Increasing Involvment, or Can PTA's "Save" Education?

I don't believe that there is a magical cure.  I don't think spending more money wisely or changing the core and state standards every few years will solve the problem on their own.  I do however know for certain that the more community involvement in a school, the better the school is perceived, and the students perform better.

This is a major component of Charter Schools as most require volunteer hours within the school by the parents of the students.  This active involvement helps students see parents as part of a team in their education and as invested in it, rather than outside of it.  Parent involvement also helps the parents have a better idea of the rigor and challenges placed both on their children as well as the teachers. 

Source and a great resource!

Which brings us back to the the matter at hand.  School funding.  When schools ask for more money to pay staff better or increase programs, often the response is, why?  How hard do teachers really work?  Why don't they just step up and cover more classes or sports?  Often parents don't realize that schools are already cut to the minimum and encouraging students to not take a full course load because classes are already too full (34+ students, which I'm sourcing personal experience for this information). 

By inviting parents into the classroom they firsthand can see how classes are run, where disciplinary issues occur, how a teacher teaches 7 classes a day and has one planning period to grade, plan, meet with students and help them catch up, and so forth.  They can see that teachers are working hard, and that there is a true need to volunteer more to improve the school, they may even see the benefit of increasing school funding.

When schools begin a PTA/PTO/PTSO they are inviting parents into the classrooms, the school, and more directly into Education.  The school isn't a mystery that parents have no in put on, but rather a place within their community to gather, make connections, and receive beneficial information.  Schools offer low-income services and education about these services, and many parents are not aware until they either join a PTA or are informed by the PTA.

To read more about the benefits of PTA's and parent involvement check out these awesome articles:
http://www.pta.org/about/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3291

http://www.wsd.k12.ca.us/websites/hp_images/903/D3618-188_Ways_to_increase_membership.pdf

http://www.greatschools.org/improvement/volunteering/359-bring-pta-to-life.gs

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LeZXVVuhpAUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA21&dq=Does+parent+involvement+increases+student+proficiency&ots=sUm88-ZzrL&sig=AN9EMqRp0bVFnY4L3XGBwSSar4o#v=onepage&q=Does%20parent%20involvement%20increases%20student%20proficiency&f=false