Ohio State leadership academy aims to increase parental engagement in K-12 schools

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Ohio State leadership academy aims to increase parental engagement in K-12 schools

Participants build leadership skills, address local education needs

A leadership academy based in The Ohio State University's College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE) provides resources to parents to help them make a difference in their local schools and communities.

EHE's Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center administers the Family Leaders for Ohio Schools Academy - open to individuals whose children are enrolled in a kindergarten-through-12th-grade Ohio public school.

The five-month program trains parents and caregivers to collaborate with school officials and community members to identify and address local education needs. The program includes online learning modules, virtual meetings and in-person sessions at Ohio State's Columbus campus, where participants brainstorm ideas and share best practices.

The academy's 2026 cohort recently celebrated their completion of the program with an event at Ohio State's Early Advancement and Innovation Center.

"That's what we do as families, is we help one another do the things that we aspire to," Barbara Boone, the center's director, told participants. "We saw it in one another: 'I think I'm finding that I'm not alone in this, that there's a whole wealth of families and other caregivers and parents out there who feel this as deeply as I do.' And I think that is a part of this program."

Participants shared information about projects they created through the academy. Projects included programs designed to increase involvement with the Winton Woods City Schools parent-teacher organization (PTO) in Hamilton County, streamline communication between buildings about anti-bullying policies in the Dublin City Schools, and provide support for students in need of reading intervention in the Grandview Heights Schools.

"You learned about policy. You learned about the very different ways that Ohio school districts and school systems can be structured," Boone told participants. "You learned about data - diving into, 'What is data? How do I use it?' And bringing all of that together and understanding your own school system."

The academy aligns with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's (ODEW) goal of increasing family engagement in schools, said Kari Jones, the department's chief strategy officer. ODEW encourages parents to develop relationships with teachers, administrators and school board members to advance student-centered initiatives, she said.

"We can all be connected to our superintendents, to our principals, to other people in our areas," she said. "They can be influencers if you yourself cannot influence whoever it is whose mind you're trying to change."

Delaware resident Maura Atwater said participating in the academy's 2025 cohort equipped her with the tools to advocate for change in her children's school district. Putting into practice the leadership skills she developed through the academy, she approached Delaware City Schools officials and collaborated with them to increase parental engagement.

Through conversations with building principals, teachers and district administrators, Atwater found that parental engagement drops off significantly after their children complete elementary school. She worked with officials in several ways to smooth the transition from fifth grade to sixth grade for students and keep their parents involved.

One of those efforts was moving the annual sixth-grade camping trip from spring to the beginning of the school year. Holding the camp early in the middle school experience enables students and parents to get to know each other and begin forming bonds, Atwater said.

"I truly believe there are no 'other people's children,' that committing to work to help my child would probably help all boats rise, all children succeed, and that good intentions on their own do not work out very well," she said. "If I wanted to help our district accomplish more for the families there, I needed to know more and do more as a parent myself."

Atwater said she also helped restart the middle school PTO, joined the hiring committee for the new principal at her neighborhood elementary school and is participating in the district's strategic planning effort. She said increasing her engagement with the school district has also led to professional opportunities.

"Just a few months ago, I decided to take a role at our local health department so that I can serve our most vulnerable in Delaware and also try and advocate for better partnerships at the civic level between the school system and other entities," she said.

Atwater encouraged the members of the 2026 academy cohort to draw on her experience as proof that they can make a difference in their children's education.

"Was I at the right place at the right time to get a PTO going in Delaware? Sure," she said. "But by that logic, anyone committed to improving outcomes at their kid's public school, that's all of you. You are at precisely the right place at the right time."

For more information about the Family Leaders for Ohio Schools Academy, visit the program's website.

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