National PTA President's Letter
October, 2002

Parent Involvement in Teacher Education Key to Our Children’s Success

Parents are not the only ones who recognize the advantages their involvement provides to schools. Today, many teachers and administrators recognize the significance of parent/family involvement as key to children’s success in education. However, schools may need assistance in helping make parents true partners in their children’s education. Teachers may need professional development opportunities in skills and knowledge to understand and implement successful and effective involvement programs. PTAs can encourage parents and schools to develop meaningful education partnerships.

This fall, National PTA, in partnership with the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), will host “Partners for Student Success 2002—National Summit on Parent Involvement in Teacher Education,” the first-ever national summit on the topic of teacher education and parent/family involvement. It is vital for our children’s success that our future teachers can work with and actively engage parents and families. This summit will be a major step in introducing and expanding parent involvement training in the curricula for tomorrow’s teachers.

We’ve already seen success with PTAs. In fact, Alabama PTA, Indiana PTA, Ohio PTA, West Virginia PTA, and many others have been collaborating with several universities on the inclusion of parent involvement in curricula for many years and will be showcased at the summit in November.

The school community can be considerably strengthened by a partnership between parents and families and educators. Training tomorrow’s teachers in parent/family involvement ultimately will elevate teacher quality and benefit children everywhere.

Shirley Igo
President, National PTA