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When I taught kindergarten, I really encouraged parent participation in my classroom. Many of my parents worked or had younger children at home so they were unable to assist via physical participation but did help in other ways. They made copies, collated papers, or read stories in a tape recorder to be used at the listening center. Sometimes if the parents could schedule it, they would come in for special events such as gingerbread house building or holiday rotations. Sometimes the educational/English acquisition level of the parent would affect the specific volunteer opportunities that the parent was willing or comfortable with to participate in the classroom. Some of my parents who were non-native speakers did not to read during "mystery reader" but volunteered during field day.
Reviewing Kristie's comment about educational level of parents and participation sent me researching that topic. According to Child Trends (2013) volunteering and school involvement by parents vary by educational and socioeconomic levels of the parent. 85 % of parents who have a college or more attend a school event compared with 48% of parents who have less than a high school diploma. The data discrepancy was larger when comparing the groups with volunteering. 61 % of the parents with higher levels of education volunteered compared to 19% of parents who did not graduate high school. The suggestion posed was the development of more community school programming that increases the level of involvement of the school in providing services for the families. This increases the parents' awareness of educational programming and familiarity with staff (Child Trends, 2013).
References:
Child Trends. (2013). Parental involvement in schools. Retrieved: http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=parental- involvement-in-schools
When I taught kindergarten, I really encouraged parent participation in my classroom. Many of my parents worked or had younger children at home so they were unable to assist via physical participation but did help in other ways. They made copies, collated papers, or read stories in a tape recorder to be used at the listening center. Sometimes if the parents could schedule it, they would come in for special events such as gingerbread house building or holiday rotations. Sometimes the educational/English acquisition level of the parent would affect the specific volunteer opportunities that the parent was willing or comfortable with to participate in the classroom. Some of my parents who were non-native speakers did not to read during "mystery reader" but volunteered during field day.
Reviewing Kristie's comment about educational level of parents and participation sent me researching that topic. According to Child Trends (2013) volunteering and school involvement by parents vary by educational and socioeconomic levels of the parent. 85 % of parents who have a college or more attend a school event compared with 48% of parents who have less than a high school diploma. The data discrepancy was larger when comparing the groups with volunteering. 61 % of the parents with higher levels of education volunteered compared to 19% of parents who did not graduate high school. The suggestion posed was the development of more community school programming that increases the level of involvement of the school in providing services for the families. This increases the parents' awareness of educational programming and familiarity with staff (Child Trends, 2013).
References:
Child Trends. (2013). Parental involvement in schools. Retrieved: http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=parental- involvement-in-schools