Parents sent survey about local schools
If you have a child attending school in Warren County, be prepared to answer a few questions.
As part of an initiative to garner more family involvement in Tennessee schools, the state school board has contracted with Family Friendly Schools. Through surveys and training, Family Friendly Schools helps school districts determine areas of need and offers suggestions for improvement for each individual school.
“This company is contracted through the state, so we get to take advantage of that,” said Bobby Cox, Warren County’s director of instruction. According to Cox, the training is free of charge and is designed to “train teachers and staff members in the process we need to follow in developing board policy.”
The surveys went out to all parents this past week. Each survey is anonymous and the school board has attached a self-addressed, stamped envelope for its return. The information from the surveys will be used to make decisions on improving family and community involvement in the school system.
“We’ll take the information we get from parents and try to devise a plan, school by school, to get more community involvement and get more parent involvement,” Cox said. “We’re trying to look at what each individual school does and see how we can make it better. We don’t have anything concrete now, but we know that the vital link between student success and the school is parent involvement.”
Dianna Zadeh, director of testing for the Warren County Schools, indicated school officials are hoping to involve parents who are not normally active in the schools. She noted sometimes the lack of involvement is cultural, especially among parents of ESL students.
“A lot of them don’t realize they can have an input into their child’s education and they don’t always realize how important that input can be,” Zadeh said.
Research has shown parental and family involvement in a child’s education can result in higher graduation rates, better attendance records, higher grades, fewer special education placements and more college-bound students. Results of the survey could translate into many different changes within the school system. Parents are urged to fill out the surveys and return them as soon as possible.
“So far we’ve had several who have already returned theirs. We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible,” Cox said.