Data Collection

The National Parents Teacher Association, otherwise referred to as the PTA, is considered

as the largest and oldest non-profit organization that functions solely on the behalf of the youth

and the children of the country. This Virginia-based volunteer organization has 54 state

congresses and more than 20,000 local units throughout the overall United States. One of the

primary tasks of this organization is to set the standard and the budget that are to be followed in

the following year. The budget includes all the upcoming expenses that the school is supposed to

have in the upcoming year (Advocacy, 2019).

PTA is divided into four different levels that start at the national level, which is the

highest level after that is the state, then the district, and finally the school level (Leadership,

2019). Besides budgeting, PTA members help students by proving various important education-

related information. Additionally, they involve themselves with different activities and events

that take place at the school and maintain healthy communication with the parents, teachers and

the students to ensure a better education for the children.

Even though the organization is regarded as highly accomplished, they are experiencing

some difficulties to gather a sufficient number of parent membership at PRIDE Academy.

Part 1- The Problem

Being a member of the school’s PTA is actually the primary way parents are able to

support the organization and membership is offered each year. Within the organization, there are

different board members responsible for different tasks. The recruitment of new parent members

is directed by the Membership Coordinator (Programs, 2019).

At Pride Academy, the Membership Coordinator has failed to maintain a steady rate of

parent recruitment and a sharp decline is clearly visible if looked at the membership data.
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A graph has been produced below that demonstrates that the parent membership numbers

are consistently declining over the last three years.

The graph indicates that in the 2016-17 school year PTA had 200 parent members than in

the following year the number was reduced to 155, which is a 22.5% decline and in the next

school year membership numbers reduced even further. In the 2018-19 school year, the total

number of parent members was only 107, which is 31% less than the previous year.

The impact of the declining in membership has multiple effects, as it decreases the

credibility of the organization and at the same time hurts the organization financially. The PTA

receives a great amount of financial support from the memberships that parents buy and

experiencing such decline only results in a significant financial loss (Memberships, 2019).

Part 2- Board Members and Parents

For the Parent Teacher Association to function properly, it is very important that the

parents and the board members have smooth coordination. Both of these parties are

indispensable for the organization as they perform very different, yet mandatory tasks. Where the
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board members are responsible for budgeting, organizing meetings, activities, and events,

communicating with the teachers and students, the member parents do volunteering at those

events and also supports the students and the organization.

In order to collect primary and qualitative data, 2 board members and 3 parents were

interviewed. They were asked the following semi-structured question regarding the problem.

Interview question:

“Does having a minimum of two board members present at every event arranged by the school

or the PTA increase the likelihood of obtaining more parent membership for PTA?”.

The three interviewees who were chosen from parents are:

 Michael Malone
 Jim Hudson
 Andrew Scott

All of them unanimously responded in favor of the idea stating that if PTA board

members are present at those events, it would increase the likelihood of getting more parents as

PTA members (personal communication, January 5, 2019). They pointed out that the board

members can directly communicate with the parents in such events and motivate to join the

organization.

The two interviewees who were chosen from the board members are:

 Richard Hendrix
 Angela Martin

Richard Hendrix also responded in the favor of having two board members present at

such events while pointing out the same reasons that the other three interviewees pointed out

earlier (personal communication, January 14, 2019). However, the other board member, Angela

Martin, responded by opposing the idea and stated that as all the parents are sent an invitation to

join at the beginning of each year and she believes that no additional communication regarding
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recruitment is neither necessary nor communication at such events increases the likelihood of

obtaining more memberships (personal communication, January 22, 2018).

On the basis of their response the following graph has been produced:

As the graph indicates that the majority of the interviewees are in favor of having a

minimum of two board members present at each of the events or functions the PTA or the school

arrange as they believe it increases the likelihood of obtaining more parent memberships for the

organization.

Part 3- Cajon Park

Cajon Park is another school that is located in the same district as Pride Academy. But

unlike Pride Academy, they have been able to produce strong parent membership numbers for

their PTA in a consistent manner. The following graph compares their numbers with the number

of Pride Academy in the last three years:

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To know and understand about the way they operate their president Gavin Wilson, and

treasurer Oscar Gomez were interviewed. When asked about the reason behind their strong

membership numbers, Gavin Wilson, the president, informed that the key is to establish a strong

communication channel and to build a strong bonding with all the parents, teachers, children and

even their families.

In an effort to do so the PTA of Cajon Park introduced a program where any of the family

members, even pets can join their team. This he believes helped to create a strong connection

which then reflected in their membership numbers (personal communication, November 1,

2018).

Oskar Gomez was asked the same question that the interviewees of Pride Academy were

asked: “Does having a minimum of two board members present at every event arranged by the

school or the PTA increase the likelihood of obtaining more parent membership for PTA?”.

And he pointed out this is an absolute necessity not only because of exchanging money or

just communicating, but also to make an impression. He said that in events organized by their
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PTA they often invite parents whose children are not a student of the school and they use these

events to convey the effectiveness of PTA and how being a member would benefit the society

which he believes is a principle reason behind their successful operation (personal

communication, January 17, 2018).

Conclusion

For the discussion above, it can be concluded that the Parent Teacher Association of Pride

Academy can obtain more parent memberships and improve their sharply declining membership

numbers by adopting the techniques that Cajon Park uses. Firstly, they can introduce a program

that allows family members to obtain membership. That way they will be able to reduce the

communication gap that is impacting their numbers. Secondly, by making two of their board

members present at every event they can make a good impression of their organization and

inspire more parents to join.

References
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Leadership - About PTA | National PTA. (2019). Retrieved March 4, 2019, from

https://www.pta.org/home/About-National-Parent-Teacher-Association/PTA-Leadership

Member Benefits - About PTA |National PTA. (2019). Retrieved March 4, 2019, from

https://www.pta.org/home/About-National-Parent-Teacher-Association/Benefits-of-PTA-

Membership

Advocacy | National PTA. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.pta.org/home/advocacy

Programs | National PTA. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.pta.org/home/programs