It’s no secret that Illinois PTA is a big fan of Learning Heroes, both for their great resources for families and their eye-opening research. Learning Heroes has now collaborated with the National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development to create a communications playbook on How Learning Happens. The playbook includes videos, social media assets, … Continue reading How Learning Happens—Tools for PTAs and Families
Current EBF School Funding Will Never Get Us to Adequately Funded Education
Illinois PTA strongly supported the passage in 2017 of the new Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula that directs additional school funding to those districts most in need. As part of that new formula, the legislature committed to increasing school funding by $350 million per year for 10 years. The results from the first two years of … Continue reading Current EBF School Funding Will Never Get Us to Adequately Funded Education
Take Your Family to School Week is February 16-23
National PTA’s Take Your Family to School Week is coming up on February 16-23. You can start planning now to host an event to bring families into your school using National PTA’s toolkit for Take Your Family to School Week. The toolkit includes the resources you need to host one of four different types of … Continue reading Take Your Family to School Week is February 16-23
Helping Your Anxious Child
We covered how childhood anxiety is a significant and growing concern, and we’ve also reported on items from National Public Radio’s (NPR) Life Kit, created in partnership with Sesame Workshop. Recently, NPR and Sesame Workshop added an article on how to help your child when they are struggling with anxiety. The story is also available … Continue reading Helping Your Anxious Child
Human Trafficking: A Primer for PTAs
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. While you may not think that human trafficking is an issue in your community—a 2017 poll in Illinois indicated more than half disagreed that it was happening in their area—in fact, Illinois ranks 11th in the nation in the number of cases of human trafficking. What … Continue reading Human Trafficking: A Primer for PTAs
Host a Safer Internet Day Event on February 11th
Safer Internet Day is an internationally-celebrated education and awareness event occurring on February 11, 2020. National PTA has partnered with Connect Safely and TikTok to create a ready-to-use Safer Internet Day toolkit. National PTA also has their Smart Talk event planning toolkit as well that you can use for a second or alternative event. The … Continue reading Host a Safer Internet Day Event on February 11th
Surprising New Trends in Parents’ Views
Illinois PTA has highlighted Learning Heroes and their parent resources often, but their research work is also important. In the past two years, Learning Heroes noted that many parents are overestimating how well their child is doing in school and dug into some of the reasons behind that disconnect. The results of this year’s parent … Continue reading Surprising New Trends in Parents’ Views
National PTA’s Notes from the Backpack Podcast
You probably know that National PTA has a wealth of resources to help you support your child’s education, but perhaps you’re a little short on time to hunt them down and read through them. This fall, National PTA launched its Notes from the Backpack podcast as part of their Center for Family Engagement. Each podcast … Continue reading National PTA’s Notes from the Backpack Podcast
Talking to Your Teen About Vaping
Illinois PTA has highlighted the issues surrounding vaping and teens for many years and continues to focus on the issue in alignment with our 2018 resolution on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). We’ve also highlighted National Public Radio’s (NPR) partnership with Sesame Workshop that created their Parenting: Difficult Conversations podcast, a part of NPR’s Life … Continue reading Talking to Your Teen About Vaping
Surviving the Holiday Family Gathering
The holidays are a busy, bustling time filled with activities and traditions. With school on break, traveling as a family or having family travel to you, and all the other out-of-the-ordinary things that come with the holidays can sometimes make things stressful for parents, kids, and especially kids with sensory issues or other special needs. … Continue reading Surviving the Holiday Family Gathering
Illinois PTA Supports Governor’s End to Seclusion
Illinois PTA strongly supports Governor JB Pritzker’s decision to end seclusion of students by schools. The move comes following a ProPublica Illinois investigation in conjunction with the Chicago Tribune into the use of restraint and seclusion in Illinois public schools. The investigation documented more than 20,000 incidents from the 2017-2018 school year and through early … Continue reading Illinois PTA Supports Governor’s End to Seclusion
US Secret Service Report on School Shootings
Columbine High School. Sandy Hook Elementary. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The names are etched in our memories for reasons that no school wants to be remembered. Even as this post was being written, news broke of another school shooting in Santa Clarita, California. A new report by the US Secret Service has studied these … Continue reading US Secret Service Report on School Shootings
8 Ways to Perk Up Your PTA Meetings
The first few PTA meetings of the year always have a big turnout, with new families wanting to know what’s happening and returning families wanting to see what the PTA has planned for the year. But now that the first few months of school are behind you, chances are attendance at your PTA meetings has … Continue reading 8 Ways to Perk Up Your PTA Meetings
What’s New with the Illinois School Report Card
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released its annual school report card last week. There is one significant change to the report card this year as more of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) goes into effect: site-specific expenditure reporting. That means that the school report card now shows the federal and state/local funding … Continue reading What’s New with the Illinois School Report Card
The State We’re In 2019
Three years ago, Advance Illinois released a report summarizing the current state of education in Illinois. That report, using data and maps to show just how widespread the challenges in funding, poverty, and achievement were across the state, was a crucial factor in the General Assembly passing the new Evidence-Based Funding model the following year. … Continue reading The State We’re In 2019
Use the Healthy Eating Toolkit to Build Healthy Habits at Home and School
Every parent wants their child to eat well and develop healthy habits, but with today’s busy lives, helping your child build those skills can be a challenge. Action for Healthy Kids has created a Healthy Eating Toolkit for parents and educators to help improve student learning, behavior, and emotional health. The toolkit is made up … Continue reading Use the Healthy Eating Toolkit to Build Healthy Habits at Home and School
Help for Parents Supporting Their Child’s Math Skills
You have probably heard that you should be helping your child learn math at home through everyday activities. But perhaps you have been reluctant to do so, either because you didn’t know where to begin, you find the new math curriculum is confusing, or you have always thought that you were “bad at math.” For … Continue reading Help for Parents Supporting Their Child’s Math Skills
Helping Your Teenager Get More Sleep
Teenagers need about 9 hours of sleep to function at their best, but only about 8% of American teenagers are getting the sleep they need and, according to a recent study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, more than half (59%) are suffering from severe sleep deprivation, meaning six or fewer hours of sleep most … Continue reading Helping Your Teenager Get More Sleep
Getting to Know Your Child’s PE Program
Physical Education (PE) at school can help children build lifelong healthy habits to exercise. Illinois was the first state to mandate daily Physical Education (PE) with at least 100 minutes per week, and in 2015, Illinois adopted Enhanced PE standards. But in 2018 that requirement was cut to three days with no minimum time requirement. … Continue reading Getting to Know Your Child’s PE Program
How to Grow Your PTA Membership
Membership is what makes PTA go. Members are our volunteers and future leaders, and they amplify our voice when speaking to school leaders and legislators. Some PTAs, like many membership-driven organizations across the country, have struggled recently to grow their membership. Here are some tips and PTA resources to help you grow your PTA membership. … Continue reading How to Grow Your PTA Membership
One Voice Illinois 