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Tips for Open House/Back to School Night

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Tips for Open House/Back to School Night

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Learn how to prepare for a successful Back-to-School Night or Open House! On this page (which has been excerpted from The Cornerstone book) You'll find tips and tricks for making parents feel welcome, handling small children who attend, and creating an engaging and memorable presentation.

Holding an informative, stress-free event for families

Open House (or Back-To-School Night) can be a source of great stress for teachers who hate speaking in front of a group of adults. It's natural to be nervous and concerned about creating a good impression on the families you will have to partner with for an entire school year. One of the most important elements of a successful Open House is letting your personality shine through so that parents can make a real connection with you as a person who cares about their children. The following guidelines will help you feel calm and prepared so that you can let parents see the real you: a person who loves their kids and wants to help them succeed.

Prior to open house: creating a parent letter

It's helpful to send a letter to families to introduce yourself, provide an overview of the school year, and inform parents of rules and procedures. If you send these letters out before Open House, you won't have to go into as much detail in your presentation because parents will have already had a chance to familiarize themselves with how your classroom is run. You can also use your letter (or a class handbook that you provide in advance) as the basis for your presentation.

What back-to-school night is and isn't

The purpose of Open House or Back-to-School Night is to provide a time for parents to meet the teacher and review expectations. It is NOT a time for individual conferences, and you'll need to make that clear to parents. Open House is usually held in the early evening and lasts between 30 and 90 minutes, depending on the format that your school uses. In some schools, the teacher will need to present for as long as 45 minutes; in others, the teachers are lucky to get 15 minutes. Ask your colleagues what Open House is normally like at your school.

How to organize and prepare for open house

There are several components of the typical Open House. Some schools have parents go to the cafeteria or auditorium first for a general welcome, then to individual classrooms. No matter how your school sets it up, you should expect to have families trickling in for a good 30-45 minutes, if not longer: some will be very early, and others will come in when it's nearly over, especially if they had to visit siblings' classrooms first. The younger the children you teach, the higher the priority parents will give to your classroom. Pre-K and kindergarten classrooms often get the best turnout in the school and parents will visit them before going to their older children's classrooms. Some schools have two 30-minute sessions so parents with more than one child can visit multiple teachers without missing a lot of information.

After most people arrive, you will give a short presentation about your class. However, because of the trickle-in effect, you will need productive activities for your families to do while they wait for you to begin. Talking with you will not be an option as you attend to a million other things that seem to pop up. Open House is not always the best time to have parents fill out forms because they are often rushed and distracted. You can, however, have volunteer sign-up sheets for them and handouts to peruse.

Have a self-running sign-in system that you don't have to operate yourself. Right inside my classroom door I have a desk with nametags, a sign-in sheet, and a packet of materials that I will be reviewing that night. (If you place the desk in the hallway, you won't be able to ensure that all parents have signed in.) Some teachers like to offer a small bowl of candy or treats, as well. My sign-in sheet asks for the parent's name and the child's name, as well as a daytime phone number, so that when conferences come, I don't have to rack my brain wondering, "Did I meet her before? Didn't she come to Back-to-School night, or was it dad that came?" I have introduced myself to the same parent several times, only to have them say, "Yes, I remember...we met at Back-To-School night." Whoops! There will be dozens of people in and out of your room and family situations can be complicated, so it's very hard to keep track of everyone. Make notes to yourself in the margin afterwards (woman with red hair, had infant with her, grandma came along, didn't speak much English, etc.) to help you place the name with the face later on.

Make it clear where parents should sit: normally, at their child's desk. Some teachers like to have work samples or other materials out; I have done this in the past and found that papers wind up on the floor or somewhere else they don't belong in all the hustle and bustle. Have extra chairs available for families to sit together. You may want to have all the children sit on the floor in the front or back of the room if space is limited.

Fun ways to make the back-to-school night special

It's not necessary to create a lot of elaborate things for families to do at Open House. However, if you're looking for easy-to-implement, high-interest activities, here are a few ideas:

Scavenger hunt: Families can complete this activity while they wait for you to begin the presentation, and/or afterward while they wait to talk to you. One parent sent me an email afterward saying how much she enjoyed it because she had a purpose in walking around the room and knew what she was looking at. The scavenger hunt can end with the parent at the child's desk, waiting for you to begin talking.

How well do you know me? Fun survey:Parents can complete this at anytime during the evening-it's waiting for them on the child's desk. The kids get to grade it for the parents the next day, which they love! Note: Have something enjoyable to do the next day for the kids whose parents couldn't come so they don't feel left out while the others read the surveys.

Shared journal entry: The kids write on a topic such as "The Hardest Part/Best Part of Being a Kid". They then set up the page across from that page with the title, "The Hardest Part/Best Part of Being a Parent". The families complete the journal entry at Back-To-School night and children read them in the morning. (Have another morning warm-up for kids whose parents did not come.) This is a good activity if you use journals and workbooks a lot: it lets parents see how much work the child is doing in class, even though it may not all come home because it's not on loose-leaf paper. Be aware that some parents may not feel comfortable with their own reading or writing skills or may be preoccupied with their young children or the papers you have handed them, and may not take part. I have had moderate success with this activity in that regard, but the parents who did do the journal entry absolutely raved about it.

What to include in your presentation

Your school will probably give you guidelines on the material they want you to cover. There is no one right way to do this, but I have found the following format effective:

1) Tell a little about yourself.

If it's your first year teaching, don't feel obligated to announce that, but definitely don't lie, either! At my first Open House, I said, "This is my first year teaching this grade level," and left it at that. Some teachers show their family photos, which can be very endearing and encourages parents to view you as an approachable, real person. I like to tell why I chose the grade level I did and what I think is special about it. This is a good transition into the presentation and if someone comes in late, they're able to catch up easily.

2) Give an overview of the most exciting things you have planned for the year to get parents enthusiastic about what's happening in the classroom.

I spend just a minute or two telling them that their children will be choosing community outreach and charity projects to get involved with, doing a home and school fitness plan, and so on. Be sure to mention anything out of the ordinary that you plan to do (specific field trips, etc.) that sets your class apart.

3) Use your daily schedule to introduce parents to the way their children will be learning.

This is the 'meat' of your presentation. Without burdening them with too much detail, walk your families through the children's day, from Morning Work to dismissal procedures. Each time you mention a specific subject area, explain how it will be taught. For example, you might mention small group reading instruction, centers or centerjobs, integration of content areas (such as using social studies to teach reading comprehension strategies, etc.). Use photos of the kids working or actual materials as props to keep everyone focused. I like to also call on kids who are in attendance to explain things ("Would one of our class members tell how we use the math games?"). This gives parents a break from listening to me talk and it's always entertaining to hear the kids' explanations.

4) Spend no more than a minute or two discussing standardized tests.

You can also mention your grading system or scale if necessary, but in the primary grades, this shouldn't be a big deal. Do NOT get bogged down with state standards and outcomes-you can provide these in a handout and parents can read them later. If your grade level doesn't give any standardized tests, you could even skip this altogether.

Let parents know that all of your instruction and assessment is aligned with state standards, and in plain English that means you design all of your lessons to meet state requirements in order to prepare students for the tests and for the next grade level. Tell them that you will be providing handouts, conferences, benchmark tests results, workshops, etc., throughout the year to help them understand the testing expectations, and that your communication with them will be routine and ongoing. Promise that there will be no surprises and that they will have an indication if their child may have difficulty passing long before the actual test date arrives.

5) Outline your approach to behavior management and class rules.

Make your expectations clear now so parents know what to expect! For example, if you never accept late homework or papers without names on them, are a stickler about tardies and make-up work, or don't let kids call home when they forget a book or agenda, explain your philosophy up front. I wouldn't run down a list of no-no's, but I do explain that I make class rules and consequences collaboratively with the students, and send them home in writing for parents and students to sign. (By Open House, this is usually done, anyway.) I tell them that after a grace period, which usually ends around October, I enforce the rules without exception in order to be fair and to teach the students responsibility and accountability. For example, one year I decided that all no-name papers would have one letter grade taken off beginning in November. When a parent called to complain once, I reminded her of the written notice and announcement of that policy at Open House. If you can't discuss these things at Open House due to time constraints, be sure to have them in writing so anyone with concerns can bring them to you before they become a problem. End this portion on a positive note by explaining the reward systems and fun activities you have planned for the students (Fun Friday, etc.).

6) Close with the methods of communication you will use (newsletters, email lists, class webpage, daily agendas, and so on).

If parents are welcome to volunteer in your classroom, briefly explain the procedures for this as well. If you want them to sign up for volunteer opportunities or specific classroom tasks, tell them where the sign-up sheet will be and encourage them to add their names to the list after the presentation. Be sure to thank them for coming out and urge them to call, email, etc., anytime they have a question or concern. Let them know that due to time constraints, you've been specifically instructed not to discuss any individual students during Open House, but that you have a conference sign-up sheet available for that purpose.

7) Explain how you will handle parent questions.

One year, things were very calm and settled and I took questions and answered them in front of the group for about five minutes. Another year, things were very hectic and I asked parents to either approach me individually with questions or write them down and I would call them the following day. You may begin taking questions and realize that parents are asking things that only pertain to their child or a small percentage of the class; you can always give a general response and tell the parent you will follow up with them later on (give a specific time and method of communication).

If you notice that a lot of side conversations begin and the whole group isn't listening anymore, they've probably had enough 'lecturing' for the evening and you can end it! With some groups, I can literally see how tired they are from working all day long and then rushing to the school and sitting through lengthy presentations, knowing they still have to get home and bathe the kids, do homework, get everyone ready for bed...and then get up again in a few hours for another work day! Make it brief for those groups. You can also help by not assigning homework on Open House night, or excusing it for the students of parents who attend (that's always a great motivator for kids to get their families to show up!).

What parents REALLY want from an open house

In my experience, what family members expect is relatively simple:

1) A clean and organized classroom that their child takes ownership of
2) A warm and friendly teacher who welcomes them
3) An informal, easy-to-understand presentation that provides a good sense of what the year will be like

Parents have no idea what to expect from a teacher their children have never had before. Most of them are not worried about how often you'll be giving science tests or what materials you'll use to teach addition. They want to know:

* Does the teacher like my child?
* Does the teacher care about the kids and enjoy teaching?
* Does the teacher want to support me and my child?
* Is the teacher going to be fair and easy to work with?

These things are communicated through the energy you put out and the environment you create in the classroom. Some of it can be communicated verbally, but most of is conveyed in your demeanor. Smile! Smile! Smile! Act relaxed even though you're not. Listen attentively to parents and treat their questions and concerns seriously. They are not your superiors there to observe you, so don't be intimidated. They are your equals, so treat them with kindness and respect and don't worry about what they're thinking. Most of them are extremely grateful to have you in their children's lives, and want to support you in having a successful Open House and school year.

Making a personal connection with each family

Ideally, you should be able to connect with parents and make them feel valued and appreciated in the same way you treat your students as unique individuals. That can be difficult to do during Open House when you're short on time, but I try to always say something specific and positive to each parent as we meet. ("Oh, you're Edward's dad! I am so glad to meet you! He is such an awesome kid; he always has some fact to share with the class! Just the other day, he said..." or "Brianna's mom! Great to see you again! Brianna is the sweetest child; I can always count on her to help her friends and to be a peacemaker. I'm so glad she's in our class!") No matter how awful a child has been in class, it's possible to find some good attribute to comment on so that the first feedback a parent hears is a compliment. The type of quotes above could easily be used for challenging students: Edward, for instance, could be a child who talks non-stop in class about totally random information, and Brianna may be a busy-body who's always telling the other kids what to do. Look through to each child's heart and intentions, and you'll be able to come up with something good to say about all of your students. Plan it out in advance for certain children if you need to.

You can't fit it all into one presentation

There's a lot of pressure on teachers to say everything they need to about behavioral expectations, homework, testing, grading systems, key skills and concepts, and how to support learning at home...all in one night! It's just not possible. Parents, like kids, need time to digest information and make it their own, and hands-on experiences are the best way to do that. I hold a parent workshop each month, but I know teachers who hold only one a year or one a quarter. Start with whatever you are comfortable with and use parental feedback to determine what to do the following school year. I hold a variety of festivities, some of which are just opportunities for families to socialize with one another and build a sense of community. After each event, there is an evaluation form for parents to fill out to help me revise for next year.

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Tips for Open House and Back to School Night

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Learn how to prepare for a successful Back-to-School Night or Open House! On this page (which has been excerpted from The Cornerstone book) You'll find tips and tricks for making parents feel welcome, handling small children who attend, and creating an engaging and memorable presentation.

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Five Fun Projects

1. Design a Wacky Apple: So often teachers are associated with apples! You could do a whole theme in your classroom with apple posters, apples to eat, and other apple cutouts leading up to the door, on the floor, etc.

The assigned project would be for each student to decorate a red or green apple at home. The students could use pipe cleaners, toothpicks, thumb tacks, googly eyes, etc. to design the apple. Things that poke into the apple (like the pipe cleaners and toothpicks) would stay in place on their own; the other items may need to be glued. Students would bring their finished apple on the Back To School Night, and you could display them on the student's desks, or on a specially arranged area with their names besides their apples.

2. Quilt Squares: For this idea, students would be each designing an individual quilt square to all be put together at the Back To School Night. You could use felt or cardstock, cutting each piece into a good-sized square. If you have a parent that sews, or if you sew, you could ideally give each student a piece of cloth that could be drawn on with markers. Sew the pieces together after the Open House, leaving the finished product up all year.

Each student would be given the material to design along with a page of instructions of what to include on their square. The things they would want to include on their square could be their name, designs of their favorite foods, hobbies, pets, or family members. At the Back To School Night you would want to have a large piece of paper, already gridded, so the students' designs could be taped to the grid to form the quilt. This idea lets you get to know about the student, and starts to develop a sense of unity among the students, as the quilt comes together.

3. Bingo Sheet About Child: For this idea, you would want to make a template for each child to take home of a page that looks like a blank bingo board with 16 or more squares. You will also want to send home an instruction sheet of what to do with the template. You will want the student to fill in each square with things that describe themselves. For example, a student may list brown hair, blue eyes, likes to play softball, takes piano lessons, etc.

On the Back To School Night students will bring their Bingo Board (make sure to have some extra blank ones on hand, in case a child forgets!). Students can place their bingo card on their desk and then walk around to other desks to fill in their initials on things that match the other students' cards. For example, if Jillian walks around and finds Bobby's card says brown hair, and she has brown hair, she would place her initials in the box that says brown hair. You would want to limit how many boxes each student can fill in total throughout the classroom.

4. About Me Poster: For this idea, you will want to send home a template for each child to work on until Back To School Night. It would have a circle for a picture of the child's face. It would also include a picture of a child's upper body, and the hands would be traced so there would be room to write on each finger. Students would glue a picture of their face in the circle and on the fingers they would write 10 things about themselves, one thing on each finger.

5. Favorite Family Recipe: For this idea, students will bring in a family recipe that is their favorite. Have the student and/or the family to write or type it out. As the students bring these to the Back To School Night, let the students and families know you'd be compiling them for a recipe book for the classroom.

If your school allows this, you could limit the favorite recipes to snacks and desserts and have each family bring in the dish made up, along with the recipe. This would turn your classroom into a little potluck, while getting to know the children and families better.

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Back to School Night Projects: 5 Creative Ideas For the Open House

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If you are a teacher looking for a few creative ways to get to know your students and families better at the Open House or Back to School Night, or even something to display at Parent-Teacher Conferences, these projects will be useful to you!

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This useful list of resources for educators will help make your next Open House Night a success. Being well prepared to meet students' parents for the first time can make a huge difference in how well the rest of the year goes. These printables will give you ideas on how to plan your event, introduce yourself to parents, and foster positive parent-teacher relationships. You'll also find helpful skill building tips to distribute to parents and great decorating ideas that showcase students' work. These resources will help you prepare for your next Parents' Night, Open School Night, or Back-to-School Open House.

Advice & Ideas for Teachers

Whether you are a first year teacher or have been teaching for 20 years, there wil never be a moment where you aren't learning something new. In this section, puruse resources for working with your students in the classroom, students' parents, and utilizing strategies for teaching different grade levels. You're definitely going to want to put this in your teaching repertoire!

Getting Parents Involved
Encourage parents to volunteer in the classroom year round as an important positive step in improving their child's education. New teachers, who are trying to build solid relationships with parents, will find this resource particularly valuable.

Parent/Teacher Relations
Handy suggestions for creating and maintaining positive parent/teacher relationships.

Getting to Know Your Student: Parent Form
Send this letter home to parents to help you know your students better.

Getting to Know Your Students: Classroom Activities
Get to know new students through icebreakers, name games, and first-day celebrations. Our activities and advice will help teachers develop classroom community and establish positive relationships.

Positive Descriptions of Student Behavior
An extensive list of verbs and phrases that will help you to prepare positive, descriptive statements about a student's behavior. New teachers will find this resource particularly valuable when they're writing their first report cards and progress reports.

Parent-Teacher Communication Advice from Veteran Teachers
Communication with parents is an essential part of teaching. Here is a list of helpful suggestions from experienced educators.

Tips from Veteran Teachers on Dealing with Parents
Enlisting parents in their child's education is one of the hardest yet most rewarding undertakings for teachers. Here are some practical tips from veteran teachers on managing these challenging relationships. New teachers will find this resource particularly valuable.

Preparing for the First Day of School
Discover great ideas on how to introduce yourself to your new middle grade or secondary students and their parents.

First Day at the Elementary Level
Prepare yourself for your first day teaching at the elementary level with these ideas, including getting to know your students and discussing classroom rules. New teachers will find this resource particularly valuable.

First Day at the Secondary Level
Get ready for your first day teaching at the secondary level with these tips on everything from outlining the syllabus to starting a fun and hands-on project. New teachers will find this resource particularly valuable for back-to-school.

Advice for Parents

Sometimes as teachers we don't realize teaching our students' parents on how to work with our students at home is just as important as teaching in general. Work on the home-school connection and collaborating with parents with the resources in this section.

Preparing for the Open House

Open houses are an extremely exciting part of the year for schools. Here is your time to shine and showcase all that is great in your classroom and school. Use these general tips or grade leveled resources to make this year's open house the best one ever!

Hosting a Successful Open House
Your students' parents are powerful allies and can make your job much more manageable. Learn some tips on how to foster a positive relationship with parents and host a successful open house. New teachers will find this resource particularly valuable.

Kindergarten Open House
Prepare for Open House with these ideas about making refreshments, setting up the classroom, and creating activities for the parents to do.

First-Grade Open House
Prepare for open house by decorating the room with your students' work, making refreshments, and planning activities for the visiting parents.

Second-Grade Open House
Print a worksheet that describes various ways to prepare your classroom for open house so that parents can see what their children are learning.

Third-Grade Open House
Use this printable to come up with activities and refreshments to demonstrate your students' progress for their parents.

Fourth-Grade Open House
Prepare for Open House with these activities for you, your students, and their parents.

Fifth-Grade Open House
Prepare for Open House with these activities for you, the students, and their parents to demonstrate what is being done in the classroom.

Sixth-Grade Open House
Prepare for Open House with these ideas for bulletin-board displays, student-provided refreshments, and activities for their parents to complete.

Create a Meaningful Open House
Your students' parents are powerful allies and can make your job much more manageable. Learn some tips on how to foster a positive relationship with parents and host a successful open house.

Showcasing Student Achievement

Reward your students hard efforts with a showcasing of their terrific accomplishments. Whether it's in your classroom for your class to reflect upon, during parent teacher night, or just cause, uses this section to truly put your students into the limelight. They will definitely appreciate the recognition.

Creative Writing Teacher Resources
Build solid creative writing skills with our extensive collection of printables, graphic organizers, and lesson plans. You'll find poetry activities, short-story writing exercises, journal topics, and more!

Art Resources for Teachers
Emphasize the importance of art education across the curriculum with TeacherVision's art lesson plans, printables, activities, quizzes, and references, for grades K-12.

Music Resources for Teachers
Bring some music into your classroom with lessons and printables! Celebrate Music in Our Schools Month in March, or enjoy music on a regular basis with your students.

Additional Resources

Need some resources for a rainy day? This section is a great place to look for things that you may need for your classroom or may need someday.

Back To School Headquarters
Return to school this fall prepared to conquer any questions you or your students might have about the school year. Our resources range from teaching students the school's layout to assessment tips.

New Teacher Resources
Discover everything a beginning teacher will need for a successful school year, from tips for your first day, to classroom-management advice, to printables and lesson plans that will support your curriculum all year long.

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ADVERTISEMENT | REMOVE ADS We found 23 items This useful list of resources for educators will help make your next Open House Night a success. Being well prepared to meet students' parents for the first time can make a huge difference in how well the rest of the year goes.

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Description
At the start of the school year, open house night is the perfect opportunity to make connections with parents that will last throughout the school year. With a little planning, schools can improve open house attendance and make a good first impression.

Learn More About Attracting Parents to "Open House" Night
Education World has published several articles about effective open house strategies. You can learn more by reading the following articles:

Additional Resources

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Description At the start of the school year, open house night is the perfect opportunity to make connections with parents that will last throughout the school year. With a little planning, schools can improve open house attendance and make a good first impression.

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"How many of you have ever been to a school open house?" asks Senior Lecturer Karen Mapp, Ed.M.'93, Ed.D.'99. Pretty much all hands in Askwith Hall go up. "And I bet you just can't wait to turn off Scandal to go to another one."

Based on the laughter in the room, the answer is clearly no. Although open houses are a rare chance for parents and caregivers to walk freely around the school and meet with educators, unfortunately, as Mapp points out and as the audience reaction clearly confirms, traditional open houses just don't work.

They're boring. They're rushed. And they end up feeling a lot like cattle drives, as Mapp likes to say, with parents first crowding into the cafeteria to hear the principal talk for 20 minutes about rules related to bussing and attendance before being herded to classrooms where teachers usually talk about - guess what? - more rules.

"Do I get to learn, as a parent, a new tip or tool? Do I get to practice something that helps support my kid's learning?" Mapp asks. "Not usually. Do the teachers get to hear from me about what I know about my kid that might help them be a better teacher? No."

As a result, on any given fall night in the United States, "15,000 or more of these open houses occur, and we blow it," Mapp says.

We blow it because open houses are not linked to learning and because they don't do a good job of helping families make that initial connection to the people in the building. And as Mapp points out, when it comes to helping students succeed, relationships really matter.

RELATIONSHIPS ARE KING

This realization that relationships matter when it comes to student success is exactly why Mapp is now on a personal quest to revamp the open house in America - to make this time-honored back-to-school event a useful tool for parents and teachers and not just something a school ticks off as "done" at the beginning of the year.

"It started with Trinity College," she says, where she once worked as associate director of admissions. "I was asked to coordinate efforts to recruit a more diverse group of students to the college - racially, ethnically, and socio-economically. As I traveled and talked to young people, I started to ask, 'What is it that led you to being so successful in school?' I was struck by how many said it was my parents, and by parents I mean also aunts, grandparents, any adults who pushed them and told them they could do it. It was pretty powerful that almost every student I talked to mentioned one of these people. I talked to guidance counselors and said, 'The kids are telling me adults are key.' I asked what are you doing to get them, the adults, involved. They looked at me like I had three heads. They didn't think family engagement was very helpful."

But Mapp, who later served as a deputy superintendent for family and community relations in Boston Public Schools, knows how important it is. And schools, more often than not, aren't doing as much as they could, or should, to engage families.

"We waste a wonderful opportunity with many of our events at school, and open house is just one of them," she says.

Although there are lots of ways to engage families throughout the year, given that most open houses are fairly well attended (at least at the elementary level) and one of the first events of the school year - and sometimes the only face-to-face contact parents have with teachers - it's critical that schools rethink their back-to-school night.

"It's really the beginning of the relation - ship between home and school. It's a partner - ship focused on the child's learning," Mapp says. "As a staff, if we said, 'Here's our first chance to engage parents,' then surely open houses wouldn't be planned the way they are now. They would be a much warmer, much more collaborative event and" - here she stresses the term - "linked to learning."

Then why aren't they? Why are most schools following the cattle-herding formula, leaving families with a ho-hum first impression and wondering the next year if they should even bother attending?

The main reason, Mapp says, is that "people don't know how to do open houses" or family engagement in general. "Parents say they want to partner with schools, but they don't know how. Teachers say they want to do better but don't know how." Even when family engagement became federally mandated when Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act stated that any Title 1 school had to develop an agrement, or "school-family compact," describing how schools and parents would work togther, there was no guidebook on how to do that. As the U.S. Department of Education noted in a statement to Education Week in 2012 about the mandate, "The approach to family engagement has been fragmented and nonstrategic, often constituting 'random acts of family involvement.'"

Mapp says educators want to "do right" by families, "but their capacity hasn't been built. We have not done a good job of train - ing our practitioners." As she writes in Beyond the Bake Sale, her first book on family-school partnerships, many teachers "tend to be more comfortable with helping families to be involved with their children at home than with engaging families in their classrooms and school buildings."

What holds them back? For starters, there's mindset. Some educators, whether they admit it or not, don't necessarily believe that parents want to be engaged or even want the best for their children. Some don't recognize that their school culture is unwelcoming or that fami - lies feel like they are "bothering" school staff. What ends up happening is what University of Washington Assistant Professor Ann Ishimaru, Ed.M.'08, Ed.D.'11, a researcher on school-community relationships, calls a toxic cycle: Schools organize events, like the open house, and, if parents don't show, conclude they just don't care.

"A Somali mom I met recently put this so potently," Ishimaru says. "She said, 'Just because we don't speak English doesn't mean we can't see. We know they [educators] are judging us.' That's what happens when parents don't attend the typical open house or parent-teacher conference or they do attend once and then decide to be 'too busy' the next time." Too often, as Ishimaru has found in her research and her work with the Family Leadership Design Collaborative, which looks at racial equality in family engagement, teachers default to stereotypes about whole cultural, ethnic, or socio-economic groups of people. Worse case scenario, she says, "well-intentioned school events, like open houses, can actually inadvertently send the message that people are not good parents unless they passively support what educators and professionals say is best for their children."

Mapp, in her forthcoming book due out next spring and co-written with Eileen Carver, a Boston teacher, says this is why, when they work with schools on improving family engagement, "we start with thinking about the teacher's mindset. What do you really think about the families in your class? Do you see them as resources or problems?" In order for family engagement to be effective, educators have to believe that all parents have something to offer (regardless of education level or background), and they have to trust that what parents offer will be valuable. "Guess what? Families and communities have funds of knowledge that we need in order to be better educators," Mapp says. "It can't just be teach - ers and principals talking at the families."

Elizabeth Canada, Ed.M.'15 , works with teachers every day as a family engagement coach for the Boston-based nonprofit 1647, which was named for the year the Massachusetts legislature declared that educating children is a community responsibility. She says families have to be a welcomed part of the team - but often aren't.

"Unfortunately in education, we've gotten really good at working in silos," she says. "We need to break those down."

As Mapp writes in Beyond the Bake Sale, "The expression 'Parents are their children's first teachers' is so widely used it has become a cliché, but it is true. We should view and treat parents as the experts they are." Educators and parents "are two such important systems for kids - they have to work together."

This sense of working together comes from developing a relationship - something everyone working in the family engagement field says is what parents crave.

"Parents tell us that feeling welcome and being treated with respect by school staff is the number one key to their connection with a school," Mapp writes. "When school staff construct caring and trustful relationships with parents, treating parents as partners in their children's education, parents are far more likely to become involved," and, she says stay involved down the road.

Unfortunately, deep-seated layers of mistrust often develop between schools and families. Canada, remembering her days teaching, says at events like the open house, "Everyone is afraid of something. Educators are worried that parents will think less of them. Young teachers worry parents will think they don't know what they're doing. Families are worried they'll be judged. Both sides are nervous about what the other is thinking."

Mapp says this mutual mistrust or unease "makes it very difficult to execute any strategies to improve outcomes for schools. Trust is like the lubricant that keeps all of the other things moving."

Which is why Canada and her colleagues at 1647, including founder John Connolly, a former Boston city councillor, help teachers and families get to know one another with home visits that initially happen well before potentially tense events like the open house.

"The home visit flips the dynamic," Canada says. "When I was a teacher, the classroom was my kingdom. That's where I felt safe, where I was in control, where I could invite others in, but it was still my space. Home visits flip that power dynamic; teachers get out of the school and visit with families in their space, where families feel most comfortable." She says this could be in a home or at baseball practice, in a park, or at a coffee shop. "Just not at the school. We are always asking families to come to us, to cross the academic threshold to meet with us - to come to our turf. Relationship-building home visits, scheduled in advance, allow us to meet with families in a non-academic setting to have authentic, positive conversations during which we get to know one another as people."

At Gardner Pilot Academy in Boston, Liz Byron, Ed.M.'08 , a sixth-grade math teacher, says her school also makes it clear early on that each family is valued. Leading up to the open house, for example, every middle school family receives a personalized phone call from a teacher not only inviting them to the event, but also confirming attendance.

"If families are not able to attend," says Byron, who is transitioning this fall to become 33 Fall 2016 the school's K-8 visual arts teacher, "we offer to meet with them on their own time to share the information they missed." Over the course of the year, the staff also makes an extra effort to connect with harder-to-reach families. "For example, teachers complete a minimum of two home visits to families who have not been able to actively attend our out-of-school-time events," says Byron. They also offer rides to events like open house to families that don't have transportation.

At Whittemore Elementary in Waltham, Massachusetts, Principal Emma Herzog, Ed.M.'14 , has found that in all of the diverse schools where she has worked, open house is a key opportunity for staff to explain to parents how U.S. schools work while simultaneously building relationships.

"The majority of our students do not speak English at home. Most students speak Spanish, but we also have students who speak other languages, like Portuguese and Haitian Creole," she says. "We use open house as a tool to help make all families feel comfortable and welcome and to build strong and lasting rela - tionships. We also use open house as an opportunity to explain systems and structures, to explain what their students will be learning." For parents and caretakers who come from different cultures or did not attend school in the United States, she says, "Open house gives us a chance to demystify how our school works." Moving into her second year as principal, Herzog says she will be adding more translators at events like open house to cover all languages spoken by her families.

BUT WHY?

Why is all of this important? Research shows that family engagement improves student success at school. As Mapp wrote in her paper A New Wave of Evidence, students with involved parents - no matter their income level or background - earn higher grades, are more likely to attend school regularly, have better social skills, and are more likely to go on to college. One study found that elementary school students made greater and more consistent gains when teachers were "especially active" in their outreach to parents, which included face-to-face meetings, sending home material for parents to use to help their children, and calling home routinely with updates.

However, educators need to be mindful of when and why they reach out, Canada says.

"We do a great job of reaching out to families when something goes wrong but never positive calls," Canada says. "We run out of time. We know that the things not happening well need to be addressed, so we do those things first."

But educators need to think beyond the here and now, she says. "When you establish a positive relationship with parents, it saves you time later. If you have to reach out to a family to give bad news - say their child was throwing things - if this is the first time [they're] hearing from [you], that message will be received differently" than if you've already created a trusting partnership with them.

Mapp also stresses that everything a school does, including engaging families, should be "linked to learning." Many schools offer obvious ways to engage families that also improve academics - family math nights or tutoring sessions - but she says schools need to get into the mindset of connecting all of the activities that involve families to learning, including events like the open house or the spring concert, in ways that are both fun and useful.

Alice Drive Middle School in Sumter, South Carolina, has found a way, by offering not one, but two back-to-school events. Trevor Ivey, Ed.M.'10 , the assistant principal and a former third-grade and middle school science teacher, says the change came in response to feedback that open house was boring and too hectic to accomplish much. They decided to host both an orientation and an open house. The orientation, held a week before school starts, is like a mini fair with stations that allow families to meet and mingle with staff, take student IDs, and learn about fun extracurriculars. Open house is held around mid-September, after relationships have been nurtured, and is more academically focused. It's also student-led.

Students individually prepare an electronic presentation to share with parents and caregivers regarding their current progress in the form of "glows and grows" - an assessment strategy related to strengths and challenges, Ivey says. "It also includes a synopsis of the data and their action plan for moving forward." For students unable to attend open house, presentations are divided up during the school day. "The secretary takes a few, counselors have a group, career specialists, even the principals have a group of students they meet with who then present their data," he says. "Even the head custodian."

OTHER WAYS OF DOING

What are other ways that schools can improve on family engagement in general and open houses specifically? From her days working in Boston Public Schools, Mapp remembers one middle school in the district getting creative. They renamed open house to Family Fun Night. There was a jazz band playing in the lobby. The staff rolled out a red carpet for families to walk down as they entered the school, and kids were lined up along the carpet, taking pictures like paparazzi. The photos were later used to create a big family tree in the main hallway. When families branched off later to visit their individual classes, the teachers asked parents and caregivers specifically to talk about their hopes and dreams for their kids. Those answers were eventually posted alongside the family tree.

"This night said, 'We're going to be a part of a team,'" Mapp says. "By doing this, it says I value your knowledge about your child."

Ishimaru says schools can also design the event so that families have a chance to get to know other families and to begin to build relationships with each other, family to family. "In racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse contexts, that can sometimes begin more comfortably by ethnic/cultural/language group," she says. On a practical level, schools can also stagger the open house, with one grade per night, allowing parents with multiple kids not to feel rushed as they race from class to class. Open house could be held off site or on the playground, becoming more of a get-to-know-you party, where the principal and teachers serve the families.

"I've also seen open houses where everyone wears big name badges and they have fun activities that let the teachers and parents get together to talk. The principal is saying this is the kind of relationship we want to have with you this year," Mapp says. One high school she visited explained to parents that students would be learning how to craft an argument. But rather than just giving them another handout to take home, teachers gave parents an exercise to do on the spot. "Parents had to use evidence from around the school and make their own case for a particular argument," Mapp says. "They got to explore what it meant to craft an argument and find evidence, exactly what was expected of their kids. This let them learn what the kids would be learning, but in a fun way."

It's these kinds of activities and this kind of engaging event that are "designed to really start the year off right," Mapp says. "It says we care about you. We want your engagement."

In the end, no matter what format an open house - or any family engagement event - takes, Mapp says families should leave feeling excited about the year and have an understanding about learning goals. They should learn at least three or four things their child will know by the end of the year and they should definitely feel included.

"If we don't do these things," Mapp says, "not only do we not engage families, but families stay away."

And when you don't do these things, says Canada, you lose who the whole student is.

"You lose their full story when you're not engaging families," she says. "It's like if you're on a hockey team and you're down two players - maybe they're in the penalty box. You're now a three-person team. That's what education is like when we're not engaging families. We lose the full team."
Illustrations by Kevin Pope.

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"How many of you have ever been to a school open house?" asks Senior Lecturer Karen Mapp, Ed.M.'93, Ed.D.'99. Pretty much all hands in Askwith Hall go up. "And I bet you just can't wait to turn off Scandal to go to another one." Based on the laughter in the room, the answer is clearly no.

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Yes, I am aware that my open house was four whole weeks ago.

This whole back-to-school thing has been completely out of control. I CANNOT catch up, and I come home every day aching and exhausted.

I would totally be asleep right now, but it's storming, and I don't do well with storms.

SO, what a perfect time to (finally) share my open house night!

[ If you missed my classroom reveal, you can see it here . ]

First I whipped up these ridiculously cute station signs.

Then, due to some demanding Instagram followers - love y'all - I turned them into a TPT product.

Before chaos ensued, my front table looked like this:

Station 3 instructed parents and students to grab a blue checklist. The checklist included sorting supplies, finding things in the classroom, picking out a book for Monday morning, etc.

My table and countertops looked like this:

I posted my wish list stickies and volunteer forms on the whiteboard. Most of the post-its were gone by the end of the night. Yippee!

The desktops were arranged so that as soon as parents walked into the classroom, they thought, "This teacher is OCD, overzealous, and probably out of her mind."

The manilla folder contained back-to-school forms to be taken home and returned later.

I gave each student a composition book since I got a class set at a workshop.

The labels are for the kids to stick to their folders, notebooks, etc.

This was next to my door on the way out:

Then I sent a quick Snapchat selfie (LOL) and the three hours of chaos began!

Whew. Reliving that was exhausting.

What do YOU do for open house nights??

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Yes, I am aware that my open house was four whole weeks ago. This whole back-to-school thing has been completely out of control. I CANNOT catch up, and I come home every day aching and exhausted.