The importance of relationship building in math and science education

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much"-Helen Keller. When I came across this quote today in my Twitter timeline, I thought this is a powerful statement. This quote is so applicable to many aspects of life. What this quote made me think about is how important relationships are to achieving our goals. Everyone has things they want to accomplish in life. But no matter how driven you are, you can't do it alone. Since our focus as an organization is promoting student achievement and career exploration in math and science for K-12 students; I want to talk about the important of relationship building in math and science education.

Academic achievement in math and science is determined by what students are exposed to and their performance inside of the classroom. Nowadays, we have put so much responsibility on the schools to educate our children with little accountability other than test scores. If you look at test scores, you will see that our children aren't achieving in math and science. Yes, we can say many things about the schools, but part of the problem is the lack of parental involvement in most schools. If you look at the test scores of schools that are performing well on standardized tests and/or are well known for a great curriculum; those schools have strong parental involvement. The first relationship that needs to be established in order for children to achieve academically in the relationship between parents and teachers. The first contact between teacher and parent should not be when a student has done something wrong. Parents should attend open house, have regular phone or email contact with their child(ren) teachers. I have friends that are parents and educators and they tell me when there is a good parent/teacher interaction, it fosters a great environment for children to succeed. The parents are aware of what is going on in the classroom, the teacher feel support from the parent and the child(ren) knows that they can't get away with under performing because both the parent and teacher are holding them accountable.

The next relationship that parents should build is relationships with their local school board. This relationship is important because the school board is where decisions are made concerning your child's education- the curriculum, the budget, etc. Unfortunately many parents can barely make it to PTA meetings let alone school board meetings. But I have seen schools get additional resources just because the parents were very vocal at school board meetings. Therefore I encourage you to attend school board meetings and if you just can't fit them into your schedule build a relationships with the school board member that serves your district. It can really make a difference in the resources that are available at your child's school.

The next relationship that is important for enhancing the math and science educational experience for youth is relationships between the schools and the community. With state budgets being cut every day, schools have less and less resources available to educate our children. Although, schools aren't the only place where learning should take place, it is the primary place for learning. In order to enhance the resources at schools that are available to educate our children it important that individuals, nonprofits, colleges and universities and corporations partners with schools. The resources can be as simple as volunteering some time to provide classroom, support or tutoring or a big as making a financial contribution. Nothing is too great or small if it will assist in creating a great learning environment for our children.

The final relationship that needs to be built is between nonprofits and individuals, businesses, colleges and universities. Nonprofits exist to meet a need in the community, most of which can't be meet by a government agency. Most nonprofits have limited resources and need people who believe in their mission to support them note just in word or spirit, but in deed. Each individual, business and college and university should find a nonprofit whose mission they believe in and not only support them by volunteering and/or making a financial contribution, but telling people in their network about the organization and them to support them as well.

If we want to "unveil potential through exposure" and ensure that students are academically prepared to pursue STEM careers, we all have to work together to ensure our children succeed.