On The Role Of American Parent Teacher Association In Promoting The Family-school Cooperation

Family and school are the two most critical environmental systems that affect children.Whether in the past,now or in the future,family-school cooperation is crucial to the healthy growth and all-round development of children,and family-school cooperation organizations can provide a solid organizational guarantee for the cooperation between family and school.Looking around the world,the American Parent Teacher Association（PTA）has made great achievements in family-school cooperation.The organization was formally established in1897.After more than 120 years of history,it has formed a network system from the federal level to the state level and local level.It has accumulated rich practical experience in the field of family-school cooperation.In contrast,the Parent Committee is the most common family-school cooperative organization in China,but the organization construction is still in the initial stage of exploration,facing various difficulties and obstacles.Therefore,by studying the role of the PTA in family-school cooperation and absorbing its essence,it has profound significance for strengthening the construction and function of the Parent Committee.In fact,the success of the PTA is not achieved overnight,but based on deep historical accumulation.Based on the historical perspective,this paper traces the role of the organization in different historical stages.The period from 1897 to the 1930 s was the embryonic period of the function.During this period,mothers,who were the main force of the PTA,had a great influence on school education,such as the improvement of school running conditions.The period from the 1930 s to the end of the 1950 s was the period of the hindered stage,during which,the PTA was sharply hit by the Great Depression,World War II,and civil rights movement.Then,the organization fell to the bottom.Since the 1960 s,the PTA has been protected by federal laws and policies and supported by other social organizations.Finally,the PTA’s role has gradually recovered.At present,with the characteristics of linkage and coordination,the PTA plays a very important role in the family-school cooperation.The paper states the above two characteristics by introducing the specific experience and practice of the PTA in promoting family-school cooperation.Firstly,the up-down linkage reflects that the PTA has a significant impact on some policies related to family-school cooperation,which are issued by the federal and state governments,and guide the family-school cooperation work of the local level.Secondly,communication ＆ coordination reflects that the PTA can help schools create opportunities for parents’ participation,and can organize parents to provide support for school education.In order to explore whether the role of the PTA has achieved the expected effect,the paper then analyzes the actual effect of the role of the organization combined with relevant data.The results show that not only the stakeholders have been further developed,but also the level of family-school cooperation itself has been deepened.Then,the paper further analyzes the guarantee conditions of the role of the organization from the three dimensions of legal policy,organization construction and social forces.Firstly,federal and state laws and policies go hand in hand to provide financial and personnel support.Secondly,Stable and sound organizational structure and strict and comprehensive rules and regulations complement each other to improve the operation efficiency;thirdly,internal members and external organizations work together to provide the driving force for its development.Stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade.At last,through careful reference to the PTA’s valuable experience,the paper explores China from three aspects: policy refinement,organization construction,and power absorption,and then comes up with feasible suggestions for the operation of such family-school cooperation organizations as the Parent Committee.