School Administrator's Clip File • October 21, 2020
Provide teacher training on involving parents
Parent involvement is critical to student success in school. Yet many teachers still have no formal training in working with families. When planning your next teacher staff development session, consider including skill training on strategies to improve collaboration among teachers and parents. Show teachers how to:
- Conduct parent interviews. What to say to parents to elicit meaningful responses.
- Design a parent involvement plan. How to design a year’s worth of activities with parents that support student learning.
- Develop a parent involvement notebook. How to start gathering resources and ideas for working with parents—where to go and whom to ask for ideas that work!
- Learn from parents. What do parents think about school involvement? How can teachers help parents maximize their efforts?
- Understand families from diverse cultural backgrounds. How to communicate respect and acceptance.
Connect with parents virtually
Before the coronavirus pandemic, most schools provided parenting information through workshops, meetings or classes. Now schools must get creative to promote involvement and keep families safe. Consider sharing information with parents in new ways, such as:
- An audio recording that parents can listen to as they commute to and from work.
- A video that parents can watch on a smartphone, tablet or computer.
- A collection of articles that parents can download from your school’s website or social media site.
Did you know?
According to a new survey of public-school parents conducted by the National Parents Union, 38% are worried that their children are learning less this school year than they would during a normal school year.
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