Roll out the Welcome Mat

When it comes to middle school, many parents simply don't know what their role is once their student leaves elementary school. After spending so many years volunteering in the classroom and baking cookies, it's a wonder that so many parents may simply be feeling left out or missing that relationship with school and their child's teachers.

How many studies can we find that stress that parents must be involved at the school level as well as in their children's educational growth and development to have successful relationships? Sadly, once your child hits middle school, the report card is the first communication with middle school parents. How sad that qualified teachers and staff cannot utilise e-mail, Facebook and blogging to touch base with their parents and students. Most schools have a weekly newsletter or updated website, but is this enough to avoid the explosive damage when progress reports and class updates could be made readily available?

Look, the middle school years present stiff academic challenges for students - more homework, harder assignments like detailed reports and labs as well as concentrated textual academic material that many 6th graders have never seen before.  The academic performance of young adolescents is also affected by growth and developmental issues mired with social media, peer distractions, a preoccupation with friends and bouts of frustration or is it downright disinterest in their studies!?

Here's one thing I look for at our son's school: Are the teachers and staff surrounding my student experienced in behaviour and issues that define ten-to-fifteen year olds?  Have they learned tactics that are implemented within the classroom to deal with challenges head-on that promote disciplined study habits, navigation through coursework and lessons and organised skill-building sessions which cater to progressive developmental milestones?  And most importantly, do they make my son feel welcome at school by affirming his uniqueness and help him discover what he does best?

Parents and teachers need to regularly and consistently reach out to one another.  And it goes without saying that parents want to know that their child's teacher is competent and has had positive interactions within the classrooms.  Coming from a solid foundation of shared values will help parents find common ground in unfamiliar territory of dealing with the myriad of middle school issues.  And no one will argue with the virtues of fairness, honest effort and hard work.  However, when a teacher critiques a child's performance the force of this negativity impacts a student's performance.  And in most cases, the lines of communication with parents are destroyed severing the important school-home partnership.

To be quite candid, I feel that as parents we are discouraged from visiting our child's classrooms during the middle school years causing feelings of alienation and developing resentment. Short of volunteering in the cafeteria or front desk, there are not many opportunities to be of service close to the classroom setting once your child hits sixth grade.  It's a wonder a breakdown in communication between the school and parents is prevalent in many schools today.  

Wouldn't it be great if as parents we could support the school environment by sharing our expertise within the classroom or workshops with the students and teachers on an on-going basis?  With an available arena for teachers and parents to come together possibly with our students to work together as a cohesive team, all of our concerns could be offered allowing each student a much greater chance for success as well as serving the additional dual purpose of informing parents of the latest happenings and giving them a stronger sense of belonging to the community.

In order for students to make the most of their potential for academic success, it takes the whole school community to create an environment that stimulates learning and development. In a favourable learning environment, schools need to empathise with parents and likewise, parents must perceive their relationships with their child's teachers as meaningful which provides the opportunity to develop a basis for normal interactions and communication.  When implemented in earnest, that positive school climate can make the difference between wasted minds and lifelong learners.