Early Collaboration: Parent-Teacher Associations
Candace Jaruszewicz
Like other aspects of early childhood education, the characteristics of parent/family involvement in schools have evolved over a long period of time (Olsen & Fuller, 2008). In the 1800s, when schools were primarily isolated and rural, the men in a community typically had control over all school matters. As more schools were built to accommodate the population growth that occurred with large-scale immigration, schools were located increasingly in urban areas.
In response to growing concerns about social issues and the welfare of children, womenwho did not yet have the right to votebegan to organize and advocate. Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst established the National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in 1897. The goals established at that time (and subsequently achieved over the following century) were:
- The creation of kindergarten classes
- Child labor laws
- A public health service
- Hot-lunch programs
- A juvenile justice system
- Mandatory immunization
By the 1950s, parent involvement in elementary schools through PTA membership had swelled to more than 6 million members. As many women returned to homemaking after World War II, they became increasingly involved in their children’s schools in both volunteer support and PTA leadership roles. Today, the PTA (https://www.pta.org/) continues as a national organization, with the mission to “make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.”
In addition, local parent-teacher organizations, loosely referred to as PTOs, have established a parallel network of independent groups. Most recently, federal funding for Title 1 schools through the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act mandates that schools receiving funding should establish parental involvement policies that focus on:
- Assisting their child’s learning
- Being actively involved in their child’s education at school
- Serving as full partners in their child’s education and being included, as appropriate, in decision making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child (National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, 2012)
More From the Field
Critical Thinking Question
- Donna proposes the need for teachers to be resilient and reflective about working with children and their families. What does she mean by that?
In child care centers, no such national grassroots effort took place. Public funding for child care began during the Great Depression through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and with the Lanham Act of 1940, which established child care for the many women working in factories to support the war effort (Cohen, 1996). These programs were temporary, ending with the crises that spurred their establishment. However, federal funding for early education, starting with Head Start, expanded the missions of programs to include a focus on families.