Jackie Arendt, Ohio PTA VP of Leadership and I were
privileged to attend a training session for Brook Park Memorial (BPM) staff
conducted by the Parent Teacher Home Visits Project (PTHVP). What is the PTHVP?
It is an organization dedicated to building trusting, personal relationships
between teachers and their students’ families through teachers visiting
families in their homes.
A group of teachers at Brook Park Memorial volunteered to be
part of a pilot program of teachers visiting families this coming school year.
Staff from the St. Paul Minnesota area PTHVP worked with about a dozen BPM
teachers a few days before school started in August.
Jackie and I were struck by the enthusiasm of both the BPM
teachers and the St. Paul trainers. The PTHV trainers shared their personal
experiences with home visits. When their children were younger, they had
received home visits as parents. They saw that it made a difference in their children's progress in the classroom. Those positive experiences caused them to join
the PTHVP as trainers.
Listening to them, it became clear that parent teacher home
visits can truly build long lasting and very personal relationships between
staff and families. The first visit is structured as an exchange of information
on the student’s talents and aspirations. Parents and teachers discuss their
hopes for the student and the school year. It is not centered on academic
skills or test scores or grades- it is sharing dreams…and in the process
building trust and understanding. Trust is important as an opportunity
to build bridges to families, especially those who may have had negative or
minimal experiences with schools in the past. Visits conducted later in the
school year focus more on curriculum and student skills.
Where is the PTA presence in this high impact family
engagement practice? Well, the BPM staff asked their PTA to partner with them
in conducting the pilot. PTA officers and members would be the “test” visits
and then communicate to other parents about their experiences with parent
teacher home visits. This is a win-win
effort for everyone at Brook Park Memorial. The enthusiastic staff volunteers
gain a partner in PTA and all families at BPM learn about the benefits of
parent teacher home visits.
For another take on building personal relationships in
schools, read this article
by Sean Arthur, National PTA’s Senior Manager of Education Initiatives, on
exchanging stories as a first day of school activity. During his time as a teacher,
Sean realized that learning about students’ lives made a difference in engaging
them in class throughout the rest of the year. Click here to read Sean’s
article. What really makes this a powerful example of collaborative trust
building is that both Sean and his
students share their stories with each other.
High impact engagement- whether between families and schools
or teachers and students- means both sides share knowledge and both sides
learn. This boosts student achievement for every child. What can your PTA do to make family engagement at your school more high
impact and transformational? Tell us by applying for the Ohio PTA Family Engagement Grant now! Apply here.