Parent Involvement in Child Learning

Parent Involvement
Parent involvement is a critical component toward enhancing the learning and development of students, especially deaf and hard-of-hearing students. For deaf and hard-of-hearing students, involvement of their parents in the learning process is essential because of their unique learning needs and styles. Parent involvement refers to active, continuous involvement of a primary caregiver or parent in the education of their children. Parent involvement contributes to improved learning and growth of students through positive impacts on student’s attendance, behavior and achievement. Even though parent involvement is considered critical in student education, educators or instructors still face challenges on how to incorporate parents in their child’s learning. Educators/instructors face the need to identify suitable ways to incorporate parents in education of their children.
One of the ways to get parents engaged in their child’s education is through conducting regular workshops and seminars for parents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Workshops and seminars are vital avenues for promoting parents involvement in their child education since they inform parents of their role in their child’s education and how to collaborate with teachers and school staff to enhance their child’s learning. Providing parents with information on engagement in their child’s education is essential given that many parents do not acknowledge the need to get involve in their child’s learning or do not know how to go about it. For parents with special education children, involvement in the child’s education could be difficult because they do not understand their child’s learning needs and styles. Therefore, workshops and seminars are suitable avenues for them to get information on their child’s learning needs and styles. Such events should be centered on providing information on lessons taught in the classroom. Moreover, parents will learn about what they can do at home to support and enhance their children’s education. In this regard, the agenda of the parental workshops and seminars should be parental involvement in their children’s education with regards to the specific learning needs and styles of these children. Information regarding these events should be provided to families through letters, phone calls or email communication. To ensure parent participate in the workshops/seminars, communication should be done in advance and parents given ample time to incorporate it in their schedules.
The second way to get parents involved in the child’s education is the establishment of parent-teacher committees. Such committees can be created through the parent-teacher association, which makes it easier to identify individuals to include in the committees. Sign-up information and meeting times for these committees can be communicated to the association during the first months of school. Upon signing up, the first meeting should be planned and focus on providing information on the involvement of parents in their child education and how to do it. During the first meeting, parents should be encouraged to express their opinions regarding their children’s learning and education. Subsequent meetings should review students’ progress and keep parents up-to-date with class events.
Third, regular parent-teacher communication with parents beyond giving out worksheets is essential in enhancing parental involvement in their child’s education. Teachers can create automated weekly newsletters that are sent to parents via email. They can also use available mobile apps to organize the classroom and share experiences regarding learning in the classroom or class events (Lotkina, 2016). Such measures help to get parent involved in their child’s education through keeping them updated and in the loop on what is happening in the learning environment. Additionally, these measures foster discussions between parents and teachers as well as between parents and their children.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Parent Engagement – Strategies for Involving Parents in School Health. Retrieved from US Department of Health and Human Services website: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/protective/pdf/parent_engagement_strategies.pdf
Lotkina, V. (2016, August 7). 5 Ways to Get Parents Involved in Student Learning Beyond Homework. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/08/5-ways-teachers-can-get-parents-involved-beyond-homework/