Roadmap to academic success
Here are five of the most important things parents can do to raise the odds.
Originally published in the Moultrie News.
The start of school is just around the corner. What tips can you offer to guarantee my child’s achievement?
Due to this tiny little thing called “free will,” there is never a way to guarantee someone else’s achievement, but there are things you can do to jack up the odds. Here are five of the most important:
• Make them go. There are good reasons to miss school, like if a child is ill or a disaster befalls the family, but there is an epidemic of absences for reasons that don’t pass muster. In a school year, your child only gets 180 daily opportunities to learn from teachers, so maybe the Aspen trip can wait until the hundred or so vacation days. Kids can also plow through school even when they are tired from the soccer game, have a minor ache, or need to pack for the Aspen trip.
It isn’t just being in school that’s important. It’s the idea that school is a privilege. If you’re cueing your child that school isn’t significant vis-a-vis Aspen or sleeping in, your child is less likely to buy into the learning teachers try their best to promote.
In fact, kids missing too many days of school is one of the most critical problems facing education. In my experience, roughly one-third of annual failures can be attributed to poor attendance. Schools, however, can do almost nothing about it; the problem is entirely within parents’ control. So launch the idea early that attendance is non-negotiable except in rare circumstances.
• Make them behave. Believe it or not, there was a time when schools didn’t need to punish serious student misbehavior. All they had to do was contact home and parents would impose their own effective consequences. This school-home synergy made clear to kids that good behavior was the only behavior tolerated.
Today, a call home is often an invitation for teachers to be harangued about how incompetent or malicious we are. This leaves us with weak, unilateral disciplinary methods that frequently don’t work, derailing the learning opportunities for the misbehaving child and sabotaging the education of the entire class.
Learning and conduct go hand in hand. Set high expectations for behavior and hold your child accountable for attaining them. If the school calls home with a bad report, simply get the facts and say: “Thank you very much for calling. I’ll handle it.” Then, handle it.
• Make them do their homework. If one-third of annual failures are blamed on poor school attendance, the rest can be attributed to laziness. It’s no secret kids hate homework. The cover-up is the number of parents who don’t care if their kids don’t do it. If you want your child to succeed, ensure they study and do their homework. This applies to all levels. Even first-graders need a few minutes of review or practice every night.
• Make them read. Reading is the tide that lifts all boats. Books don’t just help students’ comprehension in English class — they help in all courses.
Like with homework, many schools don’t require students to read independently anymore. You can’t do much about schools’ foolish race to the bottom, but you can still induce your kids to read with weekly visits to the library, family read-alouds, and, most effectively, a reading-first attitude toward screen time.
• Give them your attention. Sadly, today’s child is part of the most ignored generation in history. That both parents must work jobs can’t be helped. But once home, families do not have to retreat to their separate screens. Engage your children in eye-to-eye conversation. Play games with them. Take them places. Do things together. This will show children that they are loved and wanted. It will also allow you to notice serious negative changes, like depression or drug use. Sadly, children who don’t get enough attention at home carry a loneliness with them that smothers their enthusiasm for things like learning.
Doing these five things won’t guarantee your child’s success, but it will guarantee them the opportunity to attain it. That’s the best a parent can hope for.
Jody Stallings has been an award-winning teacher in Charleston since 1992 and is director of the Charleston Teacher Alliance. To submit a question, order his books, or follow him on social media, please visit JodyStallings.com.
Once again,right on !