Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
As I have stated in my discussion of standard two, almost all the standards will circle back to the fourth principle, since this principle articulates the importance of generational roles and responsibilities, and educators naturally fall into the category of knowledge keeping seniors to their junior students.
Learning Principle 4: Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities.
In the case of standard four, it follows that educators would value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools since these groups form the larger network of experiences and supports of students. Hence, educators involvement with these groups in the context of student learning is in the best interest of the students. Did we all catch standard one there?
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In other words, parents, guardians, families and communities influence students, and know of students, or provide students with experiences and opportunities outside the scope of the classroom, and these things help the student. Not to mention all the positive relationship building and connection making, to people, land, and place, that happens when the world outside the classroom is involved in learning!
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As Jo Chrona puts it, “[t]he responsibility for teaching belongs to everyone in the community” and this responsibility “ultimately strengthens communities.”
This makes even more sense in the context of the first principle, which claims, essentially, the same thing that Chrona articulates: learning is good for everyone.
Learning Principle 1: Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.