Family and Community Engagement promotes parent leadership skills at Texas PTA conference

Thousands of Texas PTA parents converged on Dallas July 17-19 for workshops, idea exchanges, and how-to sessions in search of ideas on how to help schools and PTAs better support families in the coming school year. The occasion was the Texas PTA Summer Leadership Seminar, the state’s largest gathering of PTA representatives.

The staff of Dallas ISD’s Office of Family and Community Engagement drew a crowd for its workshop, “Re-engaging the Disengaged Parent,” which featured tips to help PTAs attract hard-to-reach parents. Among the workshop’s topics were how to build effective relationships with parents, how to sell school parent involvement programs, and actions schools can take to influence parents to become more involved in their children’s education.

“How to create a Parent Workshop Series on Your Campus,” another session conducted by the Family and Community Engagement staff, focused on concrete steps and best practices schools can implement to help parents support their student’s academic achievement.

The department also hosted an exhibitor booth that featured printed resources for PTA leaders to help parents better support their children’s academic, emotional and social growth.