How does parent involvement in education affect children's learning?

An organization called People for Education conducted research over a span of thirty years and produced a document for parents, teachers and principals on how parents can help their children succeed in school. This tool kit outlines all the advantages of parents talking with their children and asking how their day went, being a regular visitor at the school and showing your children you have an interest in their progress. It also has tips for teachers and principals that describe all the ways we as professionals solicit positive attitudes and model the practices that can make the difference.

While this is all good, I feel these ideas are based solely on a child who is already communicating with the parents. What can be done about the children who choose not to share their day with their parents and have difficulties articulating the parent expectations?

To me the answer is simple….create a class blog!

Parents could easily access information on what is done in their child’s classroom and initiate that dinner conversation. While agendas are great and serve a useful purpose, they are time consuming for teachers and basically remind the student of upcoming events. There is usually not much detail on class routine or what was accomplished on a particular day and my kids in particular, were always forgetting their agenda somewhere.

Instead of putting the pressure and onus on the student for the “What did you do in school today” conversation, parents could ask how they liked that particular book or how many rectangle shapes they can identify in the dining room.

There are just so many advantages to having a classroom blog and having that daily communication available to all parents.