After reviewing the PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships Assessment Guide, it is clear that multiple items in my Community & Family Engagement Inventory reflect effective examples of the various essential features included in the PTA Standards. Strengths and weaknesses of specific initiatives become more easily recognized after reviewing the standards as well.
One strong example that reflects the essential features of one of the PTA Standards is our district’s Strategic Planning initiative. Standard 5 states that families should be “full partners in making decisions that affect their children at school and in the community” (PTA, 2008, Standard 5, p. 1). The Strategic Planning initiative involved the development of a focus
…show more content…
One of the essential features of PTA Standard 1 states that, when welcoming all families into the school community, an excelling quality of implementation includes a “school volunteer program (that) reaches out to parents of all neighborhoods and backgrounds, identifies their unique experiences and skills, and offers varied volunteer opportunities.” Our school-wide events consistently seek to involve parent volunteers, and utilize their individual talents and interests. We have frequent theme days where parent volunteers do everything from put on workshops for our students, build haunted houses, teach children about their careers, cook healthy food, run lights and sound at an assembly, and even run weekly fitness and art classes. Our PTA members reach out to all of our school families to encourage them to reveal their interests and talents, and find ways to incorporate them into our theme days. Although this initiative demonstrates considerable essential features and strengths related to PTA Standard 1, there is one notable weakness. One Standard 1 indicator stresses the importance of respecting all families, including assuming a “collective responsibility to break down barriers to family engagement related to race, ethnicity, class, family structure, religion, and physical and mental ability” (PTA, 2008, Standard 1, p. 3). Our community consists of mostly affluent families, with little ethic diversity. The large majority of our students are Caucasian, affluent, and speak English as their primary language. On the rare occasion that a family enters the district and encounters financial hardships, or students are of a different ethnicity, I don’t believe that our PTA/parent group leaders make extra efforts to make those families feel comfortable and welcome,