Essay question: What are the ways can parents and community leaders be involved in the school

to improve school performance?

School and community connection is a two-way relationship. Just as how teachers are
expected to be part of the community, the parents and the community itself are also expected to
be involved in the school: both purposes for the welfare of the members of the community. On
every school’s improvement lists, there is a goal of positive and productive family and
community involvement. There are ways parents and community leaders be involved in the
school to improve school performance which will be stated in the following paragraphs.
The most common involvement parents can participate is the Parents-Teachers
Association (PTA). This is placed in every school, with varying names for the public and private
schools. This involves, as the name suggests, parents of the children enrolled in the school and
the teachers. It is a forum of discussion to address various school problems. In addition to that,
parents vote officers among themselves for a more organized discussion, and a more parent-to-
parent talk about what is best for their children.
Other than the PTA, there is the School Governing Council. The School Governing
Council is a policy-making body with the school head as the Chief Executive Officer, Manager,
and Chief Operations Officer. Through the School Governing Council, the community members,
specifically the community leaders can participate in determining general policies, development
and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the School Improvement Plan (SIP), share
one’s leadership, all for the welfare of students, discipline and well-being.
Aside from the two most common school-community connection and participation, the
community can participate in the school’s activities in general. There are several ways such as
going on a school’s family day, volunteering in the school’s clean-up activities like Brigada
Eskwela, participation in school’s feeding program, involvement is various school’s
seminars/orientation on topic like parenting, handling student’s stress, cyberbullying, etc.
Family and community involvement in school activities can contribute to the school’s
academic programs as well as the student’s learning. Through these participations and
involvement, parents can also contribute to the school’s guidance programs and student’s
attitudes and behavior. School involvement is more than just academics. It is a great way to build
relationships with the school’s faculty and staff, meet other families from the neighborhood, and
most of all, help the school community grow to meet the needs of the students.