Partners in teaching: engaging parents in parallel learning

This action-based professional inquiry took place in a French immersion multi-grade primary classroom. In this inquiry I addressed the problem of how to increase parent involvement in their children's education through parallel learning, in which students and parents learn and work together to support student learning at home. The ultimate goal was to increase student learning. The context for parallel learning in this inquiry was connecting to literature. Parents received weekly letters about a connecting strategy as well as weekly assignments to complete with their child. I collected data from assessments of student achievement before and after the connections unit. Other sources of data were student-parent assignments, parent surveys, and parent interviews. The study demonstrated that parallel learning has potential to increase parent involvement and confidence, with beneficial effects for students learning to make connections while reading. Further inquiry is required to assess the value of parallel learning for other intended outcomes and in other classrooms. --P. ii.