A Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is a voluntary organisation bringing together parents and teachers of pupils in a particular school, usually for fund-raising and other activities relating to the welfare of the school rather than the progress of individual pupils. This usage is common in the United States, United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries.

In the United States, there is also a national organization called the Parent-Teacher Association. This was founded in 1897 in Washington, DC as the National Congress of Mothers by Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst at a meeting of over 2000 parents, teachers, workers, and legislators. It took the name Parent-Teacher Association in 1908. It is the largest child advocacy organization in the United States and claims over 6.5 million members, seeking a chapter in every school.

Among the US national PTA's early achievements were the creation of kindergarten, passage of child labor laws, establishment of a public health service, funding hot school lunch programs, developing a separate juvenile justice system, and enforcing mandatory immunization.

See also

• List of civic, fraternal, service, and professional organizations

External links

• National organization (http://www.pta.org/)