How to Be a Great PTO/PTA Leader
Make a Positive Impact on Your School Community!
Last Updated December 19, 2025
Leading a PTA, PTO, or school-family group (no matter what your school calls it!) is part leadership role, part community cheerleader, and part organizational wizard. ✨ From bringing parents and teachers together to coordinating events, fundraisers, and volunteer help, you’re helping shape a stronger, more connected school community — and that’s a big deal.
The good news? You don’t have to do it all alone (or reinvent the wheel). With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, PTA and PTO leaders can turn big ideas into smooth-running plans that engage families, support teachers, and make school life better for everyone. We’re breaking down the key qualities and smart strategies that can help you become the kind of school-family group leader your community loves and trusts. 💙
Top Tips for Terrific Leaders
Being a great school-family group leader involves a combination of leadership skills, effective communication, collaboration, and a commitment to serving the school community. Here are some tips on how to excel in this role:
Build Relationships: Foster positive relationships with parents, teachers, school administrators, and staff members. Establishing trust and rapport is essential for effective collaboration and achieving common goals and for cultivating future school-family group leaders.
Effective Communication: Keep all parents and stakeholders informed about school-family group activities, initiatives, and decisions. Use multiple communication channels to ensure your messages get through such as SignUp, emails, newsletters, social media, group text platforms, in-person (and virtual) meetings and event signage and flyers to ensure everyone stays connected and engaged.
Listen Actively: Listen to the concerns, ideas, and feedback of parents, teachers, and other stakeholders. Actively seek input from diverse perspectives and demonstrate openness to new ideas and suggestions.
Set Clear Goals: Work with your team to establish clear and achievable goals for the school-family group. Define priorities, timelines, budgets and strategies for accomplishing objectives, and regularly assess progress toward goals.
Encourage Participation: Encourage active participation from parents, teachers, and staff members in school-family group activities and events. Recognize and appreciate the contributions of volunteers, and provide opportunities for involvement at various levels. Get more volunteer recruitment tips and ideas here!
Delegate Tasks: Delegate responsibilities to committee members or volunteers based on their skills, interests, and availability. Empower others to take ownership of specific tasks and projects, while providing support and guidance as needed. (Pro tip: when choosing key Committee Chairs, enroll co-leaders. Busy parents often need a backup during the school year and two committed leaders can be more effective than one.)
Lead by Example: Lead with integrity, professionalism, and enthusiasm while remembering you’re a bonafide busy parent in the community, too. Demonstrate a strong work ethic, positive attitude, and willingness to collaborate and support others in achieving the school-family group’s objectives, and model positive support by reaching out for help when you need it.
Promote Inclusivity: Create an inclusive environment where all parents, guardians and teachers feel welcome and valued. Ensure that school-family group activities and events are accessible and inclusive of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, languages and abilities. (Pro tip: Grandparents make for awesome leaders and volunteers too and often have day-time availability for supporting school projects and programs.)
Manage Finances Wisely: Exercise responsible stewardship of school-family group funds and resources. Develop and adhere to transparent financial procedures, budgets, and reporting mechanisms to ensure accountability and trust.
Celebrate Successes: Celebrate achievements, milestones, and successes with the school community. Acknowledge and recognize the efforts of volunteers, teachers, and students, and highlight the positive impact of school-family group initiatives on the entire school community.
Seek Professional Development: Continuously seek opportunities for learning and growth as a school-family group leader. Attend workshops, conferences, and (virtual and live) training sessions to enhance your leadership skills, knowledge, and effectiveness.
By embodying these principles and practices, you can be a great school-family group leader who inspires collaboration, fosters positive change, cultivates future leaders, and strengthens the partnership between parents, teachers, and the school community.
Frequently Asked Questions About PTA & PTO Leadership
Q: What does a PTA or PTO leader do?
A: A PTA or PTO leader helps organize school events, coordinate volunteers, manage communication, and build strong partnerships between families, teachers, and administrators to support students.
Q: What skills make a great PTA or PTO leader?
A: Strong communication, organization, collaboration, and problem-solving skills are essential, along with the ability to motivate volunteers and keep projects running smoothly.
Q: Do I need prior leadership experience to run a PTA or PTO?
A: No. Many successful PTA and PTO leaders learn on the job with the help of clear planning tools, shared responsibilities, and support from other parents and school staff.
Q: How can PTA and PTO leaders get more parents involved?
A: Making it easy to help — with flexible roles, clear expectations, and simple online SignUp sheets — encourages more parents to participate without feeling overwhelmed.
Q: What is the biggest challenge for PTA and PTO leaders?
A: Managing time and communication is often the biggest challenge, especially when coordinating multiple events, volunteers, and deadlines throughout the school year.
Q: How can technology help PTA and PTO leaders stay organized?
A: Online tools like SignUp help leaders schedule volunteers, track commitments, send automatic reminders, and keep everyone informed in one place.
Q: How do PTA and PTO leaders work with school administrators?
A: Effective leaders collaborate closely with principals and teachers to align goals, plan events, and ensure school policies and priorities are respected.
Q: What makes a PTA or PTO truly successful?
A: A successful PTA or PTO creates a welcoming culture, communicates clearly, shares leadership, and makes volunteering simple and rewarding for families.
About the Author
Laura Greenberg
Brand Partnerships & Customer Champion, Content Contributor
Laura connects SignUp users with partner perks and writes parent- and teacher-friendly tips for SignUp’s School Planning Centers. More about Laura →
