Schools seek parental input

      Beverly Mathis, principal of Booker Elementary School, is hoping to bring the importance of education home for many pupils and their parents.
      "Every opportunity that we see a parent we say come into the classroom. Don't trust that I'm doing the right thing. Come in and see what it is I'm doing," said Mathis, who has been with the Clark County School District 23 years -- the past three at Booker. "My sentence to them always is, `Who knows your child any better than you?'"
      Mathis said parents can give the school recommendations on what's to be done in the classroom.
      "I have always seen school as a triangle type of a structure where you have school, home and the community. One just doesn't operate well without the other," she said. "The theme of our school is, `It takes a village.' We have to let parents know that they are certainly a part of this."
      The United States Department of Education reported that a growing body of research indicates that school practices to involve parents are strong predictors of parent involvement in a child's education. The department noted that parents who receive more requests from teachers to be involved in their children's education report higher levels of involvement both at home and at school.
      In addition, Nila Marchant, elementary school counselor on special assignment with the Clark County School District said, "(Studies) have found that children whose parents are involved some way in the school do better. School is more important to them."
      Mathis said contributing factors that inhibit many parents from getting involved are negative experiences they faced in school when they were children, especially in subject areas that they themselves did not master. These experiences often make a parent uncomfortable or embarrassed in a classroom setting, she said. However, she is hoping her open-door policy will help alleviate those feelings at Booker, a Title I school with 97.3 percent of the pupil population coming from low income families.
      Increasing family involvement in children's education is an important goal of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is designed to enable schools to provide opportunities for low-income and low-achieving children to acquire knowledge and skills contained in challenging standards developed for all children. Title I is the largest federal program supporting elementary and secondary education.
      But what happens when parents refuse to get involved at Booker?
      Good, old-fashioned house calls.
      Several years ago a low parent turnout at a parent-teacher conference prompted the staff at Booker to come up with a solution to bring parents in -- a personal visit to each and every home that didn't show.
      "The next year we didn't have to worry about it," Mathis said.
      "É Booker is not the same Booker as it was in 1995 when I came, because now the parents really feel valued and they should," she added, noting that it just takes time.
      Marchant said the Clark County School District is encouraging its open-door policy in schools more than ever.
      "Go learn what things are about, and don't be afraid to do that," she said.
      However, she stressed that parents don't necessarily have to sit in on a class to be involved. They "might enjoy correcting spelling papers or coming in and helping with the bulletin board," she said.
      Yet she recommends instilling accountability as a guiding force behind a pupil's motivation to be in school.
      "If school's going to be important to children, it's got to be important enough that the parent wants them there on time doing their job. Just like you'd want the parent at work on time," she said.
      "With a 24-hour town and with both parents working and everybody going lots of directions, you really have to make a point of planning as a parent to get involved and know what your child is doing."
      The Clark County School District recommends the following tips for parents to become more involved in their children's education:
      -- Read to or with your children every day.
      -- Make frequent trips to the library.
      -- Talk about what they are learning.
      -- Look at papers brought home from school, and help with or review homework assignments.
      -- Designate a workplace for your children, and identify a specific time each day when homework will be completed.
      -- Communicate with your children's teachers through notes, phone calls and visits.
      -- Play games that help your children read and practice basic math facts and computations.
      -- Provide exposure to activities and experience to broaden their understanding of the world around them.
      -- Make learning relevant. Ask your children to do things such as count money, write grocery lists, read menus or read the newspaper.
      -- Talk and listen to your children every day.