Kindred Elementary School is bringing new meaning to their motto, “Student-Centered, Community Supported.” Parker Metz, Kindred Elementary’s Assistant Principal, and Ashley Bosch, Kindred PTO President, partnered this fall to build a parent volunteer program bridging the classroom and the community. They just wrapped up the first month of the program, and early feedback suggests that the benefits are universal.
Parent volunteer programs are not a new concept in schools, but the inception of this program was new for Kindred. As PTO President, Ashley Bosch knew that many parents in the area were looking for ways to get involved within the school but did not know how to start. So, the challenge for Bosch and Metz was to create a structured, but flexible program that was simple for parents to sign up for, easy for teachers to implement, and effective for building student success.
Bosch and Metz landed on the idea of parent volunteers assisting students during What I Need (WIN) time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as students transition into station-based learning. WIN time is flexible; students who need extra support in reading, writing, and math may spend that time working in small groups while more advanced students may use WIN time to enhance their learning. While this block of time promotes individual or small-group instruction, teachers have limited time to interact with struggling students; extra hands can be extremely beneficial. This is where the parents enter the picture.
To kickstart this program, Bosch created a sign-up on SignUpGenius and emailed it to parents on the PTO email contact list. Getting involved is relatively simple; once a parent is signed up for a time, they fill out a volunteer application which is reviewed by Metz. He then meets with each parent volunteer individually when they get to the building for their shift to get them acclimated to the school and how they will rotate throughout grade levels. From there, each teacher has different assignments for volunteers. The assignments include tasks like working in small groups, listening as students read to them, and assisting with math. It is a full team effort in making this experience as seamless as possible for parent volunteers who come into the building.
With very little hesitation, the sign-up list has filled up, and all the spots have been booked until January. Feedback from those who have volunteered during WIN time so far has been encouraging. Metz says that “every person that has entered the building has left saying that they feel more connected and are proud to be part of the program.” The enthusiasm is so great that parents have even reached out to see if they can volunteer on more days than just Tuesday and Thursday. Expansion into more instructional days is possible in the future, but for now, two days a week are beneficial.
Parents aren’t the only ones who are happy about the opportunity. Metz recalled a moment where he witnessed a young student see her mom in the hallway. Metz said, “Her face lit up, and she said, ‘My mom is working at the school today!’” These small moments of joy have boosted morale within the building.
A concern for Metz was ensuring that this program added value for teachers without excessively increasing their workload. He recognized that there would be additional prep work required to instruct parent volunteers on their duties, so he gathered feedback from teachers prior to the implementation of the program. Within the first month of this program launching, teachers have expressed gratitude for the extra support. Parents are able to help struggling students one-on-one or in small groups that may have otherwise not been able to get an extra boost because of the limitations of only having one instructor. One parent shared about a moment with a struggling student. The student fell behind on a reading task, but with the help of this parent who simply prompted them by saying, “show me what you can do,” this student read the full excerpt and caught up with the class. They told the parent volunteer, “I can do this.” That is the essence of the volunteer program - helping students get to a place where they believe they can accomplish their learning.
Metz’s advice to other schools looking to increase parent involvement with a volunteer program is to jump in and try it: “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.” But so far, for Kindred Elementary, it’s working, and the school feels even more “community supported.”
Written By: Kate Balstad, SEEC Events and Marketing Specialist