To best celebrate American Education Week, Terry McVey is downplaying it -- at least in the school building.

The principal at Hillcrest Elementary School in Catonsville said she and her teachers plan to provide visiting parents a sense of what their children go through on a normal school day.

"We don't plan a special assembly. It's very low key," McVey said Nov. 17 as parents followed their children through the building on Frederick Road during normal daytime schedule.

"We try to keep it as routine as possible so it's not a special event the parents are watching, but a typical educational day," she said.

Parents can visit the school through Nov. 20, McVey said.

Like Hillcrest, schools throughout the country welcomed parents and guardians to participate in the daily activities of their children as part of the National Education Association's 87th annual education week Nov. 16-22.

Local principals said they are doing their best to honor the association's theme of "Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility" by providing parents with a glimpse of the educational realities their children face each day.

"It's important for parents to get an authentic appreciation of how their students exist at school -- from the perspective of being there," said Kendra Johnson, principal at Arbutus Middle School, which draws students from the Catonsville and Arbutus areas.

Johnson invited sixth-graders' parents and guardians to visit the school Nov. 18, seventh-graders' parents and guardians Nov. 19 and eighth-graders' parents and guardians Nov. 20.

"It's really a good way for the parents to find out firsthand what's going on in our buildings, to find out what their kids are studying," said Michael Thorne, principal at Catonsville Middle School, who offered the same visiting schedule as Johnson. "It's also a good opportunity for parents and teachers to network, because we're all part of the education process."

That networking may be more important than ever, according to a study titled "The Great Homework Disconnect," released Nov. 17 by the National Education Association and Sylvan Learning as part of American Education Week.

According to the study, parents and teachers have a vastly different understanding of the role homework plays and the role parents should play in helping their children complete it.

While 33 percent of parents wish they could be involved in homework less than they are, 62 percent of teachers said parents should be involved more than they are, the study found.

Also, while 31 percent of parents said their school doesn't offer any form of homework assistance, only 19 percent of teachers said the same, according to the study.

"The results of this homework study point out the continued need for, and importance of, a strong parent-teacher relationship and parental involvement in student homework," said Dennis Van Roekel, NEA's president, in a prepared statement. "It also drives home our American Education Week theme of 'shared responsibility.'"

"Hopefully with all the different activities, we better articulate what all is happening at the schools, but also how parents can better be involved with their son or daughter's education," Van Roekel said in an interview.

According to McVey and other area principals, parent participation during American Education Week is always high, and provides parents with important examples of how best to communicate with their children in learning situations at home -- like homework time.

For example, McVey said, a parent who observes a teacher doing a reading exercise with students might gain insight on how best to do a similar exercise with his or her child at home.

"Hopefully they can glean some information in terms of the content areas and expectations, and get some ideas for how they can support that instruction at home," McVey said.

For specific information regarding American Education Week events in their communities, parents should contact their neighborhood schools.

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