Teachers’ house calls make pupils, parents feel at home

Boston, which is working in partnership with Harvard University, began its program two years ago and has expanded it to five elementary schools. It followed Springfield’s effort, which launched about five years ago as a partnership among that city’s teachers union, a middle school, and the Pioneer Valley Project, a faith-based community-organizing group that works closely with parents. The program is now active at seven schools, including a high school.

The outreach – to several hundred families this year – is part of a strategy in these two cities to reverse a trend of parental disengagement. In both districts, parents rarely turn out for parent-teacher organization meetings, teacher conferences, and other activities at many schools…

Read full story (The Boston Globe)