Does Your Child’s Education Honor Their Uniqueness?

Teacher helping kids with computers in elementary school

Jade and Alex do not check the traditional educational boxes. They are bright, young women with many gifts, yet each comes to the classroom with a disability that impedes core learning—for Jade, one that affects her ability to read, and for Alex, her challenge manifests in math.

Unfortunately, these two—and many like them—are in a one-sized-fits-all education system that is neither suited to meeting their particular needs, nor suited to validate and affirm their unique gifts and interests.

As a result, Jade and Alex have suffered tragic experiences that are all too common for students with disabilities: They began to see themselves only through the lens of their disability, internalized the judgement placed on them and experienced feelings of being demoralized.

The silver lining for students like Jade and Alex is that through personalized learning, we are more empowered than ever before to transform this one-size-fits-all system.

At the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), our personalized learning project has traditionally focused on students with disabilities, but we see common themes for every group of students whose experience in learning is unique from that of their peers:

  • Students must be understood for both their needs and strengths.
  • High educational standards must remain a constant, but the means to achieve those standards (i.e., where, when and how that learning happens) should be seen more flexibly.
  • Schools must ensure that students are attaining key skills and dispositions, like critical thinking and self-advocacy, that are necessary for their success in college, careers and civic life.

Personalized learning then is not an end in itself, but a means to achieving these goals. Like any other initiative, its success begins with informed, engaged and empowered parents. To ensure this success, we recommend four steps for every parent:

  1. Develop an awareness of your child’s needs and experiences. Your child is unique, research on children’s needs is constantly evolving, and let’s be honest, as a parent, you’re juggling a few other things besides your child’s school work. If your child has learning and attention issues, a great resource is Understood.org. Developed through a collaboration of 15 non-profits, it offers daily access to experts, in-depth information, expert strategies, and an active community of parents. It also offers tools to help with your journey, including a simulation of what your child experiences. In addition to Understood, at NCLD we have a number of resources on personalized learning and addressing the needs of students with disabilities, including a two-page resource for parents.
  2. Find out what your child’s school is doing around personalized learning. Once you understand your child’s needs, the question becomes what’s happening around personalized learning in their school and how does it impact your child? How are personalized learning plans integrated with your child’s IEP? This can be trickier than it sounds, as personalized learning can come under a number of labels: student-centered learning, blended learning, deeper learning or competency-based learning, just to name a few.
  3. Understand how your school will meet diverse needs in personalized learning efforts. It seems strange to say that approaches around personalized learning can be ill-suited for many students, but unfortunately that’s too often the case. Technology may not be accessible for students with disabilities, or educators may not trained to reflect on their underlying biases in interacting with these students or aren’t trained in engaging learning approaches that accommodate these students’ needs. One key step you can take is to ensure that your school’s implementation of personalized learning strategies aligns with principles of universal design for learning, which ensures accessibility for all students.
  4. Maximize the benefits of personalized learning. One of the real benefits of personalized learning is that it provides educators much more valuable information on your child’s needs and strengths. That information isn’t just valuable for the teacher—it’s valuable for you! Be an advocate. Ensure that the school has systems in place and the educators have the tools that are necessary to empower you to be a partner in supporting your child’s success.

Personalized learning, with its focus on embracing the needs and strengths of each individual child, can be much more humanizing and accommodating to the many unique features our children bring to the classroom.

This potential can only become real when individual parents are prepared to be strong advocates for some of the key benefits of this system and it takes each of us asking the hard questions and taking the difficult steps to achieve it.


Ace Parsi is the personalized learning partnership manager at the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD).

 

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Making College Happen: Advice from One Family

My son Alex and I are preparing for his first year at the University of Colorado at Denver. Paying for college can feel challenging and overwhelming, but it’s absolutely possible. Here’s how we did it:

  1. Start Early

We visited colleges during Alex’s sophomore year, and by junior year, he found a favorite. While visiting colleges with your child, stop by the financial aid office or just give them a call. They will give you a good idea about typical costs and answer questions about transferring credits. We learned that the University of Colorado at Denver offers a discount for residents of neighboring states. That’s helped us make it work.

  1. Determine the Cost

Once you find a college, determine the cost. Remember to consider not just tuition and fees, but also books, transportation and other expenditures. It might sound like a lot to keep track of, but free resources like the Sallie Mae® College Planning Calculator can help. Some colleges also offer net price calculators to help you estimate the costs.

  1. Start Simple

Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on or soon after Oct. 1. The FAFSA determines eligibility for federal financial aid. Some of that aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis so it’s best to submit the application as early as possible.

  1. Apply for Scholarships

Make sure your child applies for scholarships early and often. Start searching online in August of their senior year to meet early deadlines. Services like Sallie Mae and Fastweb offer great scholarship search engines. Alex worked hard to maintain a good GPA because he knew academics are so important for scholarships, but many scholarships are based on other factors.  Set a weekly goal and don’t get discouraged. Alex completed many applications and often received the response: “great letter, but…” Don’t give up! Alex added the Make College Happen Challenge to his list and made an animated video about college planning. He placed 3rd nationally! Nothing is out of reach, so if you see a scholarship you like—have your child apply!

  1. Parting Advice

There are plenty of other ways for students to save, plan and pay for college. But the key is to start with a plan. At least, that’s what we did. And remember, this is just an example of our experience. The important thing is to create a personal plan of action to make college happen.

Good luck!


 

Veronica and Alex Gomez are a mother and son currently navigating the paying for college process. Alex recently won Sallie Mae’s Make College Happen ChallengeSM with his animated video submission detailing how he plans to pay for his college.

National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.

A New School Year, a New Education Law

A multi-ethnic group of elementary age students are sitting at their desks working on an assignment. Their teacher is sitting with them and is answering any questions they have.

A multi-ethnic group of elementary age students are sitting at their desks working on an assignment. Their teacher is sitting with them and is answering any questions they have.

A new school year comes with new people to meet, new material to learn and new expectations. This year, it also comes with a new education law—the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Across the country, states and districts are crafting new education plans that will guide the implementation of ESSA. The process of implementing the law presents an important opportunity for families and PTAs to help shape the future of education for our nation’s children. Under ESSA, parents are required to be “meaningfully consulted” during the development of the new education plans.

To empower families and PTAs to be at the table and active participants in state and local implementation of ESSA, National PTA has developed a wide range of resources at PTA.org/ESSA.

In addition to these resources, National PTA recently hosted a webinar to delve into the specifics of how parents and PTA members can and should be involved in the implementation of the new law.

The webinar showcased two incredible PTA advocates: Kelly Langston, president of North Carolina PTA, and Otto Schell, legislative director of Oregon PTA, both of whom have been heavily involved in the ESSA implementation process in their respective states. They shared how parents and families are critical to making sure that state and local education plans meet the needs of all students. Jessah Walker, senior federal relations associate for the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), also gave a state education leader perspective on ESSA and reiterated the importance of having parents and families as partners in the implementation process.

As the new school year gets into full swing, here are three quick things you can do to make sure you are ready for ESSA:

  1. Read “What Does this New Law Mean for My Child?

This resource is designed to give parents a basic understanding of what ESSA will mean for their children.

  1. Check out what your state is doing to implement the new law

Visit National PTA’s website and find your state to see the latest resources, events and news about the ESSA implementation process and ways to get involved.

  1. Advocate for your and every child

PTA members are leading advocacy efforts at the school, district, state and federal level to ensure better educational opportunities are provided for all of our nation’s children. This school year, let’s continue to build upon our 119+ years of advocacy by working with school and state leaders to help every student succeed.

National PTA encourages every parent and family to lend their voice to the implementation of ESSA. To learn more about what you can do to get involved and help improve education for your child and every child in your community, visit PTA.org/ESSA.

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Four Simple Tips to Grow Your PTA

College Students Having Informal Meeting With Tutors

Many schools have a base of “die-hard” PTA fans. These are the parents who keep renewing their membership in the PTA year after year, with little or no prompting. But the base of die-hard fans simply isn’t big enough to sustain your PTA membership.

The good news: If you provide enough value, many more people would join your PTA.

Tip #1: Provide strong financial benefits for joining the PTA:

  • Try to arrange discounts from local businesses (e.g., pizza parlor or ice cream shop) for PTA members.
  • Set up discounts on your online store for your PTA members.
  • Create small “perks” for PTA members at every school or PTA event (free popcorn at a movie night, an extra free scoop of ice cream at a school carnival, etc.)

Tip #2: Provide non-financial benefits such as information and feeling of belonging.

Keep your school community informed and “in the loop”:

  • Post a school calendar online.
  • Provide information about school-wide events such as concerts, sporting events, fundraisers.
  • Invite everyone to general PTA meetings.
  • Publish a monthly newsletter with updates on past and upcoming events.

Instead of using an email distribution list, consider using an online communication portal such as SimplyCircle to keep the communication flow going. It sends your communications via email, but also creates a calendar of all the events (complete with automatic reminders to maximize participation), and a permanent and private archive of all updates, documents and photos that you share.

Tip #3: Make everyone feel included and feel like part of the community.

If you have a large Spanish-speaking community, make sure to provide all of your information both in English and in Spanish.

Sponsor events such as New Family Orientation or Ice Cream Social–let people get to know each other in a casual, fun setting.

Organize Community Service events and give back to your broader community.

Emphasize that by becoming a member of the PTA, they get a voice and voting rights in decisions affecting their school and their children.

Tip #4: Make people feel valued and appreciated, and let them express their appreciation of others.

Thank your school volunteers in a creative and unique way, like calling them out by name in a school newspaper or sending them handwritten thank you notes from the students.

Don’t forget to organize a Teacher Appreciation event, which gives parents an opportunity to thank their child’s amazing teachers for all the great work they do.

Happy growing!


Dr. Elena Krasnoperova is the Founder and CEO of SimplyCircle, a popular parent portal for classrooms, PTAs, schools and other parent communities. She is a mother of two children in elementary school, and an active member of the PTA.

National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.

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Why Bad Moms Need PTA

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This article was originally published on Huffington Post. (Photo Credit: STX Entertainment)

I’m sure you’ve seen the advertisements on Facebook and TV for the new comedy Bad Moms, released in theaters July 29. It tells the story of an over-worked and over-committed PTA mom who teams up with other stressed-out moms to free themselves from the everyday challenge of balancing kids, home and their careers.

In the movie, some of the seemingly perfect moms ridicule the main character, Amy Mitchell (played by Mila Kunis), and her friends at various PTA meetings and events as they let loose and stop trying to live up to unrealistic expectations. While this is an extreme and fictional plot, the stress these moms feel is a relatable narrative for many moms (and dads) across the country.

As a mom, I understand the often thankless work it takes to raise kids, and I agree with the film that being a mom is one of the toughest jobs out there. It can be overwhelming and exhausting, and at times you need to take a break, have fun and do something for yourself. However, at the end of the day—as the movie shows—we love our children fiercely and have a universal desire to build a strong foundation for our children. As a PTA leader and member, I also know it is important to be involved in the hard work in a community to help schools improve and make every child’s potential a reality.

PTA has been around for a long time—more than 119 years. Throughout all of those years, we have been a community for families who need support during the busy, fast-paced school year. We have been an ardent advocate for bettering the lives of every child in education, health and safety. Our community is 4 million members strong and truly makes a difference in the lives and futures of our nation’s children.

With PTA, parents come together to create powerful change and solve the toughest problems facing our schools and communities. PTA is responsible for the creation of kindergarten classes, child labor laws to protect children, healthy school lunch programs and juvenile justice reform. Currently, the association is advocating for policies that protect LGBTQ youth and practices that create and maintain safe, affirming and inclusive learning environments for all students.

I won’t lie to you, being a PTA leader is a big job, but I’m proud of the work we do. I dedicate the time because I know it makes a difference for our schools, communities and our children’s long-term success. Unlike the depiction in the movie, PTA members strive to be collaborative, committed, diverse, respectful and accountable. When we achieve these values, we can reach remarkable milestones.

So, savor these last few weeks of summer before gearing up for another hectic school year. Some of you will enjoy this guilty pleasure and laughing with the PTA overachievers in the movie. It’s OK, we get the joke. But please consider getting involved in your local PTA. I personally encourage you to become part of the network of PTA parents who believe that every child deserves a high-quality education in a healthy and safe environment that enables them to pursue their dreams.


Laura Bay is president of National PTA, a nonprofit association dedicated to making a difference for children’s health, safety, well-being and educational success through family and community involvement.

National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.

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Use TV Parental Guidelines to Find the Best Programs for Kids

Home from school with spare time, the summer offers many children the opportunity to watch more television. While each individual family has its own standards for deciding what’s appropriate for its children to watch, the TV Parental Guidelines is a helpful resource to help parents make informed decisions on which programs are suitable for their children.

What are the TV Parental Guidelines? 

Since the late 1990s, virtually all programs that air on television—with the exception of news and sports—are assigned a rating that provides parents information about the content and age-appropriateness of the program. These ratings, called the TV Parental Guidelines, fall into two groups: ratings for programming created specifically for children and ratings for programming intended for general audiences.

The TV Parental Guidelines are designed to be easily recognizable and simple to use. The Guidelines appear in the upper left corner of the TV screen in the first 15 seconds of the program and often reappear after commercial breaks. While most programs on television are rated, television commercials are not and cannot be blocked through parental controls.

Understanding the TV Ratings

TV-Ratings

How Can the Guidelines be Used with Parental Controls? 

Families can use the TV Parental Guidelines simultaneously with parental controls in TV sets and cable and satellite set top boxes to block programs they believe are unsuitable for their children. Parents have the ability to block programs based on both the age-based ratings as well as the content descriptors.

Contacting the TV Monitoring Board

The Monitoring Board is responsible for overseeing the TV Parental Guidelines and for working to ensure uniformity and consistency in the application of the guidelines. Parents can find more information about the ratings and the board at TVGuidelines.org.

Viewers can also contact the board by mail, phone or email with any questions or complaints about TV ratings.

TV-Ratings-Contact


Missi Tessier is the executive secretariat at the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board.

National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.