By Travis

A few weeks ago, Tom had a post that spoke to me, We Can’t Do This Alone. In this post, he states how parent involvement is key to a student’s success, but somehow it seems that the focus becomes teacher quality. The idea of a shared responsibility for a student’s education, struck me as important since it has come up a few times at Stories for School. It came up again. Last week. During my parent conferences.

Each teacher had a table around the perimeter of the gym with two chairs in front for the parents and student. Parents visited any of the teachers with which they wish to have a conversation.

To my left was a senior math teacher. To my right, a sophomore technology teacher. Me … I am a freshman English teacher. I had a variety of conversations that night with parents about family responsibility. I was getting worn out having the same conversation with parents about what they can do to keep their student on track and I started to listen to the conversations on my left and right, it was clear my conversations were not unique. Many families are not ready for how school is done.

And it seems like an increasing number of families are not ready for school.

          Every night Bobby says that he does not have homework. I ask him.

          Susy tells me she is done.

          I cannot make my daughter practice her skills at home.

          I did not know Jerret was supposed to have completed his essay by last Friday.

          Mike says that he is done with the assignment.

          Kathleen says that you all do not do anything in class.

When I taught 6^th and 7^th grade, I expect these statements from parents because their student was now in the “Big School.” I don’t expect it in 9^th, and was surprised to hear the same conversations with the 10^th and 12^th grade families on my left and right.

Parent involvement drops drastically from elementary school to middle school, ending in a fraction in high school. Matching this trend is the student’s engagement in school and the success the student has. The complexity of the content does not increase at a pace that is beyond students, especially with the fantastic teachers Washington has.

What does this say about our partnership for education?

How can I impact students, in grade 9, after years of poor student habits? How can I expose students to the beauty of Shakespeare when students lack the skills to listen, discuss, or even read? 

I cannot. I cannot do it alone. 

What I hear from parents at conferences is the image to the left–everyone says that they are involved and working hard. 

However, I just do not see it.

If students do not come to school with even the barest of “student skills” or the want of those basic skills, how can there be learning?

Clever and thoughtful teachers can teach and assess regardless of the challenges. However, there must be a minimum level of student preparedness for school. It’s like coming to the World Series without a clue how the game works and without experience. It does not make sense. I threw the baseball metaphor in there for Tom, and like Tom, I find parent involvement a tough problem.

Students come to school to learn, but if they come to school ill prepared, they cannot learn.

My parents are both teachers. Half of my grandparents are. My in-laws are teachers as well. My parents came to my conferences because they cared about my education, but even more important, they wanted me to know that they cared. They knew what my teachers were going to say about me. What they wanted to show me was that education is important, so important, that they will happily take time out of their evening to learn about me. Amazingly, my parents did this all through high school.

School had value in my growing up. I was prepared for school. I knew what was expected of me. I did not get straight A’s, but I knew how to be a student so I could learn. When my parents asked me if I had homework, the answer was immaterial because homework time was spent each night regardless of whether or not I had it.

Think of it … what lesson does a student learn when they see that if they say that they do not have homework, they can go play video games? Not a good one.

I told numerous families to establish a homework time and if their student said that they were done, congratulate them, and have them use that time for reviewing skill, studying notes, reading, or sharing what they have learned with you. Yes, there is a great deal of time involved, but that is what is needed—parent involvement.

I cannot be teacher, parent, and consciousness of the student.

I can be motivator and instigator of excitement. But come on … help me out.

If a student does not know how to practice skills at home, study, do homework, and does not have the support at home to do so, the student is not ready for school. If this is the case, forget the “stool” analogy. In that scenario there is no stool. They are not ready for school. 

I had some other thoughts, but I will save that for later. It is time for me to sit at the dining room table while my sons do their homework.