Teen suicide, bullying, school violence, and other threats to school safety are a far too common part of today’s schools. Illinois has now launched a new school safety program called Safe2Help Illinois to address those issues. The program is aimed at getting students to seek help before harm. Central to the program is a free app, website, … Continue reading Safe2Help Illinois Aims to Reduce Suicide, Bullying, and School Violence
Play the Fund Education Instead Game
Schools are underfunded, both here in Illinois and across the nation. You probably already knew that. Now a new online game called Fund Education Instead from the Partnership for the Future of Learning and the National Education Policy Center seeks to highlight that this underfunding is not a fact of life, but a result of the choices our elected leaders make … Continue reading Play the Fund Education Instead Game
Running Your PTA in a Pandemic—Part 3: Fundraising
Last spring, Illinois PTA ran a series of articles on how to run your PTA when schools are closed. This fall, schools have opened in a variety of configurations, from online only, to all in-person, to some mix of the two, and may shuffle between those as local conditions change during the year. In addition, … Continue reading Running Your PTA in a Pandemic—Part 3: Fundraising
Running Your PTA in a Pandemic—Part 2: Events
Last spring, Illinois PTA ran a series of articles on how to run your PTA when schools are closed. This fall, schools have opened in a variety of configurations, from online only, to all in-person, to some mix of the two, and may shuffle between those as local conditions change during the year. In addition, … Continue reading Running Your PTA in a Pandemic—Part 2: Events
Running Your PTA in a Pandemic—Part 1: Basics
Last spring, Illinois PTA ran a series of articles on how to run your PTA when schools are closed. This fall, schools have opened in a variety of configurations, from online only, to all in-person, to some mix of the two, and may shuffle between those as local conditions change during the year. In addition, … Continue reading Running Your PTA in a Pandemic—Part 1: Basics
Notes from the Backpack Season 3—Even Better
Illinois PTA highlighted National PTA’s podcast Notes from the Backpack about a year ago as the first season finished up. The award-winning podcast is starting its third season, and PTA’s Center for Family Engagement is even more focused on providing the information that families need now and the resources to help spread the word. The third season has … Continue reading Notes from the Backpack Season 3—Even Better
Join National PTA in Ensuring #EveryStudentConnected
Among the many issues the pandemic has highlighted, perhaps none is more critical than the lack of online access among a significant portion of our students. While schools districts have tried to connect with every student during online learning through distributing technology to students, putting WiFi access points on school buses and parking them near … Continue reading Join National PTA in Ensuring #EveryStudentConnected
How to Advocate for Healthier School Food
School lunches (and breakfasts) are lifesavers for some children, providing critical nourishment they might not have at home. But even for children who are food-secure, school lunches can help support their education, as well-fed and active children have fewer absences, higher self-esteem, better behavior, and increased academic performance. The Chef Ann Foundation, a non-profit that … Continue reading How to Advocate for Healthier School Food
How to Advocate for the Arts at Your School
Illinois funding of schools has long been woefully inadequate, and now the pandemic has made school finances even more challenging due to flat state funding and increased costs as schools struggle to provide online learning for all students or supplies for in-person classes. When school budgets get tight, the arts are often among the first … Continue reading How to Advocate for the Arts at Your School
Modifying Your Child’s IEP or 504 for Distance or Hybrid Learning
This spring, when schools closed and teachers struggled to shift to online learning, some students were left behind. Many of them were students with special needs. Now that schools are starting up for the fall, whether in person, online, or a hybrid of the two, families with special needs students may be worried their child … Continue reading Modifying Your Child’s IEP or 504 for Distance or Hybrid Learning
Host a Voter Registration Drive
The upcoming election is just under two months away. Illinois PTA has shared what PTAs can and can’t do regarding elections, as has National PTA in partnership with Nonprofit VOTE. One thing that PTAs can do is host a voter registration drive, and if you are a middle or high school PTA or PTSA, this … Continue reading Host a Voter Registration Drive
Work with Your Child’s Teacher with Ready to Partner Resources
We’re big fans of Learning Heroes, and we’ve talked about their Readiness Check before. Now, in partnership with National PTA and Univision, Learning Heroes has launched Ready to Partner, a research-based bilingual resource to help parents and teachers work together for what will certainly be a different sort of school year. The Ready to Partner … Continue reading Work with Your Child’s Teacher with Ready to Partner Resources
20 Questions to Help You with Back-to-School Choices
We at Illinois PTA are big fans of National Public Radio’s (NPR) Life Kit podcasts and articles, especially the parenting-focused ones. Now, as we head into an uncertain back-to-school time, they have released a 15-minute podcast and article on 20 Questions to Help Decide What’s Best for Your Kids (and You) This School Year. Whether … Continue reading 20 Questions to Help You with Back-to-School Choices
Inside National PTA’s New Membership Toolkit
As our children head back to school amid uncertainty about what this year will bring, PTA’s ability to connect families, teachers, and administrators and to support critical school needs is more important than ever. The key to PTA’s ability is its membership, and to help your PTA this year, National PTA is launching a new … Continue reading Inside National PTA’s New Membership Toolkit
Teacher-Recommended Math Apps and Online Tools
Of all the things parents have struggled with during the shift to online learning, helping their child with math probably ranks close to the top. Edutopia spoke with hundreds of teachers and sorted through over 500 comments to find the math tools that they found most useful this past spring. The result was a list … Continue reading Teacher-Recommended Math Apps and Online Tools
National PTA Position Statement on Addressing Institutional Racism
On July 27th, National PTA adopted a position statement on addressing institutional racism. The statement reaffirms National PTA’s commitment to listen, educate, and advocate beyond rhetoric and to rise to correct all inequities and injustices. “As an association that represents all children and families, it is our duty to disrupt the systems that propagate institutional … Continue reading National PTA Position Statement on Addressing Institutional Racism
Supporting Learning at Home
As Illinois heads towards back-to-school time, families are again facing the possibility of their children either starting the year with online classes or perhaps moving to online classes later should cases of COVID-19 increase in their area. After the sudden shift to online learning this spring, some parents and caregivers may be concerned about how … Continue reading Supporting Learning at Home
Get Digital—Facebook’s New Resources for Youth, Families, and Educators
Our children were already spending a lot of time online, and with online learning and shelter-at-home requirements, are probably spending a lot more now. Facebook has created a new collection of resources to support families, youth, and educators as they help children navigate online. The aim of Get Digital is to start conversations with children … Continue reading Get Digital—Facebook’s New Resources for Youth, Families, and Educators
Running Your PTA When School is Closed—Part 5: Wrapping Up the Year
Illinois PTA is continuing its efforts to support our PTAs and PTA Councils by answering questions you may have about running your PTA in this unprecedented situation. Our previous parts of this ongoing series are here: Part 1: Meetings & Elections Part 2: Fundraising & Unused Funds Part 3: Audit & Budget Part 4: Additional … Continue reading Running Your PTA When School is Closed—Part 5: Wrapping Up the Year
How to Talk to Your Kids About Racism
Parenthood comes with a lot of difficult conversations that you need to have with your child. For some of those conversations, you might be comfortable with the information, but struggle with talking with your child about it. For others, you might feel you don’t know enough to even start the conversation. With the protests following … Continue reading How to Talk to Your Kids About Racism
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