learning math and science - key gateopening courses for college - going to a museum, community service activities, recreational activities such as a mentor basketball league, tutoring and homework help.

Make sure you involve all members of your community in your National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week efforts, including families and students who are limited English proficient and who have disabilities.

Name your National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week after your school or community (In Topeka, name the event Topeka Parental Involvement Day and Topeka Public School Volunteer Week).

Organize a rally and/or a parade. Often, communities with large events have a steering committee of various interested community and school leaders, such as the school superintendent, the mayor, school board members, city council members, local business people, and representatives from organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA/YWCA, the United Way, The Boys and Girls Club, Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, and the Urban League.

Present an honorary award to a local government official or local leader in recognition of his or her contribution to education in your community. Awards could be based on the level of involvement community members have given to the school. Celebrate with recognition ceremonies for teachers, students, parents, and community and religious organization volunteers who have made a long-term commitment to children's learning to inspire more people to jump in and get involved.

Quiz potential volunteers about the talents, skills, and time they are willing to share using the Inventory of Volunteer Interests in Step 3 of the Parental Involvement Pledge. Potential volunteers can be individual community members or local businesses and organizations with specialized services, such as technology know-how. Set up a Pledge skills bank to help match volunteers to school needs. Showcase volunteers in your National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week event.

Read and learn why PARENTING MAGAZINE & TEACHER MAGAZINE chose the founder of Project Appleseed as a parenting leader and one of the most influential people of the decade. It is important to create awareness of the importance of parent, family and community involvement and the opportunities to get involved in education through a communitywide public relations campaign.

Submit an article or guest column or write a letter to your local newspaper describing your event and explaining why building good parental involvement, mastering the basics, revitalizing the schools are so essential to improving education. Give a speech, or enlist local celebrities to speak, about parent involvement.

Train volunteers and teachers. Whether a 2nd-grade reading tutor or an 9th grade "algebra mentor", volunteers need training in their specific assignments. Teachers, in turn, need training in how to get families and community members involved and how to use volunteers in the classroom. Make family and community involvement a focus for professional and personal development for schools, community groups and businesses throughout National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week.

Use Project Appleseed's web site as a place in which parents and citizens can take the Pledge or Report Card online. The web site will print a hard copy for the school and parent. If your community has a lot of retired persons, start a senior school volunteer corps. Get your students to tutor the seniors on how to use computers. If your community has a lot of high-tech businesses, invite them to help your schools with their technology plans. If your community has businesses, organizations, faith communities and individuals interested in supporting schools financially, offer special community-sponsored grants to provide innovative programs and services that meet your school community's needs.

Virginia - Celebration in Roanoke, A Message from the Superintendent, Dr. Carrol A. Thomas. The Superintendent stated Public School Volunteer Week would be celebrated and a number of recognition items were developed around this year's theme, "Roanoke City School Volunteers Are Out of this World." Board members were invited to participate in formally recognizing the District's volunteers at the Volunteer Gala on May 23 at The Jefferson Center's Fitzpatrick Hall.

Work with local businesses to encourage them to allow their employees to take the Parental Involvement Pledge and time off to come to school - to volunteer, to attend a parent-teacher conference, to find out what's going on in the schools.

X-ray your efforts to see how they're going. It's important to evaluate what you're doing to find out if you are achieving your aims, and how you can improve your efforts. An evaluation can be as simple as asking people what they think or conducting a short survey. Don't let problems go unattended. If something is not working, get a group together to problem-solve and figure out a better way. Taking the time to reflect on what's happening will be worth it in the long run when you see sustained success and true collaboration in place!