Essay on Parent Engagement: Key to Student Success & Learning Efficiency

Introduction

The necessary are of growth is on the parent engagement in the faculty to enhance the success of the students and the efficiency in learning by parent-teachers association. Parent engagement implies that parents and the school staff join efforts together to support and enhance learning as well as the healthy development of learners. Therefore, parent engagement is a mutual responsibility in which the school and community agencies, as well as other entities, are focused on parents in essential ways to support children in learning and growth. The aspect of parent engagement would impact the development of the child in various settings, including the home, in school, in the community, and other programs out of school. According to Heinrichs (2017), "parent engagement in schools is closely linked to better student behavior, higher academic achievement, and enhanced social skills." Therefore, parent engagement is likely to limit the involvement of adolescents in unhealthy behaviors such as behaviors of sexual risk and even substance abuse.

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Parents should get involved in the school program for various reasons because students who have concerned parents tend to achieve better grades. Parent involvement in the learning of their children also motivates them in the learning process, which enables them to pass from one stage to the next. Therefore, parent involvement for the success of the school and increased performance in the department and facilitates the adequate performance of teachers because the students are motivated to study. Not only does parent involvement motivate students to engage in their studies, but it also improves the morale of teachers as parents tend to think highly of teachers. Parent involvement also increases the knowledgeability of teachers about the students, which would enable them to prepare lessons that best fit the needs of the students and interact effectively with the families (Hornby, 2011). Generally, the whole classroom or department will record better performance as a result of parent engagement.

Proposal

There are several approaches through which parents can be involved either at school or at home. Parents should be able to make inquiries from the learners regarding their day at school by asking them about what they learned or how they spent their time at school. The questioning would provide insight for the parents and enhance communication between the parents and the students. Parents can also engage in the learning process of their children at home by taking them through their homework and assignments. Hence, the activities of parent engagement should be part of the daily routine because the parents are immediate educators. The parents should be consistent in engaging the learners to enhance the reinforcement of the learning process at school. Furthermore, parents can also establish approaches to getting involved by engaging in conversations with the teachers and administrators in schools ("Welcome Mom and Dad: Enhancing parent-teacher collaboration and communication," n.d). Therefore, parents should always make effort to meet the teachers and administrators of the students in school to enhance the interaction with the students and enhance success.

Moreover, the school administration can increase parent engagement by organizing frequent conferences, which is the most straightforward approach for parents to supervise the behavior of their children and their academic progress in school. Besides, parents can also form social networks in the community to come together to discuss the approaches through which they can enhance the performance of students in the classes. Therefore, teachers should ensure effective communication with the parents about everything that happens in the classroom. Hence, in circumstances in which there is rise of a problem, teachers should communicate with parents to seek for a joint approach to provide a solution. Parents are also likely to feel positively engaged I the school system if they are informed of the accomplishment and progress that are made by their children in school. However, teachers should be able to communicate the positive and negative aspects of the performance of the students to enhance success in learning.

Another way to get parents involved in the learning process is by asking them to volunteer in particular activities or to let them know of special activities planned, such as field trips or even class parties. The school can also organize events such as parents' day when parents come to talk to teachers about their jobs in the school and the progress of the learners. Teachers and parents should work hand in hand to create a learning setting that is best for the learners because parents can often be biased to realize the weakness of their children. Teachers can quickly identify the progress and struggles that a learner experiences in the classroom setting, which they can use to determine the areas that need to be strengthened by the parents at home (Heinrichs, 2017). Therefore, the transfer of activities from school to home would enable the learners to retain the businesses learned for more extended and gain a better understanding of the concepts. Therefore, as a faculty leader, it would be essential to facilitate the teacher-parent meetings and emphasize the presence of all parents to enhance the efficiency of learning and to motivate the teachers in their work.

Plan

The first aspect of the plan to enhance parent engagement is to embrace the use of technology to facilitate communication between parents and teachers. Technological features such as voicemail enable surety of the message delivered to other parties of conversation. Hence, the use of technology, such as online communities in which parents and teachers can have online discussions, will also enhance efficiency in the interaction of the teachers and the students. The use of technological features would facilitate communication because approaches like sending notes can be ineffective. On the same note, the faculty would also create a web page so that parents and even teachers can get updates on the upcoming events and other essential information like teacher addresses and other contact details ("Welcome Mom and Dad: Enhancing parent-teacher collaboration and communication," n.d). Therefore, parents will be able to quickly locate any necessary information to enhance communication with the teachers. The use of a website would readily provide information; hence teachers can also create their sites with grades and assignments.

Besides the use of technology to enhance parent engagement in schools, other approaches that the faculty would embark on including the organization of exceptional volunteer opportunities to give the parents a chance to become active in the school and the gain responsibility for the academic life of the children. Volunteer opportunities would also provide the parents with a clear understanding of their children regarding the activities in which the students engage daily. The faculty would also organize events such as parties in which families of learners would come together with the teachers and the students, and that would strengthen the relationship between teachers and parents. However, there are activities that the faculty would embrace to enhance parent engagement in schools, such as the provision of actionable information. The faculty would provide information for the sake of updating the parents and also ensuring that the parents are allowed to act on the information shared with them. However, communication with parents would focus on positive aspects such as schedules of daily events, homework assignments, and even the events that are coming up and under certain circumstances, also behavioral updates.

Conclusion

Parent engagement is an essential component of the academic endeavor of every teacher and student. Parents have usually been considered to be one of the most significant stakeholders of the school community as they withhold a considerable responsibility in the educational and environmental transformation of children. Therefore, the extent of involvement of parents in the education of their children and school activities is essential to the academic success of the students. Parents are usually concerned about the welfare of the students within the school setting in which they pursue education. However, the school also plays an essential role in ensuring that parents are effectively engaged in the academic processes of their students. According to "How parent involvement leads to student success," (2018), the parent engagement in the learning process of students improves the morale of the learners and their attitude towards academic achievement across various study disciplines. Parent engagement also enhances better behavior and enables social adjustment of students within the school setting.

On the same note, parent engagement in school also allows the school administrators and teachers to be more capable of realizing the essential reforms in education. Increased parent engagement in school also creates an ideology in learners of the interconnection of school and home hence understanding the significance of the school as an essential part of the family. In conclusion, parent engagement is critical to the faculty because it would increase teacher and student morale, which would enable better academic performance. Moreover, parent engagement provides the parents with ample opportunity to learn about the weaknesses of their children besides facilitating active behavioral development. Therefore, the faculty should promote parent engagement by enhancing communication between teachers and parents by endorsing the use of practical technological approaches. Parents can also be engaged in school activities such as volunteer programs to strengthen the teacher-parent relationship for better academic endeavors.

References

Heinrichs, J. (2017). School leadership based in a philosophy and pedagogy of parent engagement. School Leadership & Management, 38(2), 187-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2017.1406905

Hornby, G. (2011). Importance of parental involvement. Parental Involvement in Childhood Education, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8379-4_1

How parent involvement leads to student success. (2018, November 1). Waterford.org. https://www.waterford.org/education/how-parent-involvment-leads-to-student-success/

Welcome Mom and Dad: Enhancing parent-teacher collaboration and communication. (n.d). From Discipline to Culturally Responsive Engagement: 45 Classroom Management Strategies, 123-137. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452285160.n9