Dean's Perspective
Dear Alumni and Friends:
Like most parents, I spent a great deal of time in schools when I was raising my daughters — attending parent-teacher conferences, curriculum nights, art and book fairs, and concerts. I knew that parent involvement is a powerful way to improve learning. When parents are involved, children stay in school longer, earn better grades, have higher graduation rates, and generally like school better. As Heather Weiss, Ed.M.’71, Ed.D.’79, founding director of the Harvard Family Research Project says in “Family Valued”, one of the feature stories in this issue of Ed., “You get a good return on investment, whether it’s in early childhood, elementary, middle, or high school.”
That does not mean it is always easy for parents to become or stay involved. There were days when I would come home exhausted after a long day teaching my own students, and I wouldn’t have the energy or extra time to go to a PTA meeting. It’s a dilemma faced by many busy, working parents. That’s why, says Lecturer Karen Mapp, Ed.M.’93, Ed.D.’99, educators must think outside the traditional box if they want to include all parents. “If your definition of involvement is that they come to school or volunteer in the office,” she says, “it will be very difficult for many parents to be engaged.”
I believed that one of the best things I could do to participate in my daughters’ education was to make learning outside of the formal classroom something they enjoyed. During dinner, I’d pepper them with questions about their day and encourage them to make connections to things they had learned in school. On trips we’d make up stories about the places and people we saw. I monitored their homework and provided encouragement, whether they were doing well or struggling. And we read. Out loud and on our own. Every day.
Whether you are a parent who volunteers for reading hour at your child’s school or you are an educator trying to involve more parents in your practice, I hope you find the feature story, “Family Valued”, useful. I also encourage you to pick up a copy of Karen’s recent book on the subject, Beyond the Bake Sale.
Sincerely,
Dean of the Faculty of Education
November 2007
