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Bridging The Gap Between Parents, Pupils And Schools

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Bridging The Gap Between Parents, Pupils And Schools

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Bridging the gap: communication between parents, pupils and schools

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Bridging the gap: communication between parents, pupils and schools

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Using Technology To Connect With Parents

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Using Technology To Connect With Parents

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Teacher and parent relationships - a crucial ingredient

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Teacher and parent relationships - a crucial ingredient

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Teacher and parent relationships - a crucial ingredient: Cecile Carroll at TEDxWellsStreetED

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Building relationships between parents and teachers

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Building relationships between parents and teachers

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Building relationships between parents and teachers: Megan Olivia Hall at TEDxBurnsvilleED

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7 Effective Parent Teacher Communication Tips

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7 Effective Parent Teacher Communication Tips

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Many schools today have set clear goals for increasing "family engagement," and are rolling out systems and programs to reach parents. More than information about the school, parents want to know what their kids are doing in the classroom. Providing parents with this information can create strong and effective partners for teachers.

Here are 7 tips to create a robust parent-teacher communication plan that leverages the power of your students' families.

Set Your Objectives

Don't communicate with families simply to check a box on a checklist. Create a conversation in order to further your aims in the classroom.

Do you want to have better student attendance? Do you want to bring more parents into the classroom to share professional experiences with students? Whatever your goals are, keep them in mind when designing your plan.

Communicate High Expectations

Research has shown that parental expectations are one of the strongest predictors of student achievement. Your parent-teacher communication plan should be designed to set clear, consistent and high expectations for student performance in class. This will put parents on your side and enable them to reinforce your expectations in the home.

Communicate Early & Often

When the time comes that you need to execute a parent-teacher communication with a family about academic or behavioral problems in the classroom, the family's reaction is far more likely to be supportive if you've already demonstrated you commitment to high standards. Communicating high standards from the beginning for the year, will set you up to have much more objective conversations with families about individual students.

Communicate about the Entire Classroom, as well as Individual Students

Make sure that parents are aware that you're responsible for more than just their student. Setting this context will help parents see your point of view when and/if you need to make a decision that is best for the group, but which might not be ideal for each individual student.

Be Aware of Schoolwide Communications

Parents will not only be hearing from you. The school will be communicating with them about schoolwide issues as well. You don't want parents to feel like the only thing that is being communicated to them is fundraising requests.

At the same time, you want to be sure that they are aware of the full range of resources, such as after school and summer programs, that the school offers as well as how other services connect to the shared goals that you have for their student. Parents need help in making these connections to create a more holistic education and will appreciate sound advice about what students can gain from specific activities offered by the school.

Choose Communication Tools that Work for Parents

Ask parents what communication methods are best for them. Do not assume that parents are all the same. Using multiple communication methods allows parents to hear from you in ways that work for them.

Some traditional options, like notes and calls home, can be time intensive, but work for some parents. There are also a ton of techie ways that can be a little easier to switch up. While email may be great for some parents, you can also try texting, twitter or a classroom blog to provide a range of options. There are some online tools, such as SnappSchool.com, that will let you do multiple methods at once.

Measure Your Success

Pay attention to results. Are your communications getting parents engaged? Do they show up? Do they return permission slips, do students arrive prepared for class? What methods are providing the most response from parents and students? You can adapt your plan to make the best use of your time. If most parents respond best to email, then you can save yourself some calls home.

Don't let it be an item on the checklist; make it a strategy for achieving your larger classroom goals. Whatever your plan is, open up the lines of communications with parents, and set them up to talk with their kids each day about their school day. This alone can be a powerful thing.
What tips do you have for effective parent teacher communication? Share in the comments section!
About the Author

John Halloran is the parent of two elementary school students in NYC public schools, and the co-founder of SnappSchool, which provides a tool that allows teachers to send quick, updates to the parents of their students. Teachers can sign up to participate in SnappSchool's free beta at www.SnappSchool.com.

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7 Effective Parent Teacher Communication Tips

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Many schools today have set clear goals for increasing "family engagement," and are rolling out systems and programs to reach parents. More than information about the school, parents want to know what their kids are doing in the classroom. Providing parents with this information can create strong and effective partners for teachers.

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What Parents Want in School Communication

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What Parents Want in School Communication

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The survey was quite informative as to how, and what, school districts should communicate with communities (many of NSPRA's members are district communications officials). But I think one of the most valuable uses for this survey will be in helping teachers and principals develop individual communications strategies for reaching out to parents.

How Parents Want School News

Consider, for example, that the survey asked parents their preferred delivery method for school news. Internet communications clearly won. The top five answers:

E-mail from the district/school

Online parent portal

District/school e-newsletters

District/school website

Telephone/voice messaging system

As NSPRA President Ron Koehler points out, "Consumer needs are changing. The backpack folder is no longer the primary source of information for parents. They want and prefer instant electronic information. ... [T]he data demonstrates parents and non-parents alike turn to the web when they need information, and they want it now."

There is a twist, though: Social media (Facebook, Twitter and blogs) ranged near the bottom of communication preferences, below newspapers, television and attending school board meetings. More on this later.

What News They Want

A great feature of this survey is that it divided parental responses into "elementary" and "secondary" categories, acknowledging the differences between those schools and students, which are often lumped together. But it turns out that when you are talking about what information parents want from teachers, most communications priorities are the same:

Updates on their child's progress or insight on how they improve

Timely notice when performance is slipping

Information on what their child is expected to learn during this year

Homework and grading policies

Rounding out the top five for elementary students was information on behavior (including how their child gets along with others), while for secondary students it was how to best communicate with the teacher.

Parents also want much the same information from both elementary and secondary schools:

Curriculum descriptions and information on instructional programs

A calendar of events and meetings

Information on student safety (and quality of teaching, at the elementary level)

Educational program changes and updates (elementary level)/curriculum updates and changes in instructional programs (secondary level).

Rounding out the top five for elementary schools was information comparing their school's performance to others; for secondary, information on graduation and course requirements.

When They Want It

Many parents (47 percent) and most non-parents (59 percent) would like district updates as often as decisions are made. While the survey didn't further break down the frequency of communications to find a preference for school or teacher-level communications, I think that could be a guide for those entities as well. In addition to the 47 percent of parents wanting district updates as often as decisions are made, 36 percent of parents would like monthly updates and 13 percent would like quarterly. Less than 1 percent prefer less than quarterly (3 percent responded with "other").

What Does This Mean?

As NSPRA Executive Director Rich Bagin notes, while we know what the survey says, "each school district must complete its own research to see what its parents and other constituents prefer when it comes to communication."

I would expand that research to include the strengths and passions of those working in the district as well. And keeping that in mind, I think it is important to revisit the survey's finding on social media.

For all the attention that we in the education community have been putting on social media lately, I did think it was interesting how little parents (and other community members) as a group looked to it for school news. NSPRA leaders hypothesized that "social media may be seen as 'too social', lacking in credibility for official school information," or that "it is just too soon to make an impact for today's parents."

Yet just a couple weeks ago, I heard a very impassioned principal talk about the ways that he has effectively used social media including in communicating with both the school and greater community, which has responded well to his efforts. But the message he spread using those tools seemed to be the one that this survey found that parents want -- information on instructional programs, events and so on. My guess: He gets feedback through these tools on what parents (and others) want, and uses it to shape his message.

The example speaks to a broader point: Develop a communications strategy that meets the needs of your community. In doing so, make sure you take the time to learn what parents want to know. Otherwise, you'll have a hard time giving it to them. (Download the complete survey here).

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What Parents Want in School Communication

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The survey was quite informative as to how, and what, school districts should communicate with communities (many of NSPRA's members are district communications officials). But I think one of the most valuable uses for this survey will be in helping teachers and principals develop individual communications strategies for reaching out to parents.

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Julia--Ideal situation for Successful Communication 

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Julia--Ideal situation for Successful Communication 

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for all education systems

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Julia --Issues with Communication Higher Ed and K-12 

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Julia --Issues with Communication Higher Ed and K-12 

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There are multiple stakeholders in creating a streamlined and effective communication plan for individuals that are a part of a school community.

Unfortunately, with many individuals involved, sometimes communication streams get crossed and it leaves individuals frustrated with the communication process.

We have found that a lack of communication or difficulty in communication is a key issue with parents, families, students, teachers and administrators in educational institutions K-Higher Education.

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Some parents still prefer to receive paper communication through mail or in their child's folder/bookbag. These flyers are commonly hung on boards or on the fridge in the household as a visual reminder of important upcoming events.

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There are various ways to communicate with parents.
*Websites
*Email
*Newsletters
*Flyers
*Connect 5

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Some links, blogs, or articles, about the importance of communication between parents and schools

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Important information can also be communicated through social media platforms. Facebook and Twitter are commonly used by many school districts to communicate important information to parents and students.

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Cecil County Public Schools. 15,262 likes · 214 talking about this. Welcome to the Cecil County Public Schools Facebook page. This is the official Facebook page of the Cecil County Public Schools and...

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Parents: Which form of communication is best for you? Amber

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Parents: Which form of communication is best for you? Amber

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Attached is a Google Form for parents to complete.

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Creating a google form to ask parents about communication could be a great way to collect responses in an efficient amount of time. Parents can have the link sent via email, text message or computer stations can be set up at Back to School Night activities.