Parental Involvement: A Covenant

Cynthia M. Gant, Children’s Tuition Fund Coordinator

“As the child’s parent, you are the first and foremost teacher of your child.” I often made this statement to parents at the schools where I served as an administrator. I usually received a response of surprise and wonderment. Many of the parents at the schools where I served never heard that they were part of their child’s academic development. I told them not only that they were part but that they were the most vital part of the process. Most of the parents were single mothers, and the majority of them were also economically disadvantaged and undereducated. They had believed that it was the school’s job to teach their children, not theirs.

To engage the parents in the academic process, we as school personnel realized that we had to empower these parents. They needed to feel a sense of importance, and they needed to take part in the process. To accomplish both objectives, we established a school covenant whereby we would enter with each parent into a covenant relationship that focused on the success of the child. A statement by Nehemiah motivated us. Concerning the great task before him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he asserted, “The God of heaven will give us success” (Nehemiah 2:20). All of the parents wanted their children to succeed, and so did we. No disagreement or confusion occurred regarding this common ground. In order to accomplish the goal, I explained that it was necessary for us to covenant together. I did not refer to this agreement as a contract because the term contract sounds too institutional. I knew that success would largely be a relational matter, and a covenant is a relational agreement.

The covenant contained two parts. The first part included what we committed ourselves to do as a school to promote the success of the child. We would provide the child with an education that was academically excellent; Bible based, and character shaping. All the parents agreed that this type of education was what they wanted for their child and that it would make for success. The second part of the covenant acknowledged that if we were to succeed with the child, the parents also had an equally crucial role to play. They had to covenant with us that they would commit to specific ways of supporting and reinforcing what we were doing at the school. Examples included assisting with homework, attending parent-teacher meetings, and meeting their financial obligations to the school.

The covenant focused on the student—not on the school, the teachers, the administration, or even anyone’s parenting skills. And because the focus remained on the student, when we had to address situations in which parents were violating the covenant, we emphasized what was necessary for the success of the child, without indicating that the problem was a reflection of parenting ability. The point was always that if any party of the covenant did not live up to the agreement, we could not succeed in educating the child effectively.

Parental empowerment makes for parental involvement. And parental involvement is a critical factor in the successful education of children.