Community Resources

Years of research shows that the roles that families play in a child’s education—supporters of learning, advocates of strong education programs, encouragers of hard work, and models of lifelong learning—can have a significant effect on academic performance. Family engagement is so important to children’s success that it was identified as one of the five essential supports in the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research.

National PTA and Georgia PTA are committed to being the leading resource for family engagement, providing comprehensive resources to help families get involved and stay engaged in the lives of their children.

National PTA created the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships based on research showing the key ways that family engagement at school supports student learning. The six standards are:

• Welcoming All Families
• Communicating Effectively
• Supporting Student Success
• Speaking Up for Every Child
• Sharing Power
• Collaborating with Community

These standards and resources provide PTAs with the tools to engage families from throughout their school community to support their children’s education.

These guides were created by teachers, parents, and education experts to provide resources for parents to support their children’s education under the Common Core State Standards. Available for each grade K-8 plus high school mathematics and high school English Language Arts (ELA) in both English and Spanish, the guides provide parents with key items children should be learning in ELA and math for each grade level, activities parents can do at home to support their child’s learning, and questions to ask their child’s teacher.

National PTA School of Excellence is a recognition program that supports and celebrates partnerships between PTAs and schools to enrich the educational experience and overall well-being for all students. Based on the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships, the program provides PTAs who sign up with a survey to assess the current level of family engagement and an action plan based on the results of that survey to improve family engagement. PTAs can choose to focus on education, health and safety, or the arts as the area to improve family engagement.

170 schools from across the country were recognized as 2017-2018 National PTA Schools of Excellence. A report on the analysis of those schools showed that as a result of the program there was a:

• 46% increase in the number of families that feel their school and PTA always empower them to support student success
• 102% increase among families that feel their school and PTA always speak up for every child
• 53% increase in the number of families that feel their school and PTA always share power in decision-making and school improvement
• 78% increase in families that feel their school and PTA always collaborate with the community.

Helping a child with special needs in school is often a difficult job for parents as they navigate the confusing system of special education, services, and resources. This toolkit helps to educate and guide families of newly-diagnosed children through that maze to help them get the support and resources they need to be successful.

Studies show that students perform better when both mothers and fathers are involved in the education of their children, yet school activities and PTA are often seen as mom’s job alone. National PTA has worked with other organizations and has created programs to engage fathers, grandfathers, and other male role models in their children’s education and in their local PTA.

Take Your Family to School Week occurs every February as a way for schools and families to develop connections. This year’s Take Your Family to School Week will be February 11-17, 2018 and will focus on the theme of Supporting Student Success. Materials include turnkey programs ready for your PTA to use to engage families on issues such as literacy, bullying prevention, student success, and more, complete with promotional materials in both English and Spanish.

Georgia PTA believes family engagement is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways and in which families are committed to actively supporting their children’s learning and development. Family engagement is continuous across a child’s life and entails enduring commitment but changing parent roles as children mature into young adulthood. Effective family engagement cuts across and reinforces learning in the multiple settings where children learn at home, in pre-kindergarten programs, in school, in after school programs, in faith-based institutions and in the community.

Georgia PTA Family Engagement Resource Guide

A user’s guide to the Georgia PTA resources listed below. Offers explanations, implementation ideas, and background information to help you use these tools to enhance your diversity efforts.

National PTA Standards for Family School Partnerships PTA’s process for building successful partnerships starts with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships and consists of six steps:

For a more detailed explanation of the six standards click here.

• Georgia PTA Parent Involvement Pamphlet
• Parent and Family Involvement Guide

Raise funds for your school or non-profit organization and teach children about ways to help the environment.

For more information, contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PTA fundraising has gotten a whole lot more fun, and now is the time to rethink your PTA fundraiser. Funds2Orgs, the largest shoe drive fundraising social enterprise in the nation, now provides Georgia PTA groups its fundraisers. Forget about asking people to open their wallets, and instead collect gently worn, used and new shoes from your community. Once your shoe drive fundraiser finishes, Funds2Orgs gives your PTA a check for all the shoes collected. It’s that simple, fun, and easy!

We create monthly recurring donations for schools in an easy and contactless way.

AIM supports non-profit, educational organizations and associations by providing high-quality insurance protection at an affordable price.

With 30 years of experience, they provide a well-tailored solution, 24-hour support, and educational resources to help their clients avoid risk upfront so they can focus on making a meaningful difference in their communities