The return on your investment is a better education for our children.
I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year! As the new year begins and the holiday season winds down, the opportunity to spend time with family and friends brings home an appreciation for the importance of the community that we are a part of. As I reflect upon these ideas, and think ahead to the upcoming 2011 Legislative Session, many of my thoughts are of the challenges ahead and the role that each of us play in improving educational opportunities for the children in our community and throughout New York. As a result, I have decided to share my thoughts on ways that family and community can support student success.
A strong educational experience is vital to each child’s lifelong success. As your child’s first teacher, the knowledge that you have about your child as a learner and the support that you give your child as he or she progresses through school are important to helping him or her build a secure foundation to prepare for the future. Many of the ideas that I will share focus on ways to support your child’s academic success, both at home and through involvement with your child’s school.
I hope that you will find this information helpful as we stand together to continue to work for the best educational opportunities for our children.
Barbara M. Clark
Becoming a strong and skillful reader and communicator is critical to your child’s success, not only in school, but throughout life. Literacy, the ability to read and write, is the cornerstone of all learning. As your child’s first teacher, your involvement in modeling and reinforcing good literacy habits has a big impact on your child’s success in school and later in life. Whether your child is now learning to read or is already reading to learn, developing and building strong literacy skills will enable him or her to experience greater academic success and to gain the skills and abilities needed by high school graduation to enter college or the workforce as a lifelong learner.
There are many things that parents can do each day to help their child with literacy development. Making literacy part of your family’s every day routine will help your child to develop the habits and skills needed to build a solid foundation for a lifetime of academic and personal success. Here are a few suggestions for literacy-building activities that can become part of your family’s daily routine:
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Set aside time every day for reading alone or for reading together as a family. Use a wide variety of materials such as magazines, books, labels, newspapers, maps, electronic books, blogs, and other printed material.
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Encourage your child to participate in everyday reading and writing activities, such as writing grocery lists, writing cards and thank you notes, and clipping coupons.
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Keep reading and writing materials accessible to your child.
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Visit libraries with your child to borrow materials and to participate in the reading and writing activities they sponsor.
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Be a reader and writer yourself. Children learn from observing the behavior of the adults in their lives.
According to research, children do better in school when their teachers and parents talk often and when parents become involved in the school community. Some of the benefits that students experience when their parents are actively involved in their school and communicate often with their teachers include achieving higher grades and test scores, showing positive behavior and attitudes, and demonstrating long-term academic achievement. While parent-teacher conferences offer a beginning opportunity for communication, there are many additional ways that parents can make a connection with their child’s school and teachers that will help to support academic success.
With all of the demands of everyday life, establishing and maintaining the parent-school connection over time can seem like a difficult task. However, there are actions and activities that you can take part in that will help to broaden the lines of communication between you and your child’s school and will support the success of your child at any age.
Becoming involved in school-wide organizations like the PTA or volunteering in your child’s school will give you an added opportunity to talk with teachers outside of the classroom, and will enable you to have greater input into decisions and events that affect your child’s educational experience. For all parents, but especially for those who may have greater limitations on their time, phone calls or notes sent to the teacher throughout the school year are good ways to share concerns, continue conversations, and to show continued support for the parent-teacher partnership. Opening and maintaining the lines of communication with your child’s teachers, and making connections with your child’s school, not only helps to create a parent-school partnership, but also shows your child that you value the importance of education and support his or her success.
For help with making a connection to your child’s school, contact the school’s Parent Coordinator. The Parent Coordinator is available to support you whenever you have questions or concerns and is a great resource in helping you to become involved with activities and associations within the school community. Contact information for your school’s Parent Coordinator can be found on the school’s Web site or by contacting the school office.
When you read news stories about the need for changes in our current education system, more frequently than not, the conversation turns to ensuring that students are career and college ready by high school graduation. While this may seem like an obvious goal, what does it take for a student to be career and college ready?
Career and college readiness is generally defined as making sure that a student has the academic and problem solving skills necessary to be successful upon entering college or the job market. More recent conversations about career and college readiness have focused on the effect that teachers and schools have on student success. However, research has shown that families and communities also play a key role in helping children prepare for life after high school graduation.
There are two important roles that families can play in helping a child to become career and college ready. The first is to provide support and encouragement throughout the child’s elementary, middle school, and high school education, and the other is to help the child set educational goals. While the type of support and encouragement a child needs will change as he or she progresses through school, the following four types of parent support were found by researchers to be important in promoting a child’s career and college readiness:
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Communicating the value of education and expectations for school achievement
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Helping the child think about future career and educational goals
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Discussing learning strategies
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Helping with preparing and planning for the future
Research has found that parental support and expectations play an important role in helping children become career and college ready, and that children who receive family support are more likely to enroll in college and to graduate.
to Share Civics and Government Lessons
In October and November 2010, Assemblywoman Clark visited students from I.S. 192-The Linden, Pathways College Preparatory School, and the Campus Magnet Educational Complex to share lessons about civics and government as part of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Back to School Program. Through a combination of teaching and interactive discussions, students learned about the role of a legislator, as well as topics that are important to understanding how representative democracy works. Some of the topics discussed included the legislative process, voters’ rights and responsibilities, civic engagement, the importance of community service, and the role of student government.
Assemblywoman Clark has participated in the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Back to School Program for many years since the program was first introduced in 1999. She looks forward each year to the opportunity to speak with students and to help them further their understanding of the role they play as citizens in representative democracy.
