For More Information:
NEA Communications 202 822-7200

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 1999

Statement by
Eddie Davis, Member
Executive Committee, National Education Association
on the U.S. Dept. of Education's Family Partnership Conference

The National Education Association is proud to be a partner in this very important effort. We know there is no better way to encourage a child's growth and development than parents and teachers working together to achieve improved student learning. The training manuals unveiled today -- Partners for Learning: Preparing Teachers to Involve Families -- will complement NEA's public engagement efforts underway across the nation.

NEA has a long track record of galvanizing the support and involvement of parents in their children's education. We have produced books, videotapes and workshops to get the message out. To date thousands of parents, teachers, administrators, school support staff, and community members have been trained through NEA's Family-School-Community Partnership program.

For nearly a decade NEA's Urban Initiatives unit has been providing family-school-community training to school staff and communities on how to create effective learning environments in the home. The results have been compelling and infectious.

Parents and teachers learn how to work in tandem to spark a child's learning in the classroom and reinforce those lessons learned at home and in the community. Teachers learn how to tap parents' insights into how to reach their child and overcome obstacles to learning, and parents learn how to engage their child in fun, educational activities at home.

Parents in public housing projects in Nashville, Tennessee, are learning how to help their children with homework and become better learners. In Broward County, Florida, NEA trained parents in how to resolve conflict in the home. At Mauphin Elementary in Louisville, Kentucky, teachers are using the MegaSkills program to help children develop confidence, motivation, and self-esteem. After school, teachers train parents in how to teach MegaSkills at home. Evening workshops are offered and material is provided in several languages to make it easier for parents to participate. Many schools even provide transportation to and from workshops.

In Richmond, Virginia, the Whitcom Model School's parent coordinator meets parents and families on their own turf, often swinging by their neighborhoods, dropping by the recreation center, and even going door-to-door to invite parents to upcoming meetings and keep them informed about what's going on at their school.

A growing number of schools aren't letting language and cultural differences create a rift between parents and school staff. When parents call Phantom Lake Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington, they can listen to school announcements in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Laotian, or Vietnamese. With help from a special software program, they can get regular messages from school in their native language, and they can register their kids with help from how-to-videotapes in six languages.

Schools are being transformed into inviting community centers where parents are welcome and cooperation thrives. When parents, teachers, support staff, and community members discover the power of working together and understand the roles they can each play to boost student achievement, public education becomes the cornerstone of progress in their communities.

NEA is committed to continuing these efforts to involve families in education. In 1999, NEA expects to train even more parents and teachers in the Family-School-Community Partnership program and coordinate these efforts through a liaison in every state. In a new year on the threshold of a new millennium, we are resolved to confront tough issues and make every school a welcoming place where parents can ask questions, get answers, and unite with school staff and their communities to give children the tools they need to succeed.

I hope you will visit NEA's Web site to find "Tools You Can Use" for boosting parental involvement in education -- http://www.nea.org/helpfrom/connecting/tools/involve.html.

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers. To fulfill the promise of a democratic society, the NEA promotes quality education and advances the profession of education.