Ms. Jones needs to continue to reach out to the parents for support. Sometimes the parents are extremely busy during the day and even late into the evening making it difficult for them to communicate back to the teacher. Sending letters home, e-mails, posting letters on Ms. Jones webpage with updates on what the students are doing in class is very helpful. Holding an Open House and sending invitations home to the parents to showcase important presentations and projects students are completing in class can also be helpful. I would recommend to Ms. Jones to not give up on the communications piece. Parents do care for their children, sometimes due to circumstances we don't know as teachers, they are unable to be involved much with homework or school events, but many times they do check on the webpages, letters sent home, and do come to open houses to check on their students. Keep trying, you will get at least a few parents involved and perhaps this will inspire other parents to get more involved as well.

Ms. Jones' concerns about parental involvement are valid. However, similar situations are possible even in urban schools with bilingual parents. Even though these parents have the time to support their students, the lack of English knowledge prevents them from doing so. Therefore, students are better served with websites that might help them practice after school hours and during weekends. Teachers can also set up an online help session, maybe once a week to help with homework and concepts. However, the challenge is compounded when the student does not have computer access. In this case, the teacher can work with these students during morning work time. This is a 30 minute block when the students start arriving in the morning. Teachers can have a quick one on one session with these students to check for understanding and to clarify questions and doubts.

invite families into the classroom for a mixture of social and academic events.

I think a great way to get meaningful support from a parent or anyone for that matter is to find out what makes the parents 'tik'. Have a family night where the parents can come and share their thoughts about the classroom, make it a fun game night.

Ms. Jones is doing the right thing by making parent contacts and attempting to create a cooperative relationship. Ulitmatly, the teacher has no control over the educational culture of the community in which she teachers. Ms. Jones should focus her energy on instruction and in-class or school remediation for struggling students. Assuming that parents do not care about their children's education is a recipe for disaster but getting frustrated by issues that are out of her control is unwise as well.