Dads at School: The missing piece

More dads volunteering at K12 schools is a free way to improve child outcomes and close gender gaps

Dads at School provides K12 schools support in increasing male caregiver engagement through year-round support and $1,000 grants. Thanks to funding from the American Institute for Boys and Men and in partnership with Illinois State University College of Education researchers, Dads at School is being piloted in Virginia for the 2026-2027 school year.

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For decades, schools have depended heavily on mothers to carry the invisible labor of family engagement: volunteering in classrooms, organizing events, joining PTAs, answering teacher emails, coordinating fundraisers, and showing up for school culture in countless ways.

This is both a gift and a burden to mothers: School volunteering can be deeply meaningful, hugely influential and also just one more gendered parenting chore.

The PTA mom cliché has taken on new meaning as emerging research on the importance of family engagement on education outcomes has heightened the call for schools to p…