A Good Beginning for Parent Involvement

Abstract

How can a school encourage meaningful parental involvement in its programs? Professional educators are sometimes justified in feeling that meetings which seek parent input will result, instead, in “gripe sessions.” School boards know the frustrating reality that community members with complaints are heard from far more often than those with compliments. To keep a positive attitude operating in the total community is a necessary and worthy goal for school districts to pursue. We had an idea which worked very well for our school district and might be useful to yours. This article describes how we organized and held a “Reflections for Living” workshop with parents of children who were participating in the school district's gifted and talented program. This type of workshop brought welcome perspective to adults by improving interpersonal relationships. It proved to be a good beginning for increased participation of the total community in the school's program. — A.M.P./J.S.