A plan to increase parental involvement in a school.

1. Running Head: PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT PLAN 1
Parental Involvement Plan
Module 1 Critical Thinking Assignment
Ann Lopez
EDL 560 – External Development Leadership
Colorado State University – Global Campus
Michael Jazaar, PhD
February 16, 2019

2. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT PLAN 2
In education, parental involvement can make a significant impact on a student’s academic
achievement. It is up to the school leaders to establish a trusting and collaborative partnership
with parents. The success of this partnership relies heavily on a school’s initiatives in creating a
welcoming space for parents to be involved in their child’s education. To increase parental
involvement, a school leader can begin examining some of the areas as described below.
Area 1: Parent Support for Classroom Instruction
My school does not have a designate policy or guideline on parent volunteers. From what
I have seen so far, teachers usually invite parents in for special occasions such as parties or field
trips only. I have also seen parents going into the classroom for behavioral issues. There have
been maybe one or two parent volunteers that I saw who have assisted with classroom
instruction. One parent was reading to students in a small group or and another was working one-
on-one with a student.
To increase parental involvement in this area, I would encourage teachers to utilize a
calendar sign-up method. This can be done via Google calendar or a communication app such as
Bloomz. Utilizing a digital sign-up is a more convenient way of involving parents since they can
access all the information using their computer or smartphone. Once they have signed up for a
slot, the event can be saved into the teacher’s and the parents’ calendars. Furthermore, a
reminder can be set for both parties which would make things easier for everyone.
Area 2: Parent Meetings, Conferences, and Activities
Majority of the teachers in my school are utilizing communication app such as Bloomz to
schedule their meetings and conferences. There are a few who choose to do their scheduling
through email or paper notes to parents. Overall, teachers found that parents are more likely to

3. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT PLAN 3
respond and participate in meetings, conference or activities when invitations are sent in a digital
format. What’s more, with app such as Bloomz, parents and teachers can message each other
instantly should there be any changes in scheduling.
Area 3: Parent Volunteer Opportunities
My principal mentor sends out a weekly email to all parents. The email would include
news, events or reminders about the school. It would also include parent volunteering
opportunities in a school-wide setting. As far as classroom volunteering, teachers are the ones
that are responsible in coordinating those. I think parent volunteer opportunities should also be
shared via social media platform and the school’s website. I know many parents who rarely
check their emails, so it would have been far more effective to share volunteering opportunities
via social media since everyone has some type of social media account these days.
Area 4: School-Parent Impact
Like the School-Parent Impact template, my school has a Parent-Student Handbook that
outlines the responsibilities of parents, students and school staff members. The handbook serves
as an agreement that requires all stakeholders to do their part in helping students to achieve
academic success. Each party is asked to sign the handbook during the first week of school.
Parents, students and school staff members get to keep a copy of the handbook for future
reference. I think the handbook provides a very detailed description for parents, students and
staff members. However, I think it could have been tailored to the needs of each school while
still maintaining the same high expectations and vision of the entire network.
Area 5: Parental Involvement in Decision-Making
I was told by my principal mentor that the school wide improvement plan was created by
the school leadership team and the network leadership team. The teams gather and analyze

4. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT PLAN 4
student’s data to draft up a plan at the end of the school year. They meet again in the beginning
of the school year to finalize the plan. From my understanding, there is no parent involvement in
the decision-making of the improvement plan. To meet the expectations of this type of
involvement, I would invite parents to an improvement plan info session. The info session would
provide parents with an overview of the plan and give them an opportunity to provide feedback
or ask questions. Another way of involving parents is to provide a survey or a poll. Survey or
poll can be done digitally so parents can participate at their own time.
Area 6: Parent Resources
Resources that parents would need are usually available in the school office. After
sending home paper copies with the students, the school manager would print extras and leave
them in the office. Some of these resources are about after-school program, health forms,
registration process, uniform policy, school calendar, assessment information, school breakfast
and lunch menus, bus route information and others. I think these resources should be also be
available in a digital format so more parents can have access to them.
Area 7: Parent Interest Survey
I am not aware of any parent interest surveys that if offered through my school. I think
this is a great way to gauge parents’ interests and serve as a starting point in planning future
parental involvement activities. One way in implementing a parent interest survey is through the
use of Google Form. Since my principal sends a weekly email to all parents, he can include a
link to the survey. The survey should give some ideas about future activities but also give parents
space to input their ideas. The survey can also ask parents to vote on the activities presented and
ask for feedback on some of the previous activities.