Understanding Data
Families and Communities › Parents and Guardians
Photo courtesy of Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE),
The Learning Community.
Parents and guardians are children's first teachers.
The kitchen, yard and neighborhood are first classrooms. Learning goes on in and out of school, at home and on the block. Schools are by no means the only place where children learn, for better and worse. So schools and parents are natural and best allies in the quest to civilize children.
People talk about a 9/91 factor: children spend about 9% of their childhood in school and 91% elsewhere. So to get the most value out of that precious 9% of time in formal learning, schools must partner well with families and the immediate community. Children suffer when schools and families fail to be good teammates.