Involving parents is important in the education and development of their children (Hornby, 2000). This means not only helping children with their homework or asking them how their day in school was but also taking part of school decisions that directly impact their children. Meetings between parents and school personnel are effective in solving issues about the kids’ education. These problem-solving meetings may be about the students’ conduct, academic performance and other concerns. According to Amatea (2013) the six steps summarized in the acronym SOLVES can serve as a guide in holding family school problem-solving meetings. These steps are enumerated in the succeeding section.
First, the teacher sets up or schedules the meeting. This means arranging the meeting venue, date and time as well as inviting the participants of the activity. The objectives for the meeting are identified at this stage. Second, the teacher opens the meeting by enumerating the activity’s purpose. Introductions take place at this stage and facilitator tries to make the attendees feel at ease and comfortable through small talk. Third, the teacher facilitates the listening process. This means, all participants are given the chance to be listened to and blaming is avoided. The teacher assures the participants that they can share their concerns without fear of being blamed. Fourth is validating the concerns. Having a consensus about the issues that were shared by the participants is a key strategy at this point. The wording of the concerns is very important here. The problem has to referred to in the past tense and the sense that change can take place has to surface. The fifth step involves expanding the solution ideas. Here, participants discuss how best to resolve the problem. The student has to be involved in this process. Finally, the problem solving meeting concludes with the setting up of the plan for action. The plan needs to written and signed by all participants.
The SOLVES process is an appropriate strategy for culturally-diverse families. Listening to the ideas of parents from these families also give the teacher and school personnel an opportunity to learn more about the dynamics in these families. At the same time, the family members would feel empowered because they are given a chance to express their thoughts. This feeling of being welcomed in the schools can enable cultural-diverse families to become more active and participative in the education of their children (Sheridan & Kratochwill, 2007).
References
Amatea, E. S. (2013). Building Culturally Responsive Family-school Relationships (2nd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Hornby, G. (2000). Improving Parental Involvement. New York, NY: Continuum.
Sheridan, S.M. & Kratochwill, T.R. (2007). Family-School Partnerships in Prevention and Intervention. In Conjoint Behavioral Consultation: Promoting Family-School Connections and Interventions, 2nd edition. New York, NY: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
