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New Teachers: How to Talk with Parents

It gave some tips that highlight what we have learned so far in this program. 1. Be proactive 2. Don't take it personally 3. Ask parents for advice 4. Get involved in your community and 5. Admit when you are wrong

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This article provided practical tips to involve parents.

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Why is parent involvement such a big deal?

Two major studies from the 1990s and 2000s showed the positive effect parent involvement has on student achievement and other success factors. They were so influential that researchers today still reference them frequently. A more recent study-published in 2012 by researchers at North Carolina State University, Brigham Young University, and the University of California, Irvine-reinforced these earlier studies and found that family involvement has a greater effect on positive academic performance than does the quality of the school building. And it's not just students who are positively affected; parents, teachers, and schools as a whole also experience benefits.
When parents are involved in their children's education, those children are more likely to:

Earn better grades.

Score higher on tests.

Attend school regularly.

Have better social skills.

Show improved behavior.

Be more positive in their attitude toward school.

Complete homework assignments.

Graduate and continue their education.

Parents are more likely to:

Be more confident at school.

Be more confident in themselves as parents and in their abilities to help their children learn.

Be held in higher esteem by teachers.

Continue their own education.

Schools are more likely to have:

Better morale among teachers.

Higher ratings of teachers by parents.

More support from families.

A better reputation in the community.

How can my parent group encourage more involvement?
Ease parents into it, one step at a time.
Move people from "not involved" to "some involvement" to "volunteer" rather than kicking off the conversation by asking them to volunteer for a four-hour block at a major event. To get started, hold free events where parents, students, and teachers are encouraged to just have fun. Save the fundraising information for another time.
Roll out the welcome wagon.
You and the other officers are your group's best ambassadors.
Talk up your group.
Don't assume that everyone knows what your parent group does (or even what a parent group is).
Ask for help.
Possibly the single most effective way to increase parent involvement is to ask people personally to get involved. Personal contact, either a face-to-face chat or a telephone conversation, is hard to beat-you can immediately address any concerns or objections, and you send the message that this person is important enough for the extra effort beyond sending a mass email.

Provide lots of different ways parents can get involved.

If there's a buffet of choices, it's more likely that something will appeal to each person. For each job, it helps to describe the time commitment, skills needed, and other relevant factors.

Break big jobs into smaller ones so tasks aren't overwhelming. (Bonus for making them into increments of an hour or two at a time.)

Identify jobs that are one-time projects versus continuing throughout the year, those that are committee-based versus handled by just one person-even jobs that can be done with kids underfoot.

Give parents opportunities to help from home (or anywhere else that is not the school). Some work-from-home tasks include counting box tops, stuffing treat bags, editing a newsletter, sorting fundraiser order forms, updating the website, and managing the social media accounts.

Be open to new ideas.
If you want new members to join your team, let them contribute their talents and their ideas, not just their time. People like to feel that their opinions count. Don't say "We tried that; it didn't work" or "That's not the way we do it." Instead:

How do we keep our volunteers happy-and willing to help out again?
Protect people from the Black Hole of volunteering.
If someone agrees to a task that is billed as a set amount of time, give her a guilt-free opportunity to step away if it ends up taking longer.

Regularly rotate the volunteers manning stations at a large event like a field day or carnival so they can spend part of the event with their family.

Institute a volunteer pledge program to confront Fear of the Black Hole directly. Ask parents to give a certain amount of time each semester-and promise them that you won't ask them for more once they've met their commitment.

Make volunteering convenient (and fun).
Ask parents what would make it easier for them to participate, then work to put those solutions in place.
Provide perks for volunteers.
The chance to win a prize or get a special freebie is one way to encourage repeat participation. If you're having trouble recruiting volunteers in the first place, this is an especially good way to break the ice!

Give a free book to parents who assist with the book fair or a number of free game tickets for those helping with the carnival.

Offer small prizes like $5 gift cards or bakery treats as door prizes for attendance at key events or meetings.

Put parents in the running for larger rewards, like a prime parking spot for a month or membership at a local recreation facility, for higher levels of participation (such as attending several different events or volunteering for five hours during the school year).

Invite students to a special lunch with the principal or a popular teacher if their parents volunteer.

Say thank-you to each person who volunteers, even if you think she'll brush it off.
Thanking volunteers assures everyone that their time is valued and their contribution is appreciated. Keep track of participation so you don't forget who to thank-and if in doubt, thank someone anyway.

The best PTO advice, ideas, and inspiration delivered weekly. Don't miss it!

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How To Prioritize PTO and PTA Involvement - PTO Today

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Why is parent involvement such a big deal? Two major studies from the 1990s and 2000s showed the positive effect parent involvement has on student achievement and other success factors. They were so influential that researchers today still reference them frequently.

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Building Home-School Partnerships
Every year staff participates in a student lead tour of the school's neighborhoods.

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The article I found was a non-profit organization that helps draw latino families into the school and raise their literacy as a family.  There is free webinars, they can send trainers, and help build a program at your school to promote.  The focus is building home reading, whether in their home language or in English to build literacy and comprehension.

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Professional Development for Parent Engagement with English Learners

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Professional Development for Bilingual Parent Engagement for ESL, Family Reading & Vocabulary Development with English Learners.

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A look at how to teachers can frame conversations with parents to create a community of connection.

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"You don't have kids, do you?" a parent asked me during my early years of teaching. She was right: I had no children at the time. I was offended, however, by the implication that my lack of progeny inevitably meant that my advice must be useless.

But it was.

It wasn't my lack of children that made my advice useless. It was the fact that I had derived a solution to the problem (her child never turning in homework) that would work well in my world-not hers.

I'm not saying teachers need to be parents to be good communicators. We need to be empathetic. If I had thought more about what it was like to work three jobs (which I did in college) and try to carve out meaningful time to spend with the people you care about, I would have given that single mom completely different advice.

Over the years, I feel like I've improved at communicating with parents as I've made bigger efforts to put myself in their shoes. Here are the main things I've learned.

Be Proactive

Don't wait for problems to arise. Make it a point to communicate frequently and positively so that you have already developed a relationship before you hit bumps in the road. With the technology available these days, teachers should be able to update parents at least once a week about what's going on in the classroom. Use multiple types of communication-social media, email, and the tried-and-true hard-copy newsletter.

Don't Take It Personally

When parents lash out at you, they're voicing frustration at not being able to help their children. Instead of becoming defensive, ask yourself, "Other than being out to get me, what would motivate them to say this?" Think about what someone could say to you to de-escalate the situation and indicate an open mind if the situation were reversed. For example, if a parent says, "You're out to get my child," try saying, "I'm sorry you think that. Can you tell me what's happened to make you feel this way?"

Ask Parents for Advice

If a student is exhibiting negative behaviors, invite the parent to suggest what works at home. Sometimes the parent may not observe this behavior at home, which is a great opportunity to invite the parent to class. Even if the parent can't give you help or make it to the classroom, you will still make your relationship stronger by showing that you value their input.

Get Involved in the Community

When you appear at sports events, festivals, and other community activities, you send the message to the children and their parents that you care about the whole person, not just the student. Families understand that, to you, it's not "us and them," but "we." Even though students may have the perception that your entire life revolves around them, most parents realize that you're sacrificing your free time to show support for their children, and they appreciate it.

Choose Your Battles

If you and a parent disagree, always look first for a compromise that will benefit the student and preserve your relationship with the parent. If you are not inclined to compromise, ask yourself if your method is really the one that's best for the student and whether it's likely to improve the situation. For example, if a student never completes homework despite the fact that you call home and penalize them for it, you may need to find a different way to help the student practice skills instead of wasting an entire school year trying to prove your point.

Admit It When You're Wrong

As a teacher and (now) a parent, I can truthfully tell you that parents don't lose respect for you when you admit your mistakes and correct them. As long as they perceive that you're really trying to do what's best for their children, parents will not penalize you for occasional mistakes. What annoys parents is when teachers act as though we're superior and give the impression that we're unwilling to listen to the people who know their children best.

When I was first teaching, I would become furious when a parent questioned my judgment. Now that I have nearly 26 years of experience, my reaction is the opposite. I mentally replay the situation and reflect on whether I could have handled it better. If so, I immediately apologize to the parent and outline the steps I'll take to improve matters. If not, I make sure the parent knows why I think it was the best course of action and that I value their child enough to follow through. We don't need to have our own children to be good teachers, but we must have empathy, humility, and dedication to do what is best for our students. A little diplomacy goes a long way, too.

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"You don't have kids, do you?" a parent asked me during my early years of teaching. She was right: I had no children at the time. I was offended, however, by the implication that my lack of progeny inevitably meant that my advice must be useless. But it was.

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My School 2017: Little Emmaus Christian School records big improvements in reading

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Emmaus Christian School principal Erik Hofsink knows the secret to lifting NAPLAN scores - well one of the secrets. It's about educating parents, not just the kids.

He said he can't pin-point the exact reason his school has seen one of the most dramatic improvements in NAPLAN scores. But Emmaus is a school that "does a lot with little and we're proud of that," he says.

The co-ed primary to year 10 school was named one of the capital's top-gaining schools in NAPLAN by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which lists ACT schools that helped students improve their results.

ACARA compares the results of year 5 pupils with how they went two years earlier when they were in year 3 and the same for year 9 students.

"It actually shows you that money does not drive success," he said.

"We have a thing called the 'new parent induction course' where our parents, in the first two years of coming to Emmaus need to do this course.

He said the course helped parents understand what the school was about and what was driven.

"The idea is to inform the parents that education at the school is not a transaction, it's not a fee for service, it's a partnership and in a partnership it's both," he said.

"So from early on, parents understand that if they partner with us, they need to be there, they need to take responsibility, and so will we, and walk on the journey with us."

He said parents had no choice but to be involved with their childrens education.

"I say to them [parents] in the induction course - your kids, especially when they start in pre-school would not have a clue about what you pay, to them it's even irrelevant until about year 10, so don't say to them 'I pay good money to have you at this school' they're not going to appreciate that kind of comment," he said.

"But when they see you at assembly, if they see you talk seriously with their teachers at parent teacher interview, if they see that you come to a school celebration, whatever it may be, then for them that's the highest value on their education and that's something that I believe has worked for us."

He said parents who were invested in their childrens' education had a positive flow-on to students.

Mr Hofsink said a school written program called 'connect well' was also something that he believed was another contributing factor to the success of the school.

"It's where our learning support people in the school, together with our school wellbeing co-ordinator drive transitions for students coming from other schools," he said.

"If you talked to the students they'll tell you it feels a bit like a big family here and it's stuff that we really value.

"It's easy to become driven by performance and those sorts of things but you'll find a different picture here, you'll find that people feel that there's a sense of belonging.

He said that sense of belonging had a big impact on performance.

"Belonging is important because if kids don't want to be here, if they don't feel at home, if they don't feel at peace or even if they don't feel safe, their learning is going to be affected.

Mr Hofsink, who has been a principal for almost 20 years - the last two at Emmaus - said he was very proud of the results and said an individual could not claim the success.

"We're a really happy little school in leafy old Dickson."

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A Canberra school's secret to lifting NAPLAN scores

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Emmaus Christian School principal Erik Hofsink knows the secret to lifting NAPLAN scores - well one of the secrets. It's about educating parents, not just the kids. He said he can't pin-point the exact reason his school has seen one of the most dramatic improvements in NAPLAN scores.

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Practical Strategies to Increase Parental Involvement.

This is a quick article to improve parent involvement with a few ideas to make it happen.

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Tweets by Engagucate_Ed

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This is an interesting article that focuses on how to give feedback to parents and avoiding a situation where parents feel defensive  and the meeting turns negative. The "bundle" approach is recommended in place of the all too common "sandwich" approach. This gives parents the opportunity to be partners in how to help their children succeed in the classroom.

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A strategy teachers can use to turn parents into partners when discussing difficult situations involving their kids.

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Empowering English Language Learners Families http://bit.ly/2tyj14E
This article restated the importance of reaching out to parents and not waiting for them to reach out to you and establishing relationships.

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Even though English language learners (ELLs), particularly Latinos, are the biggest and fastest growing segment of students in the US, ELL parents still contend with numerous barriers in either becoming involved or being informed about what's going on at their child's school, says an article on empowering ELL families through parental involvement.

Some of these obstacles, such as cultural differences, not being familiar with the school system and minimal English skills, can significantly lower parental participation and communication. However, regardless of family income or ethnicity, studies strongly support parent involvement to lower dropout rates in high school years, have better attendance and better grades, it states. Two ways to improve parental involvement include:

* Supporting the professional preparation of educators for school outreach programs and curriculum development.
* Implementing parent involvement programs that are both linguistically-appropriate and culturally relevant.

The article "Five Ways to Engage Parents of ELL Students" says that schools need to make an effort to connect with families. Waiting for them to connect will not work, the article states. Schools need to learn about ELL families, as a whole, while also developing a one-on-one relationship with each family.

Research indicates that ELLs who enter US schools in the primary grades often make good academic progress, says a white paper on enhancing the reading skills of ELLs. However, by the third grade, many fall behind because of the increasing cognitive demands of print-based instruction. In addition, in the lower grades, kids are learning to read, and by the fourth, they begin to read for content so that's when they really need to have a good grasp of the language.

To help Hispanic ELL students get to where they need to be, many schools bring in the support of the Latino Family Literacy Project, a step-by-step educational process that guides parents in establishing an at-home, regular reading routine with bilingual books. The Project's proven parental involvement program shows that it helps greatly in building vocabulary, increases reading skills and the level of English, overall. Teachers can attend a one-day, program training at a workshop near them or via an online webinar.

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Empowering English Language Learners Families

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Even though English language learners (ELLs), particularly Latinos, are the biggest and fastest growing segment of students in the US, ELL parents still contend with numerous barriers in either becoming involved or being informed about what's going on at their child's school, says an article on empowering ELL families through parental involvement.

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This article has great ideas for parent involvement and getting parents to be a part of the school culture, I like that they interviewed parents in the video to get their feedback. By finding out what parents needed to feel included in the school community they could meets their needs and also help boost parent involvement at school and at home.
https://www.latinoliteracy.com/new-ideas-parent-involvement-school/

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This article was great becasue it breaks down the benefits of homework depending on age. The shows how much homework elementary, junior high and high school students should have in order to maximize their learning experience.

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Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school-but there are risks to assigning too much.

Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the " 10-minute homework guideline "-a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students' needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn't account for students who may need to spend more-or less-time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time-often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don't have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989; Cooper et al., 2006; Marzano & Pickering, 2007). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren't proficient readers by the end of third grade, they're less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. "Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home," Fiorentino writes. "This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them." She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic-and to retain what they learn-they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students' levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that "homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort." Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework "with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning."

In other words, it's the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions:

How long will it take to complete?

Have all learners been considered?

Will an assignment encourage future success?

Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?

Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn't overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006; Marzano & Pickering, 2007). When students spend too much time on homework-more than two hours each night-it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning-it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that's three hours-far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child's learning (Walker et al., 2004). It can provide insights into a child's strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child's life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it's also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling-students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don't have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it's important to not make it a source of conflict.

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What's the Right Amount of Homework? | Edutopia

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Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school-but there are risks to assigning too much. Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school.

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I chose this article because I have seen first hand how powerful early intervention and parent involvement can be. I was a teen parent...so I have to say I didn't do anything right! I have watched my sister and brother-in-law with my neice and nephew though and how advanced they both are in terms of literacy and vocabulary.

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In Canada, two out of five adults - that's nearly nine million people - cannot read well enough to perform everyday tasks. Reading difficulties start early. It is very well established that children who are not reading well by the end of Grade 1 are likely never to read well . Reduced literacy puts these children at a disadvantage for the rest of their schooling - and their life.

So what can be done?

Research from a cross-section of disciplines, including education, medicine, nursing and psychology suggest that parents are children's first and most influential teachers . From temperament and personality, physical and mental health, to school achievement, literacy and more, the influence of parents and the environments in which children are raised is tremendous. As anyone with children can attest, the apple often does not fall far from the tree.

But are we harnessing parental influence in a meaningful and positive way where literacy is concerned? Are we empowering Canadian parents with the information and tools they need to ensure their enduring influence on literacy is the best that it can be?

In the early 1990s, the concept of family-centred care was introduced as a new health care paradigm for children by the Association for the Care of Children's Health. The approach integrates patients and their families into treatment processes, recognizing that while family is constant, health care providers and systems change and fluctuate regularly. Fundamentally, the need to collaborate with families to ensure that they understand and support their child's care plan, for the overall health of the child, is recognized and valued with this new approach.

According to many observers, family-centred care for children in the health care system has revolutionized how children are cared for, improved health care outcomes and reduced costs all at the same time.

A family-centred paradigm should be replicated in other social areas, including throughout Canadian education systems - and specifically in the area of literacy.

Parent involvement in early literacy has been linked to children's eventual reading success as well as their overall academic achievement. Literacy programs that involve the family, often called, "family literacy" initiatives seek to empower parents by positioning them at the centre of children's literacy education.

A key feature of family literacy initiatives is teaching parents about how children learn and suggesting specific methods or activities that parents can engage their children with at home to support their development. While many Canadian parents have low literacy, most have the skills required to meaningfully support their preschooler or early elementary reader by reading simple story books together every day, pointing out letters in books and in the environment, and singing nursery rhymes.

A particularly innovative family literacy program from Stanford University researchers called is an eight-month long text messaging intervention for parents of preschoolers. It provides parents with research-based information and highly specific activities for parents to do with their children to foster literacy development. It does this by sending instructional text messages to parents three times per week. The results so far are positive, translating into statistically significant learning gains among both parents and children.

And it's scalable. This cannot be said for all family literacy programs, the majority of which are developed by schools or community organizations who then struggle to fund and sustain them.

We need a cultural shift among educators and schools that a family-centred approach is key to successful literacy. To support an integrated, ongoing involvement of families in children's literacy education, three actions are required.

First, before children enter school, parents should be taught about the key language and literacy concepts their children should be acquiring in the early years. Second, parents should learn to provide specific activities to promote children's literacy. For example, pointing out letter names and sounds on food items in the grocery store. Third, when children begin formal schooling, parents must continue to receive an overview of the skills being targeted and specifically what they can do to help at home.

Across all of these actions, educators must be specific and ensure all activity suggestions are rooted in the evidence.

Centring education on the child, but in the context of the family, is an idea whose time has come in literacy education. Family-centred care dramatically changed pediatric health care and improved health outcomes for children. Education and literacy outcomes could be similarly improved with more genuine valuing of the role of family in children's lives.

Erin Schryer is executive director of Elementary Literacy Inc., a provincial non-profit organization in New Brunswick. is an expert adviser with EvidenceNetwork.ca and a professor in the faculties of nursing and medicine at the University of Calgary.

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Erin Schryer and Nicole Letourneau: Including the family is critical to children's literacy education

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In Canada, two out of five adults - that's nearly nine million people - cannot read well enough to perform everyday tasks. Reading difficulties start early. It is very well established that children who are not reading well by the end of Grade 1 are likely never to read well .

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I found this short video about parent involvement. It discussing the impact of parent involvement in a student's life, but what really struck me about it was the diversity of the families in the video. To me it says that all parents from all different cultures and class care about their child's future.

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http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Other-Resources/Family-and-Community-Engagement/Getting-Parents-Involved/Sample-Best-Practices-for-Parent-Involvement-in-Sc
I like this article because it gives several
strategies that schools can do to increase parent involvement schools. It has broad categories and then breaks them down into specific steps. The article describes these requirements for Ohio Dept. of Education, but give good resources for all.

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/framing-difficult-feedback-parents
Framing difficult feedback for parents, what I liked about this was it talked about approaching parents as partners. It also address strategies to provide that tough feedback to parents.

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Talking Points provides teachers an easy way to regularly communicate with parents through SMS, allowing teachers to quickly and simply talk to parents even if the parents don’t have smartphones. And its free!

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TalkingPoints - We help teachers meaningfully connect with parents and students through multilingual text messages

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Communicate with families in their home languages to build strong partnerships all year long. Join the millions of teachers and parents who already use TalkingPoints.

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I absolutely loved this blog! Two of my favorite ideas were (1) parent panel where they explain their culture to the staff and staff asks questions to understand and (2) have EL parents explain how school works in their country to gain insight and empathy.

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10 Possible Alternatives to “International Night” https://t.co/7Dv0wzQrZj pic.twitter.com/bHmPiIOXko
— EnglishLearnerPortal (@EngLrnPortal) December 1, 2017

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https://www.the74million.org/article/khan-too-many-poor-minority-kids-attend-low-performing-schools-that-doesnt-mean-their-parents-dont-care-about-their-education/
This article reinforces everything we have been learning about parent and community involvement and how that equates to higher academic achievement. I chose to share this article because of the story of "Denise" and how a school that invested in her education then inspired her parent and grandmother to invest in her education too.

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https://growingbookbybook.com/parental-involvement-in-education/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare
I really like the list of resources given to involve parents and families in a child's education both at home at school. At the end of the blog post, there are great ideas for fostering reading at home as well.

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https://twitter.com/JamesAlanOLOO/status/910844688063643649
The Student Engagement Support Teacher focuses on bringing both parents and community members into the classroom. This creates a sense of families being welcomed and their knowledge valued at schools. Teachers who may not be as knowledgeable in an area, for example,  a traditional indigenous skill or a past historical experience can have an expert deliver value knowledge in this field.

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/new-teachers-how-talk-parents-terri-eichholz
I really like all of the ideas presented in the article and think it is invaluable in how we build relationships with parents. Very god resource for teachers who may be struggling is this are including teachers that are new to the field.

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Dual Language
Kinder parents had bilingual bingo fun and how to support their students
language development. #familyinvolvement

My site is struggling with how to get EL families more involved and I
thought this was a great idea. Have fun family nights for EL families that
also encourages building relationships and language development.

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Coffee at the Curb

https://twitter.com/njsec/status/965977911923789824
I like this idea of personalizing via the Principal and Staff (can be on rotating basis with staff) to connect with and communicate with parents on their way to work.  I might also consider taking the bus occasionally to greet parents whose kids ride the bus.

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/new-teachers-how-talk-parents-terri-eichholz?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
I thought this would be a good resource and reading for newly hired teachers or even teachers that we will see as future admin that are struggling with family/parent engagement.

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The entire school is reading a book together. What a fun way to have the entire community share in a common experience-and encourage literacy!

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Is Your Parent Engagement Authentic or Compliant?

https://twitter.com/eobservations/status/967595008206557184

I thought this article touched on a valuable question; is parent involvement at one's school or in a district compliant or authentic. The article highlights the importance of including all parents in learning and decision making

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Movie night for our students while our parents engage in how to support students academically. @WakeESM @wilburn_es #parentengagement
I liked the idea of a movie night as it is something any site could do for little or no cost.

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Linking family engagement to learning: Tips for Supporting Reading Skills at Home.

I like things that have a practical application which is why I chose this article that shows how parents can support their child's reading skills at home.   I think there are a lot of ways teachers could relate, interact and collaborate with parents on this issue.

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Can Visiting Students at Home Make Teachers Less Biased?
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2018/01/can_visiting_students_at_home_reduce_teachers_implicit_biases.html
Great article on the benefits of home visits and potential to reduce implicit biases in teachers and families. The article answered many questions about the model and potential incentive for teachers interested in conducting home visits.

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Michael Haggen, Donna Wilson,  Marcus Conyers, Tom Hoerr, David Bateman, Jenifer Cline, and Jennifer Abrams share their thoughts on the question: What are the biggest challenges faced by principals and what are the best ways to respond to them?
I enjoyed reading their recommendations and strategies to the challenges that arise for principals.

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Education Week - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo

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The new "question-of-the-week" is:
What are the biggest challenges faced by principals and what are the best ways to respond to them?
In Part One, Dr. Sanée Bell, Jen Schwanke, Mike Janatovich, Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Cynthia L. Uline, and Lynne G. Perez contribute their thoughts on the topic. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Sanée, Jen and Mike on my BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

Today, Michael Haggen, Donna Wilson, Marcus Conyers, Tom Hoerr, David Bateman, Jenifer Cline, and Jennifer Abrams provide commentaries.

Response From Michael Haggen

Michael Haggen is Chief Academic Officer for Scholastic Education. In this role, he ensures that Scholastic is a responsive comprehensive literacy partner to pre-K through grade 12 districts nationwide. In Haggen's 20 years of academic experience, he has served as a teacher, principal, chief academic officer and direct report to superintendents. His hands-on approach has led to significant change, most recently in East Baton Rouge Parish School System, where he was Deputy Superintendent:
The biggest challenges faced by school principals today can be loosely grouped into three categories: reaching all students, resources and morale. While these challenges are pervasive and at times discouraging, they are not insurmountable, especially when school leaders have access to resources and ongoing professional learning opportunities that are tailored to their needs. Below, I'll explain how to help principals in their important work of creating a school culture in which both teachers and students learn and thrive. Reaching all students Principals need help supporting both students who are English language learners, as well as their teachers. Schools nationwide are becoming increasingly diverse, with districts that may be required to teach kids in many different languages. (I know of one district in Texas with students from countries including Myanmar, Somalia, Iran, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.) And the challenges here are not simply around instruction: there are now significant hurdles around family engagement, such as families that may be unable to enter into deep partnership with the school due to deportation fears. Or schools may need help learning how to communicate with the variety of cultures in their communities. And yet we know that when done effectively, family engagement is absolutely critical to student achievement. Recommendation: Principals need access to training around deep and meaningful family engagement for all families. With strong professional learning for principals and teachers, it is possible to learn how to work effectively with families from diverse backgrounds, and to learn to work with community partners to provide learning supports for kids (like books, food and health services). We also have to address staffing strategies for working with all students, and working to help ENL students get access to early childhood programs. When done well, professional learning that is tailored to the needs of the school and the community will lead to increased student achievement. Resources Principals make a lot of tough choices around spending. In the Scholastic Teacher & Principal School Report Recommendation: Get creative and cast a wide net when it comes to allocating and sharing resources. For example, a district in New York had access to site-based funding, so we brought principals together from across several communities. There were a cluster of schools with the same needs, so they were able to benefit from professional learning that was led by outside experts, and tailored to their needs. When resources are scarce, come together. Morale Instructional standards change constantly, and consequently, curriculum does, too. That can be difficult and discouraging for even the most experienced teachers, which then becomes a problem for principals. These challenges can result in a high rate of principal turnover. There is a steep learning curve, and students lose out when there are frequent staff changes or frustrated and discouraged leadership. As these issues cascade, student achievement can suffer and schools may reach a crisis point. Principals need support on how to support teachers and boost morale; they need to know what that kind of work looks like when it's done effectively. Recommendation: We must invest in principal training on how to support teachers by modeling the highs and lows. Principals need to be able to communicate to teachers that it isn't (just) about the test, it's about growth and learning, and best practices on essential skills. When principals know how to lead their staff toward that outcome, it helps relieve pressure and frustration, and renews focus on what's most important: the learning, achievement and academic growth of all students.
Response From Donna Wilson & Marcus Conyers
we found that principals' funding priorities largely center on addressing outside barriers to learning. Additionally, principals are allocating dollars for classroom needs like libraries and curriculum resources. That leaves little to nothing left over for professional learning. By and large, principals don't receive the professional learning they want (neither for themselves nor for their staff) because of budget restrictions, so they end up having to do it in-house without outside expertise. Quality of teaching has a significant impact on student achievement; in fact, it may well be the most important factor within schools' control in ensuring that students achieve their full learning potential. Therefore, the 21st century principal is challenged to plan and create opportunities that support the complex and difficult work required to teach effectively each day. That is no small task, especially alongside other essential duties, such as planning budgets, reporting to the central office, hiring and monitoring the performance of teachers and staff, and overseeing implementation of standards. Principals don't need to be fully versed on how to teach students at all grade levels and content across their schools, but it is important that they understand how teacher leadership and purposeful collaboration among teachers support effective teaching. And they should encourage and facilitate collaboration as one way to keep improvements in student learning as a shared focus with teachers. In this way principals and teachers are more likely to enjoy positive and productive working relationships, and student achievement is more likely to increase. Over the past 16 years as full-time professional developers and teacher educators, we have found that when teachers are supported to share their favorite strategies and plan more effective lessons together across required standards and content, the resulting collaboration makes for a greater sense of efficacy and well-being. Some key strategies for principals to apply in order to set up opportunities for teachers to engage in purposeful collaboration are:
Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers, founders of BrainSMART, are international education consultants and authors of over 20 books. To learn more about the ideas in this posting see, Smarter Teacher Leadership: Neuroscience and the Power of Purposeful Collaboration (Teachers College Press, 2016). For a possible book selection for your PLC see, Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains: Metacognitive Strategies, Activities, and Lesson Ideas (ASCD, 2016):
A common obstacle to long-term change is a dwindling commitment to the original goals or a mandate to turn to the "next big thing." Change takes time, and principals can be successful change agents by continuing to champion teacher leadership and purposeful collaboration as primary tools to support effective teaching and student achievement gains.
Response From Tom Hoerr

Make purposeful collaboration that has a focus on the development of effective lessons across the school curriculum a part of "the way we do business here."

Protect this focus by limiting new projects so that teachers can see their process of creating new lessons through to completion.

Encourage and support teachers to...

Lead when their teaching expertise is needed, for example, with particular academic content or with regard to teaching students with learning challenges, and

Establish their motivation for planning a new lesson and agreeing on the positive changes they expect to see from developing and implementing these lessons.

Support teachers to develop goals for increasing lesson effectiveness and a concrete action plan to make success happen. Make these goals public to increase positive collaboration.

Keep the focus on the improvement of teaching and learning rather than primarily on supplying paperwork.

Support the charting of course corrections. Given the complexities of teaching today, the team may well have setbacks and unintended occurrences. If this occurs, the best response is to return to the goal and action plan, and move forward to finish the project.

Celebrate the completion of goal setting, planning, and execution. Principals should ensure that the hard work of teachers to collaborate purposefully to raise student achievement is acknowledged and celebrated.

Principals face many challenges, but in my mind their efforts should be focused in three areas. First, these challenges are myriad and unending, and that's why the job is so rewarding and so frustrating. There is always more to be done, and it can always be done better and more quickly. Thus, the most important challenge for a principal is prioritizing: deciding what can be done now, what can wait, and what must wait. This is much easier said than done because just about everyone else thinks their need is urgent. This is obvious in their facial expression, in the capital letters in their email, and in how often they appear at your door. Distinguishing between what is important and what is urgent - these are two different qualities - is the first key to success. Second, regardless of students' test score results or school awards -- principals must push against the inevitable institutional inertia. This inertia is a human condition and found everywhere but is even stronger when people cannot agree on the goals to be pursued or the means to accomplish them. Whether the controversy is over pursuing the Common Core, the merit of performance pay, or if we should teach grit, a natural reaction to the sometimes rancorous debate is to lower your head and continue doing what you were doing. Most people resist change, and many people think that if they just wait long enough, the impetus to change will evaporate. (Or maybe she will be transferred.) A principal must push back on this tendency for homeostasis and create a culture in which everyone in the building - children and adults - is a learner. We need to try to elicit the same curiosity about learning and growth in our teachers that they want to cultivate in their students. We should promote an attitude of "Make New Mistakes" (Hoerr, 2016) so that everyone is comfortable taking risks and leaving comfort zones to learn. Professional development activities need to reflect the fact that the conditions for good learning are the same for children and adults. We all learn best when we are motivated, construct knowledge, are engaged, and when learning is individualized. Using these criteria to plan faculty and committee meetings benefits everyone. Finally, principals must realize that they must take care of themselves. By definition, the job of a principal is to provide direction and consul, to listen and support, and to understand and empathize. But we need to be careful that in constantly taking care of others, we don't neglect our own needs. "Caregiver burnout" is a phenomenon most often associated with nurses and others who directly work with people in crisis and ignore their own emotional or physical health. The symptoms can resemble high stress or depression, and we may not be aware of them because we are busy looking out for others. This caregiver burnout can happen with teachers, and it can definitely happen with principals. Principals need to find and maintain an interest or hobby that's not associated with their school, they should talk regularly with someone they can trust and with whom they can vent, they need to remember that family comes first - including their own family - and they need to recognize, returning to my first point, that they will never be fully caught up, no matter how hard they work. They need to create windows for relaxing - using vacation days and occasionally leaving early or coming in late. Leadership is a marathon, not a sprint.
Response From David Bateman & Jenifer Cline
Tom Hoerr is the Emeritus Head of New City School, a Scholar In Residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and writes the "Principal Connection" column in Educational Leadership. His latest book is The Formative Five. www.thomasrhoerr.com:

David Bateman, PhD is a professor of special education at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania where he focuses on providing appropriate services to students with disabilities. He is the co-author of many books, including A Teacher's Guide to Special Education.
Being a principal is hard work. However, one of the biggest challenges faced by principals is that as the leader of the building, one is expected to know all of the answers. These questions can come from teachers, parents, and students. One can have a little leeway about not knowing all of the answers about sports, politics, and current events. However, the constituency a principal serves will expect a building leader to know the answers to any questions relating to education. Given how expansive the field of education is, with all that is going on across the country (even the world), it is impossible to know all of what is occurring and be able to answer questions relating to any comment or query. Questions that can come up relate to a school in a different state wand the reading method that is used, a new form of fund-raising, a student who brought a knife to a different school, student who is selling drugs on a school bus, to a student in special education who is not making progress. These are all very different questions, and with parents and other educators spending time on the internet reading stories and seeing news, one can not be sure of where the next question will come from. What is a principal to do? First, join and maintain an active membership in a professional organization (like ASCD), and make sure one reads (at least scans) the literature provided. But also, a principal should be a member of an organization that sends out regular updates and importantly updates when there is major or breaking news on an education related topic. Let the professional organization do the work for you in gathering the information. You just read it. Second, talk with parents. Talk with teachers. Talk with staff. Talk with them about things they want to talk about, not just information you are comfortable with. Go to events at your school. Go to different events. You may like band, but also go to the drama activities, the forensic activities, as well the more public and typically attended sports activities. Learn from what you hear and see. Diversify yourself and the information from the professional organization(s) will be more relevant and applicable.
Response From Jennifer Abrams
Jenifer Cline, MS, works in the Office of Public Instruction for the state of Montana. She is a former speech pathologist and a special education administrator. She is the co-author of many books, including A Teacher's Guide to Special Education:
One of the biggest challenges principals come across is the adults in the school not owning their responsibility and their freedom. When I was a young teacher, I went to my superintendent to complain about my principal. I didn't think the principal was 'good' at his job and he was doing the wrong things. My superintendent didn't fix the problem for me. Instead, he actually said, "I am sorry this isn't a good fit for you. If you are really unhappy, perhaps you should think of working elsewhere." I was shocked. I sobbed. How dare someone confront me with my freedom, especially when I was the good person and the other person was bad? What I have realized in the last few decades is that I have freedom to be self-accountable if a system isn't working for me. Deep down, behind the fear of no money, or my reputation or my livelihood, I could get another job. If the system I am working in, the people I work with, and the rules I have to work by don't work for me, I can make a change. Many educators believe they are upstanding citizens, doing what's right for children and others need to change because as teachers they should get a 'bye' for being good people. I understand the belief and empathize. We do get a bad rap and we need more acknowledgement and support. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. Principals need to confront people as supportively as they can with their own freedom; what they can change within the system and what they can't. I have often needed a field trip to the world of the principal because I couldn't see what they did; what the organization needed, not just what I needed; how I fit into the bigger picture. It wasn't a fun learning but it absolutely has been one I need to have. Principals have the privilege of being on the front line of supporting their teachers to learn this same lesson.
Jennifer Abrams is an international educational and communications consultant who considers herself a "voice coach," helping others learn how to best use their voices. Abrams is author or co-author of several books for educators, including Hard Conversations Unpacked - the Whos, the Whens and the What Ifs and The Multigenerational Workplace: Communicating, Collaborating, and Creating a Community. Learn more about Jennifer at www.jenniferabrams.com or connect with her on Twitter @jenniferabrams:

Thanks to Michael, Donna, Marcus, Tom, David, Jenifer, and Jennifer for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Anyone whose question is selected for this weekly column can choose one free book from a number of education publishers.
Just a reminder-you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And, if you missed any of the highlights from the first six years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. They don't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. This Year's Most Popular Q&A Posts Classroom Management Advice Race & Gender Challenges Implementing The Common Core Best Ways To Begin The School Year Best Ways To End The School Year Student Motivation & Social Emotional Learning Teaching Social Studies Project-Based Learning Using Tech In The Classroom Parent Engagement In Schools Teaching English Language Learners Student Assessment Brain-Based Learning Reading Instruction Writing Instruction Education Policy Issues Differentiating Instruction Math Instruction Science Instruction Advice For New Teachers Author Interviews Entering The Teaching Profession Administrator Leadership Teacher Leadership Relationships In Schools Professional Development Instructional Strategies
Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.
Look for the next question-of-the-week in a few days.
I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributers to this column.

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Response: An 'Important Challenge for a Principal Is Prioritizing'

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The new "question-of-the-week" is: What are the biggest challenges faced by principals and what are the best ways to respond to them? In Part One, Dr. Sanée Bell, Jen Schwanke, Mike Janatovich, Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Cynthia L. Uline, and Lynne G. Perez contribute their thoughts on the topic.

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Building Partnerships to Enhance Parental Involvement in Education: https://growingbookbybook.com/parental-involvement-in-education/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare

#familyinvolvement
Excellent ideas, resources and tips for building engagement in reading and literacy between home and school. I really liked the  focus on literacy as a way to get parents involved in their child's education. Reading together is such an easy way to be involved in your child's schooling but if you don't know how to help them it can be intimidating. I think these are really good and wide-ranging strategies to help teachers help their families become involved.

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Whirlpool-Care Counts Laundry Program posted by Mrs. Coate

Video on a program where parents can do laundry for free at school. Increased attendance in families in the program by 95% and tripled parent involvement at the school. Amazing! I wouldn't have even thought about the issue of dirty laundry

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Whirlpool - Care Counts™ Laundry Program - TJ's Story

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Every day thousands of kids miss school just because they don't have clean clothes to wear. That's why we created Care Counts™, a program that works to improve attendance rates with the simple act of laundry. See how the program has impacted TJ and his community.

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Exploring the benefits to students when parents are engaged in their schooling – Academic achievement is only part of the story

https://www.schoolstream.com.au/exploring-benefits-students-parents-engaged-schooling-academic-achievement-part-story/

This is a great resource for parents and teachers alike. This site that you pay for its use helps your parents become more engaged with your school  Its one app to replace all your current communication tools to parents– newsletters, email, Facebook, ect. So as a lead admin and looking for things to engage more parents and reach more tech savvy families this is a program that could make things a lot easier for you.

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New Teachers: How to Talk to Parents
Simple tips to build a relationship with families. Articles below include: Framing Difficult Feedback for Parents and Parent Engagement in the Digital Age.

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Tips for Planning a Successful Family Literacy Night
Quick read that can help anyone at your school lead a literacy night.

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The Latino Family Literacy Project
Our Blog
Empowering ELL Families/Five Ways to Engage Parents of ELL Students
Many articles related to family engagement at the most basic levels.