Parent Involvement Archive

Want to find ways to get more parents active and engaged at your school? The articles below have tons of ideas and tips about connecting with dads, reaching out to families, and more. When you're done reading, head over to the Message Boards to share your thoughts with other leaders.

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• 13 Keys to Strong Involvement - A step-by-step guide for parent group leaders who want to reach out and engage more parents.
• Family Focus Creates Fast Start - Communicating their new emphasis on families early and often generated excitement and strong parent involvement for PTO Today's 2005 West Region Parent Group of the Year.
• Multicultural Outreach: Group Thrives on Personal Contact - Translation services, a mentor program, and personal outreach to parents helped make this group our 2006 Parent Group of the Year winner for Outstanding Outreach to a Multicultural Parent Base.
• National Runner-up: Eagle Project Really Soared - A combined literacy and community service project to save the bald eagle really took off for PTO Today's 2007 Parent Group of the Year national runner-up.
• National Winner: Fun Factor Pays Off - Emphasizing fun for its events and activities created excitement and helped an inner-city school build tremendous involvement. That helped make them PTO Today's 2006 Parent Group of the Year.
• Partnership Model Builds Involvement - The National Network of Partnership Schools focuses on helping schools build broad-based parent involvement using a team model.
• Build a Multicultural PTO - Reach out to diverse groups and bring them together with these effective involvement and communication strategies.
• Creative Ideas Help PTO Thrive - Using creative solutions to make it easier for parents to get involved was the hallmark of PTO Today's 2005 Northeast Region Parent Group of the Year winner.
• National Winner: Embracing Change Makes PTO a Winner - Rezoning and a significant shift in school demographics energized rather than paralyzed PTO Today's 2007 Parent Group of the Year.
• Middle School: A Role for Parents - Involvement can be a harder sell in middle school, but there are still plenty of ways parents can participate.
• Classes in Parent Involvement - Two moms who wanted to move beyond traditional involvement roles learned how through parent involvement education programs, which range from monthly workshops to in-depth, yearlong curricula.
• Make Your Family Night a Winner - Fun family nights are a great way to build involvement. Get started with these ideas and tips for success.
• Giant Games, Huge Involvement - Oversize Twister, Yahtzee, Scrabble, and others put a popular twist on a PTO’s family board game night.
• Hmong Parent Group Connects Cultures - St. Paul, Minn., junior high school teacher Ann Hebble talks about the parent group she founded to serve the school's population of Hmong families.
• Family Events Better With Bunco - Faced with parents’ lack of interest, one PTO risked it all on a throw of the dice—with positive results.
• A New Way To Get Volunteers - According to their own policy, PTO leaders can't ask parents for help directly; instead, they have to find ways to encourage interested parents to volunteer their willingness as well as their time.
• Prisoners Help Renovate School - PTO leaders coordinate with the state's prison work-release program for a minimum-security makeover of the school's building.
• 7 Steps To Grow Involvement - Use the approach to parent involvement taken by the most successful parent groups. These resolutions will change how you think about attracting members and volunteers.
• Create an Effective Survey - Gathering feedback from parents and teachers can help build support for your programs. These tips will help you create a survey and evaluate the results.
• Is Your PTO a Clique? -  You work hard to make your parent group welcoming, but to other parents it still might seem like a closed circle. Here's why—and what to do about it.
• Kids Talk: If I Were Principal - Excerpts from elementary and middle schoolers' essays on how the kids would improve involvement at school.
• Talking Points That Build Involvement - Use this list to address the questions and objections that people raise about getting involved in your parent group.
• Learning About Ellis Island - This simulation of the Ellis Island immigration experience taught kids and engaged parents in a dynamic way.
• Help Build Student Achievement -  An expert challenges PTOs to increase parent involvement in ways that are connected to the curriculum.
• National Winner: Limited Resources, Big Results - A broad and welcoming approach to involvement helped achieve surprising results for a PTO at a school with few economic resources, making the group PTO Today’s 2005 Parent Group of the Year.
• Nine Schools Merge Into One - A district-mandated mega-merger came at the end of a trying time, which might have spelled disaster under other circumstances—but these parents focused on community-building to get through it in one piece, making the newly created group a clear choice as PTO Today's 2005 Mid-Atlantic Region Parent Group of the Year.
• Mother-Son Dance: Jammin' Fun - A twist on the traditional father-daughter dance offers music, activities, door prizes, and a chance for parents and kids to bond.
• My PTO Parent: Kids Speak Out - How the children of PTO leaders view their parents' involvement at school.
• Involvement Ranks Last in School Reform - Parent involvement may be a focus of the No Child Left Behind Act’s school improvement prescriptions, but it’s the least likely to be implemented, according to a 2007 report issued by the Rand Corp.
• Teachers Influence Involvement - Want more parents to get involved at your school? Personal invitations from teachers may be the way to go.
• PTO Mom Wins on TV Show - A trivia buff undertakes a unique fundraiser: competing on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?
• Volunteer Focuses on Community Service - Giving back is a great way to set a good example and gets the entire parent community involved.
• A Giver Receives - One Hawaii mom's kidney transplant allows her to continue volunteering.
• Mom Builds Minority Involvement - Changing the perception of a parent group by focusing on multicultural outreach.
• Stating Her Case for Involvement - Legal help, good advice, and a lot more from a lawyer and school volunteer.
• One Persistent President - This parent's tenacity made the difference for her school.
• She's Got Answers - A president who finds out whatever you need to know.
• Sign Fairy Eases First-Day Jitters - The message is clear: She makes new students feel welcome.
• PTO Leader Helps Educate Parents - By combining resources districtwide, a series of seminars builds community and addresses issues parents care about.
• Married to the Principal - Firsthand advice to make the PTO-principal relationship a successful one.
• Painting Her Way to PTO Success - This creative mom leads with artistic expression.
• Leader Offers a Warm Welcome - After her own less-than-engaging first encounter at school, a new PTA president vows she'll do things differently for other parents.
• Reaching Out to New Parents - It takes a special effort to attract parents new to the school; a good first impression will make them more likely to become active members of your PTO.
• Overcome the Language Barrier - Effective strategies parent groups use to reach out to non-English speakers.
• Build Your Volunteer Base: 11 Ideas - Tried-and-true ideas to nurture volunteers and make sure that every involvement experience is a positive one.
• Time: The New Currency for Volunteers - Time is a precious commodity for today's overcommitted families. To get them involved, show them you understand and offer a variety of ways they can participate.
• Recruiting Preschool Parents - Involvement by parents whose children haven't even started school yet is great for everyone: They get a low-stress introduction to the school, and your group expands its membership base (and the pool of future leaders, too).
• National Runner-up: Diverse Community Shows Strong Bonds - With the PTO Today 2006 Parent Group of the Year Runner-up, differences are celebrated and all voices are given a chance to be heard.
• Connect With Immigrant Parents - One group's innovative event to help immigrant parents adapt to U.S. school culture provides lots of lessons for reaching out to families.
• Orienting New Members - Help newbies hit the ground running by creating a welcoming atmosphere and giving them the opportunity and information they need to be able to contribute right away.
• Basic Marketing That Builds Involvement - There's a simple reason why some parents haven't gotten involved: They don't know what your PTO is or what it does. Change that by communicating with parents the right way.
• Small School, Powerhouse Parent Group - PTO Today’s Southern Region Parent Group of the Year proves that the reach of your accomplishments doesn’t have to be limited by the size of your group.
• 26 Ways To Build Involvement - Getting more parents to participate is as easy as A, B, C when you follow this list of best practices.
• School Security: How It Affects PTOs - Protecting children on school grounds while also maintaining an open atmosphere for parents is a careful balancing act.
• Open Doors, Lots of Them - It's important to make it as easy as possible for parents to get involved. Are you doing all you can?
• Where Involvement Begins - Parent groups play a key role in making schools better. Unfortunately, the role often goes unappreciated.
• The Truth About Cliques - If people say your group is a clique, it is. In this case, perception matters.
• The One-Hour Pledge - You'll get a lot more people to volunteer if they know there's a limit to their commitment.
• Is Your School Parent-Friendly? - From the staff to the building to the materials sent home, there are steps PTO leaders can take to help make their school a place where parents feel comfortable.
• Involvement Matters: What To Tell Parents - Hundreds of research studies show that when parents get involved, children do better in school. We sum up the details that every parent should know—and you should tell them.
• Troubled Times, Proactive PTO - With their school getting media exposure for all the wrong reasons, the leaders of PTO Today's 2005 Southern Region Parent Group of the Year stepped in to help administrators and students.
• Quiz: Rate Your Involvement IQ -  See how your group's attitudes and practices for building parent involvement measure up.
• Involvement Step by Step - Getting new parents to participate means finding out where they are on the involvement ladder, then creating opportunities that match.
• Parent Campaigns To Save School - Undertaking a rescue mission to keep the school's doors open.
• Parent Group Caters to Families - Five moms keep involvement high year-round with a series of meal-centered activities for the school community.
• Send a Powerful Message - You can use communications to improve your group's image and boost involvement. Just put the focus in the right place.
• Multicultural Outreach: Food, Music Bridge Cultural Divide - PTO Today's 2007 Parent Group of the Year for Outstanding Outreach to a Multicultural Parent Base found innovative ways to bring in families with limited English skills, achieving greater involvement and enthusiasm than ever before.
• Mother-Daughter PTA Team - A 17-year-old shares a seat on the executive board with her mom to make a better school for her little sister.
• Create a School Tradition - Ambitious events build excitement and involvement. They make your PTO look great, too.
• Confront the Fear of Quitting - Concerns about how they'll be treated if they stop volunteering makes some parents avoid getting involved at all.
• Life as a PTA Retiree - A veteran parent group leader reflects on her "leisure time."
• Teaching Parents To Be Involved - A California kindergarten teacher gets moms and dads into the classroom.
• Customer Service Secrets You Can Use - The most successful businesses know how to create loyal customers. You can learn from their techniques to build strong parent involvement.
• Make New Families Feel Welcome - Holding out a helping hand when families first arrive at the school pays off in increased involvement and a stronger parent group later on.
• National Winner: Creating a New Sense of Pride - Faced with challenges, leaders focused on building school spirit, and they tripled volunteer hours while maintaining a full calendar of family events. These accomplishments earned them recognition as the 2008 Parent Group of the Year.
• Family Event: Fun and Eco-games - PTO Today’s 2008 Outstanding Family Event was a green festival that combined learning and fun, included a large number of parent volunteers, and helped strengthen the connection between the middle school and home.
• Adjusting to Middle School Involvement - Ways to maintain an active role even after the kids get older.
• Homemaker Extraordinaire - This mom has the tools to make a difference—and she knows how to use them.
• Administrator Makes Schools Family-Friendly - A former principal encourages PTOs to work together with their schools' leaders to engage all parents.
• Taking Involvement Online - A parent puts her technology skills to work to increase involvement and improve the school.
• Beat the Midyear Volunteer Slump - A focus on recognition and communication can help energize your group's recruitment efforts.
• A Leader Who Gets Everyone on Board - By focusing on engagement, this president helped defeat her group's clique reputation.
• 13 Things To Do This Year - Get out your to-do list and add these items to build involvement and strengthen your group.
• Parochial School: New Events Revive Image After Merger - When two Catholic schools merged, parent group leaders met the challenge of serving a far more diverse community; they also showed themselves as an organization to be taken seriously, making them PTO Today's 2009 Outstanding Parent Group at a Private or Parochial School.
• Are You Planting Roots? - Success has a life cycle; make yours last by nurturing new leaders.
• Start a Parent-Child Book Club - A book club for 1st graders and their parents sparks excitement and shares the joy of reading.

Dads

• "Computer Nerd" Takes Charge - He gave them a piece of his mind. They elected him president.
• Dad in Charge of the PTO - Single father Rich Linden wants everyone who gets involved with the parent group to have fun.
• Dads Make a Difference - When dads get involved, kids perform better in school. PTO fathers talk about how to get more men to participate.
• Get Dads Involved - You can get dads connected and volunteering. It just takes a concerted effort and a different approach than you use for moms.
• Dads Plant Trees - A PTA group enhances its doughnuts with dad event by adding a school beautification project.
• Filmmaker Dad Finds Role in PTO - Even someone who doesn't see himself as a leader can make a difference by using his talents.
• Dad's New Job: PTA President - A bank manager turned stay-at-home parent puts his skills to good use running the parent group.
• Great-Grandfather, PTO Leader - When others would retire, this Navy veteran is just getting started.
• Start a Dads' Club - Fathers want to be involved, but they aren't necessarily going to respond to traditional parent group roles. A dads' club can give them a low-pressure way to take the first steps.
• Superintendent Starts Dads' Clubs - Overcoming the skeptics, a superintendent created thriving involvement among dads at all of an urban district's schools.
• This Dad Is Having a Blast - A background in design and illustration can make for one explosive family night.
• When It's Time To Change - This time, Dad has to volunteer.
• Dad Pulls Out All the Stops - A committed crossing guard keeps students safe.
• Major Project: Dads Create Resource Room - The 2008 PTO Today Parent Group of the Year for Outstanding Job on a Completed Major Project simultaneously engaged dads while serving parents as a whole.
• Dads Are Different - For more participation from dads, meet them on their level.
• More Dads Involved at School - School-based dads' clubs and parent group events geared toward dads may hold greater interest for fathers now than they did a decade ago, according to a 2009 survey by the National Center for Fathering and the National PTA.