What’s your parenting mindset as your children return to school? In addition to getting your student ready, back-to-school is also a time when most parents revisit strategies that help support their children during the academic year.

As a writer and researcher with a passion for positive youth development, I regularly connect with educators and psychologists who write superb articles for parents.

These authors share the latest thinking and research on learning, achievement, family well-being, parent engagement, special needs children, youth sports, media, technology, discipline, homework, bullying, and much more.

As your children get resettled into the school routine, take some time for yourself – to reflect on your own values about education and how you can more intentionally support your children.  I’ve compiled what I believe are some of the best recent articles for parents – from a variety of reputable bloggers. The list is divided by topic and I’ve put a short summary of what you will find in each one. read more »

I’ve been an advocate for parent involvement in education for many years. But throughout those years, one of the most challenging tasks has been to define this two-way partnership.

What is it that parents and teachers need to understand about working together? And why is this partnering so important to student success?

In Invaluable Allies: Partnering with Parents for Student Success, Margery B. Ginsberg, PhD, an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington, provided some informed answers to these questions.

So much of the time, we think of teaching as a one-way process. Not only do teachers impart information to students who, in turn, develop knowledge and skills, they also teach parents how to facilitate their children’s learning. But Ginsberg rightly points out several assurances that parents want to receive from teachers. One of those assurances is that “the teacher is going to respect and learn from families.” read more »

Years of academic studies have shown that parent engagement is linked to children’s academic, social, and emotional development. But what is parent engagement?

And how must it shift to meet the increasing demands of 21st century learners?

Many equate parent engagement to volunteering, school governance, and fundraising. While these activities are vitally important to schools, the kind of parent engagement that affects student success is vastly different. This type of engagement involves parents as teachers and learners. It means building parent-school partnerships that not only increase student learning but expand learning for everyone in a child’s support system.

We know that learning is dependent on an interconnected system of relationships and support. Yet despite extensive research, we are failing to create healthy partnerships between parents, teachers, and students that encourage learning and innovation. To understand how parent engagement must change, a quick history lesson is helpful. read more »

Before my daughter entered elementary school, I knew she learned differently from other kid’s. 

But I always imagined that no matter how she learned, her future teachers would create an environment where she would thrive and we would work as partners to support her learning.  My view of education was broad and I saw learning as a life-long process involving many levels of knowledge.

I expected a flexible system that would place my child at the center and where her teachers, school administrators, after-school program leaders, and family would work together to benefit her development.

Needless to say, the way I viewed education was not the way our system worked. After all, today’s school system was built on mechanistic ideas from the Industrial Revolution, designed to produce graduates like machines produce widgets. Like an assembly line, children enter at kindergarten and progress grade by grade until they graduate around the age of eighteen.  Its sole purpose is to produce “well-educated children” who go on to adulthood and the world of work.  When children move at a pace that is different from the machine, they are often labeled as having deficits. This creates a big problem for the system. Schools try to help these kids by suggesting drugs to help them focus or by tutoring them to stay on track. read more »

Ah, the power of music!

I was reminded a few days ago when reading a ScienceDaily research article, Childhood Music Lessons May Provide Lifelong Boost in Brain Functioning, just how powerful music can be in a child’s life.

The article says music lessons can pay off for decades, even for those who no longer play instruments.  Music keeps the mind sharp, serving as a challenging cognitive exercise.

There is a growing body of research that supports how music nurtures children’s success at school and in life. A study in the journal Social Science Quarterly (2009), Adolescents Involved with Music Do Better in School, found that music also had a positive effect on reading and math. And it acknowledged that disadvantaged children have less access to music. read more »