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Karen L. Mapp, Susan Hall, and Tom Bowman discuss the effects of getting parents involved in their child's academic career.
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Program description
Research shows that getting parents involved pays off. When parents play a part in their child's academic career, students have better school attendance, make greater achievement gains, and have fewer behavior problems. What can your school do to make parents partners in the process of teaching their child to read?
This teleconference was produced by Reading Rockets in partnership with the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), the National Education Association (NEA), the International Reading Association (IRA), and the National Association of Bilingual Education (NABE). Funding for this teleconference was provided by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education.
Making Parents Partners is available for purchase at our online store, LearningStore.
Presenters
Karen L. Mapp is President of the Institute for Responsive Education
Susan Hall is Project Director, Early Intervention Program for the Porter County Reading Foundation
Tom Bowmann is Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction for the Baltimore City Public School System
Moderator
Delia Pompa is the moderator of this webcast. She is the Vice President of the Center for Community Educational Excellence, at the National Council of La Raza.
Recommended resources
Articles and books by our presenters
Karen Mapp / Institute for Responsive Education
- Supporting Parents as Leaders (403K PDF)*
Susan Hall
- I've DIBEL'D, Now What?
by Susan Hall - Straight Talk About Reading
by Susan Hall and Louisa Moats - Parenting a Struggling Reader
by Susan Hall and Louisa Moats
Other readings
- Parents As Partners in Children's Learning
- Parent Partners: Using Parents to Enhance Education
- 10 Partnering Tips for a Strong School Community: Principals and Parents Working Together
- Parents and Teachers Working Together
- Involving parents of English learners in their children's schooling (542K PDF)*
Related websites
- National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education
- The Parent Institute
- PTO (Parent Teacher Organizations) Today
Related products from LearningStore
Launching Young Readers: Empowering Parents
If you have a child who is a struggling reader, your family is not alone. Learning to read is a challenge for almost forty percent of kids, and an even bigger challenge for their parents
learn more >>
Launching Young Readers: 10 Part Series
This series of half-hour PBS programs looks at different reading strategies to help young children learn to read. The programs also feature practical advice for parents and interweave the personal stories of children, families, and teachers.
learn more >>
Children & Parents & Strengths & Schools
The fourth DVD of the series Learning disabilities / Learning Abilities explores the importance of parent advocacy.
learn more >>
Please visit our Resources for Parents section of LearningStore to learn how to help your child become a reader.
Discussion questions
- Discuss things your school does to encourage parents to be partners, and to help parents feel welcome at school. Describe specific events or efforts that have been particularly successful, and things that have been less successful. What contributes to successful collaboration between parents and the school?
- Share something that you learned from the webcast that was new to you. Then, talk about ways you see yourself using that information within your school setting.
- Define some of the barriers that may prevent parents from becoming more involved in the school. Then, brainstorm solutions to those barriers. Examples might include language differences and scheduling difficulties.
- Explain possible reasons why language-minority parents are deeply interested in their children's education. Then, describe reasons why their behaviors might not reflect their interests.
- What kinds of teacher training do you think might benefit the home-school partnership? Identify specific topics that would be useful.
The Reading Rockets Professional Development Webcast Series is a production of WETA. The Reading Rockets project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
This program was produced by WETA/Reading Rockets, which is solely responsible for its content. The views expressed in the program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of WETA/Reading Rockets, our funders, or our partners.
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