Championing Arts in Education for More Than 40 Years

May 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

National PTA recently announced the 2010-2011 Reflections award recipients. The announcement made me look back at our history with and the importance of arts in education. It’s no secret, arts programs and classes are often the first to be cut from the school day when education budget cuts hit.

This is so unfortunate because studies continue to show that when children express themselves through the arts, they are more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, more likely to participate in a math or science fair, and are more likely to be elected to a school office. National PTA and its local PTAs nationwide know these facts.

We believe in the importance of arts in education. We believe that children should not be denied an outlet for their artistic expression because of budget cuts. That’s why for more than 40 years we have sustained our very own Reflections arts program. Thousands of PTAs across the country have made it possible for students to be involved in the arts, when they may not have had the opportunity otherwise.

We’re proud of the millions of students that have participated in this amazing program throughout the last four decades. This year PTAs at all levels have seen, first hand, the true talent our students have from pre-k through the 12th grade. Either in visual arts, literature, photography, music composition, film production or dance choreography our students have an untapped talent that so many of us would be amazed to see.

For example, I was in Arkansas recently for the Arkansas PTA convention. I took part in their awards program in which more than 400 students and parents attended… and that’s just one state! It’s inspiring to see that we’re all working together to continue to champion arts in education.

Visit the National PTA newsroom (onevoice.pta.org) for the announcement of the 2011 national winners and visit the general website for more information on how your PTA can participate in next school year’s Reflections program.

Finally, please join me in celebrating the best and the brightest our PTA schools have to offer when it comes to arts education!

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Proposed Family Engagement Bill Will Strengthen Education

May 14, 2011 By 6 Comments

Earlier this week, the Family Engagement in Education Act was introduced in the Unites States Congress by Representative Todd Platts (R-PA), Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Senator Chris Coons (D-DE). Known as S.941/H.R.1821, this legislation will help increase parent and family engagement throughout our country and lead to student success. See news release here: http://tiny.cc/2niwy.

Simply put: parent engagement equals student achievement. Parents, grand-parents, other family members and all adult role models can bring the needed dedication and experience to the table to help make student success a reality.

For years, school districts and local schools have lacked the resources to implement research-based practices that meaningfully engage parents. This legislation can help provide the resources that take increased engagement to the level we all agree is needed.

The bill would provide incentives to districts and schools to implement best practices, such as parent leadership academies, placing family engagement coordinators in schools, and professional development for educators on how to partner with families.

The Family Engagement in Education Act would also strengthen the sole federal program dedicated to parent engagement, the Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs), to scale-up research-based strategies for engaging families. PIRCs currently serve more than 16 million parents in all 50 states.

As policymakers in Washington work to fix No Child Left Behind, this bill puts forth a framework for true partnership with parents and families in education reform efforts – and it does all of this without authorizing any new federal spending.

We know that partnership is pivotal in ensuring reforms passed on Capitol Hill are sustainable in our districts and schools. There is a lot going on in our nation’s capital and we know Congress has a full plate, but PTA leaders, members and all families should share their support for this legislation and contact their Representatives and Senators to urge them to do the same. For information on how to do this, visit http://capwiz.com/npta2/home/.

For 115 years PTA has worked to better the health and educational experience for every child. Now is the time to add your voice to this very important conversation. Get involved and support S.941 and H.R.1821, helping make every child’s potential a reality!

Filed Under: Education News, Money Matters Tagged With: , , , ,

Call to PTAs: Join Forces!

April 13, 2011 By 3 Comments

“Joining forces” is a phrase that PTA members have used as part of their fabric for over 115 years. PTA has joined forces with parents, educators, educational leaders, government leaders and communities in making every child’s potential a reality. This week, PTA takes this phrase to a new level.

Yesterday, April 12th, 2011, PTA was part of the launch of “Joining Forces”; a new initiative of First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden. President Obama, Vice President Biden, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden all talked about the true sacrifices that our Military Families make and how much they depend on our nation for support.

Joining Forces brings together caring, dedicated and thoughtful businesses, agencies and organizations towards the goal of seeing that our military personnel, veterans and their families receive support in addressing educational opportunities, reaching employment goals and seeing that their homes are secure.

In response, National PTA and the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) joined forces to engage military families and support the more than one million grade school-age military children. During her remarks at the ceremony yesterday First Lady Michelle Obama thanked PTA and MCEC for their collective efforts.

PTA and MCEC have solid goals for the future of our initiative. The partnership will work to build connections between military and civilian parents and students through programs and activities in highly military-impacted school districts. We’ll work together to educate state PTA leaders on fostering a common understanding of military child education issues and communicate the role that they can play in supporting these families.

We encourage all of our local PTAs, leaders and members to visit www.joiningforces.gov and get involved in this outstanding movement. Also, look for more information from National PTA about our efforts with MCEC. Together we can Take Action to Serve America’s Military Families.

Filed Under: Family Engagement, Membership Tagged With: , , , ,

Let’s all Connect for Respect and Put a Stop to Bullying

March 10, 2011 By 10 Comments

As the parent of four, with two sons still in middle school, I have seen firsthand how bullying can hurt our students. For my wife, Teresa, and I this issue started with our youngest experiencing illness at home and school every day. He would wake up each day physically ill, not wanting to go to school, this coming from a child who was rarely ill and loved school. We started digging down and discovered that both of our sons had experienced being bullied.

Bullying has led to so many tragedies. We have seen news accounts where students have taken their own lives because they were bullied by others. Bullying causes so many issues; bad grades, health issues, self esteem issues; all harmful and negative for our children.

PTA members, parents and caregivers must get engaged in this conversation. We must help our children understand why these actions are wrong. We must help teachers and school administrators know that we will support their efforts in the school to combat issue. This is not a “kids will be kids” issue, this is serious! Kids are hurting kids and it must stop.

That’s why we’re proud to announce today the launch of a new bullying prevention campaign, called Connect for Respect. PTAs everywhere have supported bullying prevention for years and today, with this campaign, we are reaffirming our commitment to the cause.

We announced the launch of this initiative in a news release this morning, as well as during our participation today in the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention. It is our hope that PTAs across the country will get involved in raising awareness about this important issue with the parents, children and families they serve.

Through this initiative, PTAs can get involved by:
1. Hosting a Connect for Respect event in their communities and sharing resources with parents about bullying.
2. Encouraging parents to talk to their child about bullying and to advocate for policies and practices that will create a safe school climate for all children.
3.Providing resources for parents and PTAs to get involved. PTA has created five tip sheets to increase parents’ understanding of bullying, how to prevent it, and how to recognize if your child is the bully. PTA has also created some “how to” materials to support our PTAs in planning their own Connect for Respect event.

Please join us in this effort and don’t wait until this happens to your family. Visit www.PTA.org/bullying to help put a stop to bullying!

Filed Under: Family Engagement, Health and Safety Tagged With: , , , ,

National PTA rolls out Parents’ Guide to Student Success

March 2, 2011 By 1 Comment

Advocacy can sometimes prove to be a challenge. Many say they don’t have the time, some just do not understand why. Then there is the PTA; an Association of parents, teachers, administrators and communities working to improve the educational experience of our students. Common Core State Standards has been an initiative of the PTA for more than a year now and it has taken our advocacy efforts to a new level.

For example, this week National PTA rolled out the Parents’ Guide to Student Success. Individual guides have been created for parents, in both English and Spanish, for grades K-8 and two for grades 9-12; one for English language arts/literacy and one for mathematics. Eleven Guides in all.

These Guides help parents better understand what their children should be learning in English language arts and math in each grade after their state implements the standards. At this writing more than 40 states have already adopted the standards. Although the standards will take some time to be fully implemented in most places (1-3 years), the time to act is now for PTA leaders.

The Guides are a powerful advocacy tool that State and Local PTA Presidents can use to partner with their state departments of education and their school districts to ensure that parents are knowledgeable about the standards and can support their implementation. With this tool, PTAs can stand ready to work with their education administrators to develop a plan to share the Parent Guides with parents in their communities once the standards are in place.

As a parent, I know these guides will be helpful to me once the standards are implemented in my home state. Not only will they help me know what to expect my child to learn, but will help me know what the most important topics my boys will learn about in each grade.

You can find the guides and more information about the Common Core State Standards at PTA.org/parentsguides.

Charles J. “Chuck” Saylors is the President of National PTA.

Filed Under: Advocacy Tagged With: , , , , ,