3 Basics of Growing Parent Involvement

by Tim Sullivan

02/07/2016

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I know you want more help, right? Both for your own sanity and because we all know that more involvement from more parents is great for your school. But repeated "please helps" don't tend to work. This week I have three basic building blocks for growing involvement:

1. Talk up often (in snippets, in newsletters, in speeches) the fact that tons of research supports the importance of parent involvement.

2.  Eliminate the "fear of the (volunteering) black hole" that is your number one obstacle.

3.  Create a volunteer job that is literally focused only on finding, welcoming, helping, and appreciating new volunteers.

We fundraise, so we have fundraising chairs. We appreciate teachers, so we have teacher appreciation chairs. How many of you spend the same time and attention on growing involvement? It's the most important thing your group does and it supports all of your other efforts. It's worth the time. Good luck!