Title: Introduction: The Teacher as Everyday Advocate
Headings: Introduction: The Teacher as Everyday Advocate
Everyday Engagement
Introduction: The Teacher as Everyday Advocate
Finding a New Solution to a Familiar Challenge
Meaningful Engagement
Being the Difference, Being the Advocate
Requesting Permission

Content: My fellow trainees and I met with our children's principals and discussed their concerns about parent involvement at the school and particular issues within the school—academic and otherwise. We went on to create project plans that addressed these concerns and made use of both the schools' resources and our personal skill sets. Guided by the Parent Leadership Network staff, I began to get a clearer sense of the overlap between the elements of successful parent partnership and successful teaching practice. I also realized what parent involvement in schooling could mean for children. Henderson and Berla (1994) tell us that parent partnership benefits students in the following ways: A more positive attitude toward school
Improved academic achievement
Better behavior in the classroom
Higher rates of work completion
Increased participation in classroom activities
Better attendance
Any educator reading this list is sure to notice that the picture it paints is of a positive, functional, harmonious classroom—the kind of environment we strive to set up for our students and maintain through their collective participation. Once I made that connection, it seemed foolish to continue working alone. Simply put, using engagement practices to partner collaboratively with parents and students alike made much more sense. Finding a New Solution to a Familiar Challenge
Of course, if facilitating effective parental partnership were simple, all schools would already be doing it. Numerous obstacles stand in the way, from parents' lack of time and know-how, and their perception that schools don't want them around, to teachers' perception that parents don't get involved because they don't care about their own children's academic success.