Motivational speaker and author, Betty Boult was in the City of Greater Sudbury to speak to students, parents, families and members of the educational sector regarding her most recent book 176 Ways to Involve Parents. Dr. Boult’s presentation focussed on the practical, doable activities and ideas that enhance student learning by involving parents in a respectful, meaningful, and productive way.

“In schools where teachers reported high levels of outreach to parents, test scores grew at a rate 40 percent higher that in schools where teachers reported low levels of outreach,” Boult told her audience who had gathered in the Science North Inco Cavern to hear her speak. Dr. Boult went on to state that what we know for sure is that adolescents want and need more independence. In fact, it did not matter what the students’ background or prior school achievement was, if the parents became involved there was a positive impact on achievement, attendance, behaviour, and course credits completed.

Students whose parents remained involved through high school were much more likely to complete college. These students were three times more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than children of parents who were not involved in high school. (Parent involvement was defined by Boult as frequency of talking to teachers, parent interest in planning for post-high school activities, and parent monitoring of school work).

Boult concluded her presentation by quoting from the report of The Parent Voice which re-affirmed that parents do not want to run schools, but they do want to have a voice that they can be assured will be taken into account at the school, board, and provincial levels. When schools, families, and community organizations work together to support learning, children not only achieve better academically but also stay in school longer.