Everyone has a role to play to help students succeed.
Research shows community involvement in schools helps improve students' attendance, grades and graduation rates. Parents and "super volunteers" have helped in schools for decades, and their continuing role is essential.
Increasingly employers are working with schools - releasing their employees to work with students, even if they don't have kids in school, and bringing students into their place of work to help them understand how what they learn in school is relevant to the workplace.
There are many ways to get involved in schools. Here are some suggestions.
- Stay informed about schools in your community. Learn about their successes and challenges. Most schools have websites and produce regular electronic newsletters.
- Join your local Parent/Teacher Organization.
- Join the E3 mailing list. Through our quarterly electronic newsletter, you'll stay up-to-date on overall education news in Oregon. To sign up, click here!
- Take an active volunteer role in your local schools. Our Partnership for Student Success programs want your help! Click here to learn how to connect locally to partner schools.
Within schools, there are a number of ways you can help, such as:
- Volunteer to serve as a mentor and role model for students in local schools. (Some employers encourage this, and even allow paid time off to employees, whether or not they have children in school.)
- Volunteer to help out in the school office.
- Volunteer to serve on a local Leadership Team to help schools address specific academic challenges affecting their students.
- Employers are also providing "on-loan" employees to support local schools in areas such as financial management, budgeting, purchasing, team building, communication skills, data processing and strategic planning.
- Provide learning opportunities at your company for teachers and students (e.g., job shadows, office tours, internships, etc.)
- Volunteer to speak at local schools on Career Day to help students get a better understanding of the business world, and the skills necessary to work in your industry.
- Offer space at your company for schools to use for meetings (teacher meetings, parent-teacher conferences, special school clubs, etc.)
Here are some links to existing programs in Oregon that are always seeking volunteer and advocacy support to help students:
Achieve - http://www.achieve.org
Business Education Compact - http://www.becpdx.org/
GearUp - http://www.gearup.com
Oregon Mentors - http://www.ormentors.org/
Start Making A Reader Today SMART - http://www.getsmartoregon.org
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