Turning Points Chapter 9: Involving Parents and Communities Synthesis

Abstract:
In our education classes, we have heard over and over again how we need to get parents and the community involved in the classroom and with the students lives. This chapter talks about how we can incorporate parents and the community into our schools. In order to bring parents into the school and their childrens' academics, the authors gave four key ideas: 1. Establishing continuity between home and school. 2. Monitoring students' school work and their school "careers". 3. Creating opportunities outside the school for safe, engaging exploration. 4. Improving the school through on-site parental involvement. Using these four steps, teachers and parents can begin to have the discussions necessary for students success in the classroom and the world. Parents of all back grounds will be encouraged to come in and help with their special skills.

Synthesis:
As a whole, we have decided that involving parents into the classroom and into their childrens' academic lives can help students' progress through school. Not only will they do better in their classes, but they're more willing to go to class and find the material more interesting. Yet there were some concerns when it came to parents who had opposite philosophies of the teachers and administration. When we have parents and community members who want the school to change in a different direction, it can be more of a problem than a solution. There is a balancing act that we as teachers and administrators have to walk, because we want parents to become part of their childrens' academic life, but we don't want them to slow it down either.