Parent involvement research demonstrates that when schools create parent partnerships, student learning is better supported and higher student achievement is attained. Students whose parents are part of their school-life earn better grades and higher test scores, attend school more regularly, exhibit better social skills, and adapt better to school. Parent participation, such as actively monitoring a child’s time, helping with homework, and discussing school matters, creates students who are more likely to go on to postsecondary education – even to better schools! Moreover, a child-parent bond that encourages learning is more important to student achievement than income, education level or cultural background. Too often administrators don’t do enough to foster the relationship between parents and school, overlooking parental involvement as a critical aspect of community involvement.  Or conversely, administrators can’t come up with practical reasons for parents to get involved with school, coming up against a need for parent education.  But not having stimulating or relevant reasons to encourage parent involvement in schools is no longer a viable excuse for leaving them out – Title I of the NCLB Act outlines parental involvement requirements that provide and reinforce reasons to act now.

We’ve collected the latest in parent resources, planning tips, administrator-tested ideas, and suggestions to help you develop diverse and equitable community involvement programs in your district. Stay in-the-know and give your students every opportunity to achieve success at your school by fostering parent involvement and student achievement.

Speak Their Language
Implement these strategies to break down barriers between school and ELL families.

Teachers' Guide to Parent Communication
Share these ideas to help your teachers plan for parent-teacher conferences and beyond.

Parent Guide to School Involvement
Find suggestions for parents seeking to create a home-school connection.

Get Families Involved!
Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) offers a wide range of free Web resources to help educators encourage family involvement.

Draw Parents into the School Community with a Career Day Celebration
Career Days are a great way to involve parents in their children's education.

Establishing Friendly Partnerships
Explains how to establish a good rapport with parents. One suggestion is to help parents feel good about themselves and their children.

Scholastic Administrator: How Parents Help Reading Achievement
There is a potent relationship between how much students read and their reading achievement. Here are tips to get parents involved in increasing reading at home.

Respect for Parents
Stresses the importance of positive communication with parents and caregivers of special needs children.

Bringing Home Into The Classroom
Ways that way-too-busy teachers can bring the children's home worlds to school in order to make them feel at ease in the classroom.

Speak Easier
Read how Fairfax County strives to shrink its communication gap with parents by making its data mobile.