"The school is a critically important community institution, since the quality of education shapes not only our children's individual future, but also the future of our economy, community, and society," says Kevin Walker. "Support of public schools is important; involvement and action by several parents in a group can influence school policy-makers and result in decisions and choices than can benefit many children."

Project Appleseed Grows Parent Involvement

On National Parental Involvement Day 2010, Kevin Walker, founder of Project Appleseed, advises schools not to lament the lack of parental involvement, but to invite parents to do more. Included: A sample parent volunteer form from Abington (Pennsylvania) Junior High.
Walker serves as the president and national director of Project Appleseed, the organization he founded as a nonprofit resource and advocate for families engaged in education. National Parental Involvement Day, held on the third Thursday of each November, was started by Project Appleseed in 1994. Walker suggests that one of the most important activities schools can employ in observance of the special day this year is to celebrate reading as a fun, school- and community-wide activity.
"Recruit parents, families, churches, and local businesses to participate in a special reading program for students and families," he advises. "Hold storytelling nights, guest author and poetry readings, read-aloud programs, dramatic readings, book fairs and book drives, a read-a-thon or a book report festival, family literacy nights, or other literacy activities for the whole community."
One of Project Appleseed's primary tools is the Parental Involvement Pledge, which asks parents to take responsibility for the education of their children through a commitment to help with homework and volunteer at school for at least five hours per semester. Some schools use the occasion of National Parental Involvement Day to introduce the pledge to parents and to rally volunteers.

From School with Love On November 18, teachers and students at Midland Academy Charter School will reward parents with a special thank-you for their volunteerism. It will be the second annual celebration of National Parental Involvement Day at the Midland, Texas, school. During last year's event, students and teachers made signs and posted them inside and outside the school. Teachers donated bags of candy, with small notes of thanks attached to the tasty treats. The candy was distributed to parents as they arrived to pick up their children at the end of the school day. "Parents were thrilled," Principal Janet Wallace recalls. "Many were overheard saying that they had never been told that they were appreciated by educators before. We had excellent participation in all family events for the remaining part of the school year." What Wallace remembers best is the smiles on the faces of the parents who were surprised with the candy gifts. Staff members had to stay late into the evening before the celebration to finish attaching the notes of gratitude, but their efforts paid off. "We’re always asking parents to do things, but this was a small thing we did to honor parents. It was so well received," she added.

"The pledge is especially effective because it systemically measures and targets parental involvement, while building valuable social capital," Walker explains. "The pledge entices parents to come to school for volunteering, parenting, academics, communication, safety, decision making, performances and more. It can create billions of hours of volunteer service in America's public schools."
Walker reports that there are more than 55 million public school parents in America, and he firmly believes that real education reform cannot take place without an effective parent constituency. If Americans do not make systematic efforts to address how to get parents back into the schools, he warns, they will likely face an uphill battle with some very unpleasant long-term consequences for the country.
"Many schools simply fail to ask parents to become partners in the education of students," Walker told Education World. "Schools fail to set expectations for meaningful and measurable parental involvement. They treat parental involvement as an afterthought. Principals and teachers should ask parents on the first day of school to commit to a minimum number of volunteer hours inside and outside school."

PURPOSEFUL PLEDGE

"Traditionally, across the country, there is a significant drop from the number of parent volunteers at the elementary level to the number of parent volunteers at the junior-high/middle-school level," Nicole Cicci Kazarian observes. "Parents are somewhat reluctant to volunteer at the junior-high level, but not at Abington Junior High School. Since the introduction of Project Appleseed, the commitment of families at the junior-high level has been remarkable."
Prior to Project Appleseed, parental involvement at Abington Junior High School in Pennsylvania was typical for a large, suburban junior-high school and was limited to active PTO members. Parents wanted to volunteer, but the role of parent involvement was not defined. Project Appleseed brought greater clarity to volunteer activities and became a vehicle for organizing volunteer opportunities. Today, team members at the school aren't shy about asking parents to be a force in their children's education.