EDLD+5326

=School Community Relations=





Information Gathering
At my school each student has been issued a laptop for the year to use at school and at home for the entire school year. We have just started our 5th year using the computers and our teachers are becoming very proficient with the computers and at teaching the students in ways in which they have never been taught before. This is a wonderful thing however, it compounds the problem of middle school dwindling parent involvement. Parent involvement typically begins to decline in middle school anyway because parents start to feel inadequate in helping their children with school work as the work begins to get more specific and more difficult. Many of our parents have little to no computer skills. When their child comes home with a highly sophisticated tool such a laptop computer the parent withdraw completely. Cole, (2002), writes, “Some parents that are trying to become active participants in their child’s education are becoming frustrated, even angry, with schools that persist in being “the experts” who know what is best for their children.” He suggests that we are going above their heads and making the parents feel unskilled to help their children at home. Parents who have little to no technical knowledge will become frustrated to not know how to help their child with homework that is on the computer. What our students need is for their parents to be trained to be able to help their child at home.

Cole, K., (2002). //Encouraging Parent Involvement by student Facilitation in the// // Elementary Classroom //. Glen Forest Elementary, Fairfax County, VA.