Parents: crucial to education

***image1***The staff of Kaiserslautern School District believes that students are best served by a team, the combined talents of teachers and parents as first teachers. There are many ways to be involved in a child’s education.

Research shows evidence that an interested and concerned parent makes a remarkable difference in student success in school.

Parent involvement can take many shapes. Reading to children every night makes children stronger readers and writers.

Encouraging reading as a spare time activity by sharing good books, making visits to the library or adding to a child’s book collection builds background knowledge of how words work, a better understanding of language and what makes a good story.

Asking children about their day “at work” and what they learned, demonstrates interest in their learning. Asking to see papers, school books and homework shows a child that parents value what they are doing in school.

Parents can be active participants in the school community, too. In addition to the School Advisory Committee, the Installation Advisory Committee and school board, parents have another avenue that can make an impact and difference in their children and the school.

Being active in your child’s school Parent Teacher Association, Parent Teacher Student Organization or Parent Teacher Organization is an important avenue for parent involvement. These parent organizations sponsor informative sessions for parents, family learning and fun activities, as well as fund-raising events which bring direct benefit to the children in the schools. Many organizations sponsor mentoring, parent volunteering and book ordering.

All of these services of the parent organization are critical to making the school a better place for teachers to teach and students to learn.

Contact a local school to learn more about parent groups, meetings and ways to become involved.