Today I had a discussion with the Special Education Director for my school about her frustration with the difficulty in getting parent involvement. After that brief conversation, I decided to do a search on parental involvement in special education. Several things popped up but 2 web sites that I found interesting are: http://www.ideapartnership.org/ and http://www.ncpie.org/ The Natioanal Coalition for Parent Involvment in Education site offers several hot links to many of the big topics in special education.
I believe we must find creative ways to reach out to parents and to develop partnerships in the education of their child. Instead of a view that it is the teachers job to educate these students, I feel that the job of educating students is up to the school, the parents, and the community. It should be based on a mutual desire to meet the needs of all students. Even though the laws in special education talk about parents being more involved, I don't believe that there are specific reguirements in how to engage parents or how to determine the current levels of parent involvement. Therfore, if we don't really have a good idea how involved parents are now then how can we truely begin to reach out to and work with the parents to become more involved?
This is a big issue, Debi, and I feel your frustration. We have had Open House, Meet the Teacher Night and Parent-Teacher Conferences, all of which are different, and still there was no parental involvement. Sure, the schools were filled with parents but none of which were parents of students receiving special education services. I believe when it comes to parental involvement it should be more personalized; instead of a school-wide initiative each teacher should maybe find there own strategy in promoting parental involvement. The big school bashes seem to not be working for my schools; at least when discussing the parents of children with disabilities.
ReplyDeleteWow, it really amazes me that there is so little parental involvement in special ed. I think if I were the parent of a special needs child I would be up at the school all the time! I would be one of those parents that teachers hate to see walking down the hallway. I can't imagine having so many people trying to help my child and me, as a parent, not trying the hardest. I would have never thought that parental involvement in special education would be an issue.
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