Build Parent Involvement
Preparing for the Ohio Parent Involvement Summit

What Teachers Can Do To Get Parents Involved

• Use the secret that gets parents to attend meetings at school: pick up the phone and call them. Many parents do not feel welcome at school. To get parents out, make a personal effort to invite them. A handwritten "Hope you can make it!" on the printed announcement may do it.

• Use videotape to show busy parents their students in action. Send tapes home. Show them while parents wait for conferences.

• Hold several open house programs through the year, including visitation days and unrehearsed regular days where parents see a real class in action. Again, a personal invitation is the key to good attendance.

• Announce informal, regularly scheduled coffee times and encourage parents to drop in whenever they can.

• Take parents' pictures at group functions. Say in advance that pictures will be taken with their student and prepare for a crowd.
  
  
• Share with parents experiences you had with your children. This breaks down barriers, gets you out of your teacher role, and helps parents to see you as a fellow parent.

From Getting Parents Involved which originally appeared in Vocational Education Journal Vol. 66 Number 6 pp. 34-35+. September 1991. Author John Wherry, EdD.