The social issue we are targeting with this action plan is parent involvement in the

classroom and the school as a whole. Our cooperating teacher mentioned the lack of parent

attendance at school functions such as back to school night and general conferences. A lot of

parents arent able to take time off of work to attend school meetings for their children. It is

important to be conscious of parents obligations, but also to encourage parent involvement in

their childrens learning whenever possible.

Involving parents in their childrens learning is a crucial part of their development as

students. Even an act as simple as attending an open house or meet the teacher event shows the

student that their parent values their experience in school and cares about their learning. The

troubling part about this, is that many working families can not lend the time to attending these

functions. As we read in The Myth of the Culture of Poverty, It might be said more accurately

that schools that fail to take these considerations into account do not value the involvement of

poor families as much as they value the involvement of other families. We wish for our social

action plan to acknowledge and respect these considerations, while working to find a variety of
flexible ways to include parents in the school experiences of their children. The article suggests

that the involvement gap is not because they (working class families) care less about education,

but because they have less access to school involvement than their wealthier peers.

When attending school functions is not a possibility for guardians, providing information

to parents about what is happening in class and school via email, flier, or phone call, can be an

efficient way to engage parents in their childs school experience. One of the handouts from class

even suggests meeting at a neutral location at a time that works for the guardians, helping to

foster a relationship with the parents that will promote more parent and student involvement in

your classroom. Keeping parents updated on what is happening in the classroom by sending

home personal correspondence helps them to feel more comfortable reaching out to you with

questions. The more familiar we are with the parents of our students, the easier it will be for us to

work with them to find a time to meet or involve them in the classroom.

Social Action Steps to Respond to the Issue

Timeline

Step 1: Observing events and different happenings at the school and in the

classroom to find various opportunities to invite parents to get involved at Reedy Creek.
Step 2: Speak with teachers and other professionals in the school about areas that

they believe they could involve parents and methods to involve parents that have and

have not worked in the past. Pick the way that would best work for everyone we want to

involve at the school and then pitch the idea to our administration to get approval.
Step 3: Create a letter to parents that will be sent home with students, inviting

them to get involved in their childs school experience. Share the importance of parent

involvement and give examples of the many ways they be a part of the school experience.
 Give many different options for parents, including donations, activities, or ways to be

involved at home if all else is not possible.

Step 4: Ask parents to return the letter with their students including their

availability or ways they feel comfortable contributing and hold a classroom

(educational) game night. Invite parents to attend at the time most parents voiced their

availability so students can share what they are learning in class with their families in an

exciting and engaging way.

Step 5: During the family game night, the teacher can express how important

parent involvement is in the learning experience of students. Discuss the various ways

they can remain involved in and out of the classroom, thanking them for their attendance.
Step 6: Send out bi-weekly letters or emails to parents that share what is being

done in class and what is to come. Include upcoming opportunities for involvement in the

classroom. Try to stay in close contact with each parent personally. Including them

specifically in their specific childs education is more likely to engage them,

Who will you collaborate with? Parents, Teachers, School Leadership, Custodial

Staff (because the school will need to be open later at night)

In order to successfully reach out to the guardians of students, there are many people we must

collaborate with to have the greatest effect. The first person we must work talk to and the person

we will be working with most directly will be our mentor teacher. We will work with her to come

up with reasonable timelines, events, and volunteer opportunities. We will also complete this

brainstorming with other teachers at Reedy Creek to create a plan that is reasonable for the

majority of teachers. The Principal will have to approve our ideas and we will welcome any input

they provide. We will need permission to hold family night events since they will be held after

school hours.
 Who are the constituents you need to engage? How will you engage them? What

do you need from them?

We will need to engage parents, using parent letters home and email. We need them to be

involved in our classroom to ensure that our students have the best possible education.

What individuals may resist social change and how?

It may be difficult to reach our goal and create the social change we wish to achieve. The

beliefs of the guardians of our students will vary widely and some parents may not wish to

participate in the school lives of their children in the classroom setting. Some parents might

believe that the teachers should be in charge of their childs education and that they do not need

to help or contribute. They might view school as a place strictly for learning new information and

not see the importance of their involvement in their childs school experience. These parents

might tell us that this parent involvement night is unnecessary and not come or attempt to be

involved in their childrens schooling. Many parents will be unable to attend the events due to

work and other commitments, so it is not that they are resisting social change, but they will not

be able to participate to the level of other parents so they may feel that the small contributions

that they are capable of making are not important.

Other individuals who may resist change are the teachers in the school. Some teachers

may feel that they already spend too much of their time in the classroom and might not want to

hold events after school hours with parents. They might not see the importance of a community

building, information sharing event when they are sending information home to parents in the

form of a monthly letter. Some teachers may view parent volunteerism in the classroom as

distracting or as a hinderance to the learning environment, but this involvement will allow

students to experience different cultures, wealths of knowledge, and methods of engagement.

 What resources exist in school/ community? What will you need?

Our school has many resources for our students. We have an extensive library, iPads, computer

labs, etc. We try to provide our students with the best access to education using various

resources. Our administration is supportive of the teachers in anything that involves trying to

help students, and we get a lot of support from our other teachers as well. Our action plan is

simple. We just want parents to have a more active role in their childrens education to better

promote the students engagement in school. Our first step is sending a letter home with the

students, which is something Reedy Creek already does to a degree, so we know we have access

to the paper needed for the letters. The parents can respond using the same paper, and then all

we would need is to coordinate our parent involvement night with administration and with

custodial staff.

What are your desired outcomes that would support social change?

Our desired outcomes would be to involve all parents in our classroom in the best way possible

for them. We hope to have parents come in and guest read to our students, help with events in

the classroom, take an active role in helping with homework or reading to their kids, or be in

active communication with us, the teachers. We want the best education possible for our

students, and we know the best way to do this is by including parents or guardians in the

education process. The best way for students to have consistency is for we, the teachers, to

backup the parents and vice versa but we cant do that without everyones cooperation.

IMPLEMENTATION

The first step we took in initiating our social action plan was to collect information about

upcoming school events and look for opportunities to invite parents to get involved in different
areas. When we were checking in at the office one day we picked up a school calendar and a flier

about the upcoming carnival. The carnival would be a fantastic way to include parents in their

childrens school experience in a much less intimidating setting. There are plenty of ways parents

could volunteer either their time, resources, or knowledge in different areas. This flier in

particular asked for parents to donate baked goods for the cake walk, which could be as simple as

picking something up at the store on the way to school one day.

The calendar listed PTA spirit nights, assemblies, and after school club meetings and

events. This is important information for parents to receive, but the letter does not include ways

parents can get involved in those activities. There are more events that go on at Reedy Creek

than we realized and parents need to be aware that they are welcome to join in and help out

whenever possible. The letter includes EOG dates, but does not ask for volunteers to help proctor

for example. Part of our social action plan includes sharing all of the opportunities to get

involved in school with the guardians of our students. Simply analyzing the list that we created

allowed us to see how many opportunities for parent involvement there are around school and

how the different options might appeal to guardians in different circumstances. It is important for

the teachers and school to be flexible in order to allow collaboration among families who wish to

get involved in their students school experience.

Checking the parent involvement at events in the past will also give us a much better idea

of times that work best to ask our parents to come in and times that work the best for everyone.

Seeing what times and events work best for everyone will help us with our planning when

deciding what to invite our parents to and how. Our next step would be to create a parent survey

to send home with students so that we can gain insight into the best times and types of

involvement that parents might be able to do. We want to communicate both the importance of
parental involvement in their childs school experience while also sharing that it is okay if work

or other responsibilities hinder their ability to be as involved as theyd like to. If we had more

time at the school we would work with the teachers to plan a family game night event to invite

our students families into the classroom to see what we are learning and to discuss the many

ways they can be involved in their childs learning experience.