Tennessee Parent Engagement Platform Simplifies Parental Involvement

Information may not be reliable

NASHVILLE, TN- NOVEMBER 20, 2019- Educators are consistently met with the frustrations of trying to increase parental involvement. At the same time, parents are always faced with the desire to be more involved in their child's education while residing in a world that is currently busier than ever before. With the trend of more single-parent families or families with both parents in the workforce, parental involvement in educational endeavors can be frustrating for everyone involved.  Possip has simplified the means of parental involvement. The Possip parental engagement platform makes sharing information with your child’s school as simple as filling out a survey.

Parents do not have to be members of the PTO or have parent-teacher conferences once a month.  There are other ways that they can be involved in their children's education. Schools can use different methods to measure parental involvement. This ensures that parental involvement is measured for what it truly is. It’s not just those who come and sit through a PTO meeting never to be seen again. We all know the parent that sits in the back of the PTO meeting on their phone the entire time so they can say that they showed up. So how can schools measure how involved the parents are?

One way to measure parental involvement is to look at the events that you are holding. Look at the ceremonies, the festivals, the awards days, and see how many parents walk through the doors. Have a visitor sign-in sheet, so there is an accurate way to measure how many parents are there.  Send feedback surveys home to find out the parents’ attitudes towards being involved in the event.  This allows schools to begin to identify the events that parents are more likely to be involved in and provides parents with a voice in what they feel is most important. 

It would also be useful if schools had a way to measure parental involvement outside of school.  There are always going to be those parents who are only involved on school grounds or those parents whose work keeps them away from school events, yet who are very involved at home. A way that schools can complete this measurement is by asking parents to do simple things at home. For example, having parents sign homework sheets or having them sharpen pencils at home can help you measure parental involvement at home. If you provide opportunities for parents to participate in things such as a phone bank, a measure is created regarding the parents that volunteer most often.

Parental feedback is possibly one of the essential forms of parental involvement in schools.  Possip is designed to provide parents with the opportunity to give feedback to their school. When schools use Possip, they can track the percentage of parental involvement through responses, while also effectively communicating with parents and providing even the busiest of parents with a chance to be involved.

Other ways parental involvement can be measured are through daily attendance, the quality of the engagement, and enrollment. For example, children who attend school every day more likely than not have involved parents. Looking at the depth of commitment, you can measure how many parents show up for an event vs. how many parents sign up to work at different events or help at the school. Finally, if enrollment decreases, it could be due to a lack of parental involvement.

Parental involvement doesn’t have to be a single measure. It can be an inclusive measure that provides parents with every chance to become involved.

For more information, contact Possip today at 615.570.1113 or by filling out the contact form located at https://www.possipit.com/contact-possip/.