Parents are a child's most significant educator.

Promoting Family Involvement

Emerging research shows that principals play an essential role in building family involvement.  Principals create a school climate that supports family involvement by communicating with teachers about the importance of families.  Parents and educators frequently end up like ships that pass in the night: overworked and time-deprived families and professionals can find it difficult to stop and exchange signals.  Yet, a large body of research supports the importance of family involvement in the high school years.  Families remain a crucial influence in the lives and learning of older youth.  The academic encouragement parents provide to their adolescents is even more powerful than the support provided by friends (Sands &Plunkett, 2005).  To be successful in school and in life, adolescents need trusting and caring relationships with supportive adults.  They also need opportunities to form their own identities, express themselves, and engage in experiences that develop competence and self-esteem while relying on guidance from parents and other adults. 

Home- School relationships should feature communication that is ongoing and two-way - initiated by families and educators.  Moreover, educators and families must share responsibility for students' learning.  High parental expectations for students' success and achievement stand out as a significant influence on many academic outcomes in high school.  The more families discuss school issues, the greater impact their expectations can have on adolescent academic achievement (Jeynes, 2005).

Monitoring represents a parent's or another close adult's efforts to know what is going on in an adolescent's life.  Monitoring of social activities decreases school problems, substance use and delinquency, and promotes social competence and good grades (Rodriquez, 2002).  By monitoring adolescents' academic and social lives, parents can catch emerging problems and promote positive academic outcomes (Catsambis, 2001; Sartor & Youniss, 2002). 

Summing it up: Families matter to us at H.V.R.H.S.

The research is clear: schools and families matter for adolescents' learning and academic success.  We need to work together to reap the benefits of strong and developmentally appropriate family involvement. I look forward to meeting and working with you to help all our of Region #1 Community.