Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Ava Ahrens starts kindergarten today at Westwood Elementary School, and she can expect her mother to volunteer, show an interest in her lessons and stay in touch with the teacher throughout the year.
Carrie Ahrens said her daughter is a little anxious about school.
“Being involved, and knowing what’s going on and letting her know what is going on is very important,” Ahrens said as she showed her daughter around her classroom Wednesday.
Schools have always encouraged parents to involve themselves in their children’s education. As a new school year opens today for most public schools, St. Cloud is giving family involvement added emphasis.
Back-To-School Night on Sept. 21, a chance to learn more about the academic year, is new this year. Parent-teacher conferences at the high schools and junior high schools will be longer to provide more time for discussions with parents about their student’s progress. Each school also is required to include ways to increase parental involvement in its school-improvement plans and open houses Wednesday got some added importance at the high school level.
Helps success
Research shows that students who have parents who participate in their education fare better in school, said Julia Espe, assistant superintendent for St. Cloud school district. A district survey showed many parents wanted the district to help parents be more involved.
“I just think we need to prop it up just because our kids need us,” Espe said.
Students get more out of their education when parents involve themselves by asking about their child’s day, sitting down with them during homework time, by visiting and volunteering in a classroom and by reaching out to teachers, Espe said.
“It’s our job to support them during the school day. It’s the community and mostly family’s job to do it at night,” Espe said.
Being involved
Ahrens and hundreds of parents took a step Wednesday at school open houses, a time for families to meet teachers and staff and get acquainted with their new classrooms. Ahrens met her daughter’s teacher Pam Stang and took time to fill a paper grocery bag with the school materials Ava will need for the year.
Stang said parental involvement is a huge factor in a child’s success.
“The parents are the child’s first teacher. We rely on parents to support what we teach in the classroom,” Stang said.
Du Quach, who has a first-grader at Westwood, said his parents did not speak English so they were never involved in his school activities. That’s why he wants to make sure he gets to know his child’s teacher, takes part in activities and keeps an eye on classroom lessons.
“I want to be involved as much as I can,” Quach said as he made his way through the halls at Westwood.
Quach will have plenty of chances with the Back-To-School Night this month, the expanded conferences and the idea his school comes up with for enhancing parent involvement.
Back-To-School Night will vary from school to school.
At the high schools, parents can get their children’s schedule and meet each of their teachers, Apollo Principal Charlie Eisenreich said.
“That is going to be more curriculum specific,” Eisenreich said.
The district also plans to talk about academic expectations and roll out its code of conduct, a booklet that explains behavior expectations and possible discipline options.
Eisenreich also has plans to get more faces at the schools’ site councils. Site councils in St. Cloud were once more robust in the district and involved teachers and parents in more substantive decisions. Eisenreich isn’t looking for a return to that level but wants to encourage parents to attend the meetings to find out what is going on in the schools.
“What I want to be able to do is not just meet with a selected group of parents — maybe every other month open it up to anybody who wants to come in and raise concerns,” Eisenreich said.
The secondary school conferences will run from 1:30-6:30 p.m. in an attempt to boost attendance, Espe said. The time frame is longer and includes the afternoon to reach parents who work nights.
Parents also can arrange appointments with teachers. Teachers will be asked to make regular contact including emails and phone calls with parents to keep them updated on student progress.
The district has a Web-based system that allows parents to follow their student’s progress in school for attendance and homework updates.
The district dropped its printed calendar to save money but is creating a interactive calendar as it updates its website.
Madison Principal Paula Henry said her school has strong parent interest. She has an active parent advisory council for the traditional programs and the immersion program. Parents of Somali children also have a group. Parents are encouraged to be attentive to their children’s schooling.
“We are even looking at more ways to be responsive to parent needs,” Henry said.
Between questions from parents, Stang, the Westwood kindergarten teacher, talked about how helpful it is to have parents check backpacks, ask about school lessons or just ask about how they day went.
It helps “just to show how important school is,” Stang said.
Stang said parental involvement is a huge factor in a child’s success.
“The parents are the child’s first teacher. We rely on parents to support what we teach in the classroom,” Stang said.
Du Quach, who has a first-grader at Westwood, said his parents did not speak English so they were never involved in his school activities. That’s why he wants to make sure he gets to know his child’s teacher, takes part in activities and keeps an eye on classroom lessons.
“I want to be involved as much as I can,” Quach said as he made his way through the halls at Westwood.
Quach will have plenty of chances with the Back-To-School Night this month, the expanded conferences and the idea his school comes up with for enhancing parent involvement.
Back-To-School Night will vary from school to school.
At the high schools, parents can get their children’s schedule and meet each of their teachers, Apollo Principal Charlie Eisenreich said.
“That is going to be more curriculum specific,” Eisenreich said.
The district also plans to talk about academic expectations and roll out its code of conduct, a booklet that explains behavior expectations and possible discipline options.
Eisenreich also has plans to get more faces at the schools’ site councils. Site councils in St. Cloud were once more robust in the district and involved teachers and parents in more substantive decisions. Eisenreich isn’t looking for a return to that level but wants to encourage parents to attend the meetings to find out what is going on in the schools.
“What I want to be able to do is not just meet with a selected group of parents — maybe every other month open it up to anybody who wants to come in and raise concerns,” Eisenreich said.
The secondary school conferences will run from 1:30-6:30 p.m. in an attempt to boost attendance, Espe said. The time frame is longer and includes the afternoon to reach parents who work nights.
Parents also can arrange appointments with teachers. Teachers will be asked to make regular contact including emails and phone calls with parents to keep them updated on student progress.
The district has a Web-based system that allows parents to follow their student’s progress in school for attendance and homework updates.
The district dropped its printed calendar to save money but is creating a interactive calendar as it updates its website.
Madison Principal Paula Henry said her school has strong parent interest. She has an active parent advisory council for the traditional programs and the immersion program. Parents of Somali children also have a group. Parents are encouraged to be attentive to their children’s schooling.
“We are even looking at more ways to be responsive to parent needs,” Henry said.
Between questions from parents, Stang, the Westwood kindergarten teacher, talked about how helpful it is to have parents check backpacks, ask about school lessons or just ask about how they day went.
It helps “just to show how important school is,” Stang said.