March is National Reading Month in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2nd. Reading is the foundation of student success, and developing a love of reading can unlock a world of adventures to last a lifetime. Your PTA can help families support children’s literacy and love of reading by hosting a Family Reading Experience … Continue reading March is National Reading Month
5 Nominating Committee Problems (and How to Fix Them)
The nominating committee is an essential part of a successful PTA. The committee’s charge is to slate one person for each officer position at least 30 days before the election. However, nominating committees often run into problems in completing this seemingly simple task. Here are five problems that nominating committees most commonly have and how … Continue reading 5 Nominating Committee Problems (and How to Fix Them)
National PTA Standards for Family-School Partnerships Video Series
National PTA’s Standards for Family-School Partnerships are the basis for effective family engagement. And effective family engagement is critical to student success, as a recent study demonstrated that schools with better family engagement practices had students that did better after returning to school from remote learning during the pandemic. National PTA has recently released a … Continue reading National PTA Standards for Family-School Partnerships Video Series
White House Takes Action on Safe Gun Storage
Illinois PTA adopted a resolution on Safe Gun Storage at the 2021 convention. A slightly-modified version of that resolution was submitted jointly by Illinois PTA and Michigan PTA and was adopted at the 2023 National PTA Convention. Last month, President Biden signed an executive order implementing several actions to promote safe gun storage in order … Continue reading White House Takes Action on Safe Gun Storage
Busting 5 PTA Membership Myths
Membership is one of the basic parts of PTA, but there are a lot of myths and misunderstandings about it. Here are five common PTA membership myths busted. Myth #1: Membership campaigns are only at the start of the school year. Busted: Sure, most of your members will join PTA at the start of the … Continue reading Busting 5 PTA Membership Myths
Show Your PTA Volunteers Some Love This Valentine’s Day
PTA runs on volunteers, from the person helping out at the book fair all the way up to the National PTA President. One way to build your PTA’s volunteer base and strengthen your PTA as a whole is to support your volunteers. Here are some ways you and your PTA can make sure your volunteers … Continue reading Show Your PTA Volunteers Some Love This Valentine’s Day
Helping Your Kid Make Decisions
Our children are born needing us to make every decision for them, and by the time they leave home, we hope that they are able to make all their decisions themselves (maybe with some occasional asked-for advice from Mom and Dad). Moving them along that path is often a challenge for parents. The Child Mind … Continue reading Helping Your Kid Make Decisions
Family Engagement and the Pandemic
As PTAs, family engagement is fundamental. Recent research from our friends at Learning Heroes uncovered yet another way that family engagement has made a difference in student success. Data has shown that the disruptions to schools from the pandemic had an effect on student performance. The study, the first of three on the topic, looks … Continue reading Family Engagement and the Pandemic
Time for Take Your Family to School Week
National PTA’s Take Your Family to School Week is February 11-17, 2024. The week celebrates the founding of PTA on February 17, 1987 and is designed to engage families in their children’s schools and build partnerships with teachers and administrators. The time to start planning how your PTA will celebrate Take Your Family to School … Continue reading Time for Take Your Family to School Week
New Report on Gun Death in Illinois
In 2021, Illinois PTA Convention delegates adopted a resolution on safe gun storage. Since then, we have advocated for safe gun storage laws in Illinois and educated members on firearms issues. A new report by One Aim Illinois called Gun Death in Illinois looks at the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) … Continue reading New Report on Gun Death in Illinois
Learning New Ways to PTA
National PTA has been using PTA as a verb for a couple of years now, emphasizing the idea that PTA is taking action for your child’s and every child’s success. National PTA has also been sharing reports on how grant recipients and other PTAs have been implementing the PTA mission through programs and other activities. … Continue reading Learning New Ways to PTA
How to Work with Your Child’s Teacher
With the winter break from school coming up, the school year is at a rough halfway point. It’s a good time to assess how your child is doing and to work with your child’s teacher regarding areas where your child is struggling. The Child Mind Institute has recently updated an article on how to work … Continue reading How to Work with Your Child’s Teacher
Have Fun, Grow Membership, and Win Prizes with Membership Mania
As a PTA leader, you’ve probably often heard that you should integrate membership into everything your PTA does, but perhaps you’re not sure what that means exactly. Is it having a PTA membership table out at every event? Is it always having a join our PTA link in every e-mail? All of this and more? … Continue reading Have Fun, Grow Membership, and Win Prizes with Membership Mania
Embracing Inclusivity and Diversification: 7 Ways to Foster a Welcoming Holiday Season
The holiday season is a time for joy, unity, and celebration. As PTA members, we have the opportunity to make this festive season contain monumental joy by promoting inclusivity and diversification within our events, and creating opportunities for representation. Let's explore ways to embrace the richness of our differences and create a holiday season that … Continue reading Embracing Inclusivity and Diversification: 7 Ways to Foster a Welcoming Holiday Season
Building a PTA Meeting Agenda
Do your PTA meetings seem to run on forever? Does it feel like nothing ever gets decided? Do you actually have a published agenda for your meeting? Building an effective agenda for your PTA meeting is probably the most important thing you can do to improve your meetings, and in doing so, you’ll also improve … Continue reading Building a PTA Meeting Agenda
It’s Tax Time (for Many PTAs)
I know, you thought tax time was in April. But for PTAs (and other 501(c)(3) organizations), tax time depends on when their fiscal year ends. For many PTAs, that’s June 30th. And yes, your PTA is a non-profit organization, but you still need to file a form with the IRS. Your tax form is due … Continue reading It’s Tax Time (for Many PTAs)
Integrating Membership into your PTA Programming: Reflections
It’s Reflections season with art projects & entries being turned in. Students and families are excited at the ability to create projects in the 6 art categories and share their talents and creativity! Did your PTA sponsor the Reflections Art Program at your school? Have you ever thought of integrating your Membership campaign with those … Continue reading Integrating Membership into your PTA Programming: Reflections
Let’s Get Ready to Advocaaaaaaaaate!
The Illinois General Assembly has its Fall Veto Session coming up October 24-26 and November 7-9. This session is nominally aimed at reconsidering bills that the Governor has vetoed from the spring session, but the legislature can consider new bills or finish work on bills that didn’t pass both houses in the spring. Illinois PTA … Continue reading Let’s Get Ready to Advocaaaaaaaaate!
Understanding Your School District’s Finances
The Illinois Report Card for 2022-2023 will be released around the end of October. The report card covers how students performed on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), demographic information for your school district, and financial information on your school district, including site-based expenditure reporting for each school in the district on a per-pupil basis. … Continue reading Understanding Your School District’s Finances
Everyone Can Join PTA!
So you’ve made your first membership dues payment to Illinois PTA by October 1 (ahem), and perhaps you’re thinking, “Is that it? Are we done with membership for the year?” Of course not! You’ve got your Reach for the Stars goals to achieve. And if you’re looking for ways to grow your membership to meet … Continue reading Everyone Can Join PTA!
One Voice Illinois 