To view a copy of the Governor's proclamation please visit: www.azpirc.com
Thirty Ideas to Build
Parent Involvement and Support
1. Hold your first parent meeting at a fast-food restaurant.
2. Hold a "Parent University" program right at your school.
3 Provide "Fact Cards" for parents with school name, address, phone number, name of principal, school secretary, school nurse, PTA president—perhaps a refrigerator magnet.
4. Establish "Take Home Tuesday" as day to send school papers home.
5. Send home tape-recorded messages in parents' own language.
6. Provide a short newsletter for parents—consider Parents Make the Difference!
7. Remember "30-3-30" in writing school newsletters. Eighty percent of people will spend just 30 seconds reading it. Nineteen percent will spend three minutes. One percent will spend 30 minutes (your mother).
8. Remember the dollar bill rule for school newsletters.
9. Write for parents at 4th to 6th grade level.
10. Try Brown Bag Seminars—parenting program at work site during lunch hour.
11. Use the key communicator system to control the rumor mill.
12. Know THE SECRET to getting parents to attend meetings at school.
13. Remember the 3 "F"s for success—Food, Families, Fun.
14. Understand and use the 80-20 rule for parent groups—20% of what you do produces 80% of the results.
15. Take heart from the one-third rule which research has revealed for achieving improved student achievement through parent involvement.
16. Use videotape to show busy parents their children in action.
17. Use refrigerator notes.
18. Encourage "Sunshine Calls," "Thinking of You" Calls.
19. Understand the fact that teachers are more reluctant to contact parents than parents are to contact teachers. Work to overcome the problem.
20. Put up parent-friendly signs at school-directing them to the office.
21. Greet visiting parents as quickly as possible-perhaps use volunteers.
22. Have children's work on display all over the school—every child's work, not just the future commercial artists' work.
23. Have some place in the building that parents can call their own.
24. Know why parents say they are not involved: don't have time, don't know what to do, don't know it is important, don't speak English.
25. Try "Project Newborn" to contact future parents when new child is born.
26. Push for written school district policies on parent involvement.
27. Push for funding for parent involvement—it pays off.
28. Stress training for staff-all staff-in parent involvement.
29. Stress two-way communication between schools and parents.
30. Work for links with other social service agencies that can help parents.
This information was prepared by Dr. John H. Wherry, President, The Parent Institute, "Education's #1 Source for Family Involvement Information," P.O. Box 7474, Fairfax Station, VA 22039-7474, 1-800-756-5525.
To view the complete list, please visit: http://www.parent-institute.com/educator/resources/75ideas/75-ideas.php
