SPRINGDALE — Pam Mayes volunteered one day every week last year at Sonora Elementary School. She said she liked keeping an eye on what her children were doing in class.

Mayes is an example of a parent being involved in their children’s education, but parent engagement doesn’t always mean volunteering at a school, said Marsha Jones, associate superintendent for curriculum, instruction, accountability and education innovation for the Springdale School District. Parental involvement can also mean making sure a child gets to school on time, is prepared for school and helping with their homework.

Mayes has two children at Sonora Elementary and said she makes sure they are awake and fed every morning before they get on the school bus at 6:30 a.m.

Students with actively involved parents are more likely to get higher grades, pass their classes, attend school on a regular basis, have better social skills, graduate and continue on to education after high school, according to the National Education Association website.

Officials in the Springdale School District are working on a plan, called the parent academy, to get more parents involved in their children’s education, Jones said. There are multiple programs in the district officials are working to expand and include in the academy.

“We have parents who are absolute leaders in our schools,” she said. “On the other end, we have parents who don’t ever come to the schools.”

The expansion of the programs will be paid with money from the Race to the Top Grant the district received in December, Jones said.

According to grant paperwork, $303,927, excluding costs of technology, will be used to pay for programs in the academy. The district received a total of $25,878,038 from the grant.

Many parents who aren’t actively involved in their children’s education are first-generation immigrants, Jones said. In some cultures, parents aren’t expected to play a large role in education, like they are in the United States.

Plans call for expanding the district’s College Knowledge Seminars under the academy, where parents learn the importance of children attaining more education after high school, Jones said. Parents also go on field trips to see different colleges.

“Their experiences may not have included college,” she said.

The family literacy program will be expanded under the academy, Jones said. The program is in nine schools. Five will be added as program sites over the next three school years.

The program is geared toward non-English speaking parents, Jones said. Parents work on their English skills; learn how to open a bank account; learn about nutritious meals; and sit in class with their children to observe what they are learning.

Sonora Elementary School’s program focuses on parents who speak Marshallese and Spanish, said Regina Stewman, principal. The main goal of the program is to teach parents how to help their children.

“It’s letting them know the door is open and we want them here,” she said.

The program helps parents more easily communicate with teachers, Stewman said. Some parents used interpreters to communicate at parent-teacher conferences. After participating in the program, however, they were able to speak with the teachers on their own, she said.

Sonora Elementary is also piloting a program that district officials want to expand to other schools under the academy, Jones said. The idea is to let parents check out iPads and use them at home to help their children with school.

Educators at Sonora started allowing parents to take home iPads during the 2012-13 school year, Stewman said. Parents have to go through a training session on taking care of the device and sign a contact before taking one home.

“We want the parents to access it in ways to help their child’s education,” she said.

Parents can use the iPads to check their child’s grades, check the school district website and help their children with homework, Stewman said. The only challenge school officials have faced is families without Internet. School officials made sure the iPads have applications on them that don’t require Internet access.

“It empowers parents,” Stewman said of the accessibility they have through the iPads.

The iPad is a tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s education, Stewman said. Sonora has 20 to 25 devices available for parents to check out.

The Fayetteville School District is also using technology to engage parents. The district has a software program called Volunteer Builder which allows parent-teacher association officials to email volunteer opportunities to parents, said Alan Wilbourn, district communications director. Parents have pass codes to get into the system and sign up as volunteers.

The system can also send out newsletters and reminders about parent-teacher association meetings, Wilbourn said. The district has had the software for three to four years.

Rogers relies mainly on parent-teacher associations, open house events, parent nights and family nights with activities to keep parents involved, said Ashley Siwiec, district communications director.

Several elementary schools and Rogers High School have a program called Padres, Siwiec said. The program helps Spanish-speaking parents get involved in the schools through volunteer opportunities. The program at Bonnie Grimes Elementary School also has an English version for non-Spanish speaking parents, she said.

Calls to Mary Ley, Bentonville School District’s spokeswoman, seeking information on parental involvement were not returned.

Parental involvement in a child’s school is very important because it teaches the child by example education is important, Stewman said. Children learn values and morals from their parents by observing them.

“Children need to see their parents interested in their education,” she said.