PARENTAL ROLE IN ENSURING A SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL YEAR

Know what is expected: Be aware of what your child should know by establishing a team by working with your child’s teacher.

Know how well your child is reading: Read to your child and be aware of his/her abilities.  Let her see your reading regularly.  Turn off the TV and be creative, play board games, write on the driveway with chalk: make reading fun!  Encourage her and do not condemn her attempts, ask your child’s teacher for reading success tips.

Understand test scores: Test scores are a vital indicator of student achievement and school quality.

Teacher feedback: Build a trusted relationship between you the parent, the teacher and your child.

Listen to your child:  Communicate with your child, board games or card games help your child relax and feel open to communication with you.  Children develop the ability for self-evaluation, make sure they are using encouraging words about themselves and others.  Help them to talk positively and discourage negative comments if they are counterproductive to improvement.

Stay attuned to social skills: It is important even at young ages to have some measure of social development.  Ask your child’s teacher if your child is socially on age-level.

Familiarize yourself with your child’s homework: Communicate with your child and teacher regularly regarding homework, make sure your child has a regular time and an orderly location with needed supplies to complete homework in a timely, neat manner.

Know your child’s strengths and weaknesses: Use progress reports, communication with teacher and your child’s comments to identify overall progress.

Review progress regularly: Keep performance-related information into a single folder at home, create a new folder each semester.