Section 1: Academic Achievement - National Center for School ...

homework. Teachers need to focus on family practices instead of family structure. One way to
get parent’s involvement in learning activities at home is to provide families with printed
suggestions for simple things they can do at home to help students achieve at higher levels.
Some suggestions are to have parents set aside a specific amount of time each day for doing
homework. Parents should also set aside time daily to read to or listen to their child read.
They could use library books, hobby books, newspapers, and magazines as the source of this
activity. Teachers could create a student homework/class work notebook. Class assignments
or homework assignments could be written in the book and this way teachers and parents can
communicate about how the student was doing. This can provide a means of notifying parents
on the student’s progress, about problems that were beginning to arise, and to remind them of
meetings or upcoming conferences. Teachers could also suggest questions for parents to ask
students about homework assignments and how to stimulate conversations about learning.
There needs to be a school-home connection. This is the basic obligation of a school to
communicate from school to home about school programs and student progress. Using letters,
memos, phone calls, report cards, newsletters, and conferences can do this type of
communication. I sent home a monthly newsletter to parents. They knew to look for it at the
beginning of each month. The letter informed them about what we were learning in the
classroom, upcoming events in our classroom or at school, and then a section with reminders.
I added a section at the start of this action research project that included homework tips. These
tips were easy ideas and solutions to many parents’ questions. It gave them concrete ways that
they could help their child with their homework. I also gave them educational websites that
they could use to supplement homework or for fun if they had computer access. I posted this
letter on our school’s website and posted one outside of my classroom door.
Families should be involved in the school as well. Some parents volunteer their time in the
classroom assisting the teacher and students, or in the school assisting administration or
children in classrooms and other areas of the school. Not all parents have time during the day
to come to school to participate and learn what is being taught in the classrooms. In order to
serve as many of our families as possible we provided a family math night. The night was
designed to pull families into the school setting and show them how the district math program
(Everyday Math) is set up and how to play the math games at home with their children. We
Action Research to Study Homelessness and High Mobility in School Communities 61