Parent Involvement: Sports Program Sparks Interest

Wilson Elementary School in Oklahoma City, Okla., is renowned for the way it makes art, music, and drama a part of learning. But that’s only part of the story at this arts integration school. Parent involvement extends beyond the classroom and is nowhere more evident than on the athletic field.

What started in 1998 with a few soccer teams has emerged as a sports program that other schools want to emulate. Wilson’s 10 soccer and 10 baseball teams compete in the city league while basketball players, who practice in a local church gym, scrimmage among themselves. Parents serve as coaches. “We always have an overabundance of parents to sign up, so there are several coaches per team,” says PTA Secretary Jennifer Webster. The program is so successful that other local schools have invited Wilson PTA leaders to speak about it.

Over the past five years, leaders have made a real push to involve more of the school’s 314 students, and more than a third of the children have responded. So have their parents. In fact, participation in athletics is the way that many parents hook up with the PTA. “That’s why I’m involved in the school,” Webster says. “I’d show up at practice, and there would be a sign-up sheet for upcoming events. While the kids were practicing, parents discussed an upcoming meeting or open house or whatever was going on.”

Past PTA President Amy Sergent also credits the sports program for energizing and mobilizing parents. “Everybody gets to know each other so well that when a school event comes up, we can go to a parent and say, ‘You’d be great to help with this,’ ” she says. “It’s a way to bring in people who might not otherwise have been pinpointed.” The involvement of a wide spectrum of children and parents is particularly notable at this inner city school at which 70 percent of students participate in the federal lunch program and 42 students live in homeless shelters.

Sports also tend to be a good way to involve fathers. “Once dads get involved in sports and see it’s not really what they perceived the PTA to be, they’re very involved,” says Webster, noting that for four of the past six years, Wilson’s PTA presidents have been men.

The PTA involves parents in many other ways, as well. To encourage attendance at the first meeting, it’s combined with a family ice cream social on the playground. Attendance is also boosted by fundraising bingo nights, held twice a year after the monthly PTA meeting. And every fall, the parent group holds a family outing at a local farm. There’s a picnic lunch, a campfire with s’mores, and a nature scavenger hunt. Other events include math and science night, when parents lead learning stations, and arts integration night, when they experience how the arts are used to teach all subjects.

In the first five years of the arts integration program, Wilson’s standardized test scores increased 29 percent, and the school now has a waiting list. One reason for these dramatic changes is parent involvement, evident by PTA membership, which—like the test scores—has shot up 29 percent. “Student achievement has increased,” says Principal Beverly Story. “In part, this was due to parents who said, ‘How can we help you help children who aren’t successful?’ ”

Group at a Glance

Name: Wilson Elementary PTA
Location: Oklahoma City
Community: population 531,324; urban
School Size: 300 students
Grades: preK-5
Annual Budget: $11,000