When I first started working at Rocketship Education back in 2013, I had the privilege of listening to Dr. Frederick Ferrer speak about the importance of parent teacher communication.
Previously, most PD (professional development) sessions I attended were a great opportunity to make my grocery list for the week or scroll through my Facebook feed.
Fred Ferrer’s session, however, left a strong impression on me. So much so that I reflect on his words before every school year begins, before every parent interaction, before every IEP meeting.
Sure, you can be a damn good teacher. You can catch a child up to grade level. You can have them grow 2.5 years while they are in your classroom. But, then what? What happens when they leave your classroom and are placed in a classroom where the teacher can’t teach? Or worse. What happens if they’re placed in a classroom with a teacher who doesn’t give a shit? Is their entire educational trajectory ruined because they lost the momentum? Because something (or someone) stood in their way and prevented them from heading down the path toward success?
We were not hired to teach children alone.
We were hired to build partnerships with parents. To end the divide between school versus home. We were hired to work together, build bridges, and collaboratively set each child up for success.
The Importance of Parent Teacher Communication
While it is important for me to teach my students each and every day, it’s equally important – if not more important – to involve the parents in the process. I am with their child for one year. Then, another teacher gets the privilege of meeting them, learning their likes/dislikes, discovering how they learn, and then teaching them for the following year.
But who is the one that is consistently in their lives?
The parents.
Who is the one attending every single IEP meeting from their elementary years to their transition meeting in high school?
The parents.
So, what (or whom) should I be prioritizing – besides my lovely, wonderful students?
The parents.
While I recognize that trying to communicate with parents – in addition to all the other responsibilities on your plate – may be challenging to do, there are a number of studies that show that schools that partner with parents end up benefiting the student and their overall achievement.
5 Effective Parent Teacher Communication Tips
Both parents and teachers have an important role to play; their roles do not replace but rather compliment and reinforce the other’s role, thus providing the student with a consistent message about reading and learning. Thinking of parents and teachers as “partners” refers to this mutual effort toward a shared goal. It also implies shared responsibility of parents and teachers for supporting students as learners (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001).
1) Introduce yourself at the beginning of the school year.
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At the start of each school year, I send home a letter to parents explaining who I am, my educational experience, my teaching experience, my hobbies, etc. One thing I make sure to include is how I want to ensure we have consistent communication over the course of the year because we are partners in their child’s educational journey. I also include a short questionnaire for them to fill out and send back to help me better serve their child and their specific needs. This shows parents that you care about the students and you want to learn all there is to know about them.
2) Be very clear to parents about when you are available to communicate.
If you are in your classroom at the end of the day – putting things away or setting up for the following day – and don’t mind parents dropping by to talk about their child, let them know. Or if you prefer text message to phone calls, let them know. Sometimes, parents can shy away from communication (or can also be a little overbearing with communication!) if you don’t set parameters. Let them know the times in which you’d be available to talk, text, or meet in person and they will feel more comfortable reaching out.
3) Hold parent workshops throughout the year.
Not only does this allow for parents to come in and see what their child is working on, but it also allows them to connect with other parents. As a special education teacher, these Parent Nights were so important because it allowed for parents to connect with other parents who were also drowning in paperwork, IEP acronyms, etc. It gave us the opportunity to – informally – sit down and explain all the educational jargon.
During one workshop, we revisited all the different components of an IEP. It can be overwhelming to receive all that information in under an hour – during their child’s IEP meeting – when all this other data is being thrown in their face. We want to ensure that they truly understand what “special education” means and how to ensure that their child was receiving the services that they need. It gave them more insight and context on how to better support their child.
4) Text messaging
We are so fortunate to be living in a time when communicating with parents can take between 30 seconds-1 minute every single day. I carry my phone with me throughout the entire school day because it serves many functions. It’s a timer, it’s my camera, it’s my incentive (e.g. students can earn 5 minutes playing Multiplication Bingo), and it’s also my favorite communication tool. Sometimes I’ll snap a picture of a child working and send it to the parents so they can see that their child is on-task. (This is extra fun for me because the child thinks we – as adults – have some sort of voodoo magic when their parents compliment them at home for working hard that day).
It doesn’t have to be difficult. It doesn’t have to take hours out of your day. Just opening up the lines of communication with your parents will make them feel comfortable and know that you have their child’s best interest at heart.
5) Send home positive postcards or notes at the end of the day.
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Sending home a quick note also requires little to no time. In fact, some teachers make it a point to reach out to every single family every single week. They will write out their entire class roster and, as they send a note or “positive postcard” home, they will cross the child’s name off the list. This is a really helpful way to visually see which child’s family has not been communicated with that week so they can make sure to follow up on Friday.
Question of the Day:
- If you are a parent or a teacher, I’d love to hear how you open the lines of communication with your child’s team.
I told my kids teachers every year if there is a problem I want to know about it immediately not 3 months into the school year. I volunteered at the school all the time and got to know all the teachers as well. All helps.
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Yes, yes, and yes!! Involving parents is key!! I feel that if we taught together, we would be friends, b/c you pretty much rock. 😉
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I agree! I vote we have a blogger meet-up so I can meet all you wonderful ladies that bring me so much joy! (No pun intended!)
I’m not a teacher or a parent (yet) but agree that when parents and teachers are both involved in the students’ lives it sets them up for success.
Great post! One of my biggest problems with the public school was that it hindered parent – teacher communication. I’ve always been involved in my children’s education and have always wanted a large say in it because after all I’m the one who knows my child best. My daughter is now in a virtual school whose model is a communication triangle that connects parents, faculty, and students. The key to the students doing well in the virtual school is communication between all 3 parts. We use k-mail and phone calls to communicate. We also use blackboard collaborative for class connect sessions which can include any or all parts.
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That sounds like a really effective strategy. I feel like if we could even get the students involved in the communication process, they would be able to better advocate for themselves. It’s never too early to get them involved!
I completely agree with you parent and teacher communication is very important even if you don’t have a child on an IEP.
Thanks for the tips. I would have assumed this was an obvious topic but I’ll be more mindful of it over the next couple years as my oldest one starts going to school. Sometimes what is obvious to me as a parent isn’t obvious to others. Never really thought of using texts to communicate with teachers, but it makes sense.
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I am a kindergarten teacher and I 1000% agree that there has to be good home school communication. More times than not, the communication is one sided, from school only, which can be very frustrating. I have a cell phone that I only use for classroom communication, I have a class Facebook page and I use the Bloomz app for sign ups. I put a lot into home school communication:)
These are great tips for communicating with parents! I always send home a parent survey at the beginning of the year to open the lines of communication. I also use Class Dojo to communicate with the parents. It allows me to send pictures of the students and messages to the parents.
I love Class Dojo. It’s always helpful when it’s a school-wide system and multiple classrooms are using it. But it’s also a really helpful communication tool if you’re the teacher! 🙂
You’re absolutely right that parents are the consistent advocates for their children throughout their education. Staying in regular communication with parents is critical to students’ success. Technology has definitely made teacher-parent communication easier than ever. It’s so nice to be able to send a quick email or text.
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I’m not shy when it comes to parent teacher communication. I’m my child’s advocate so I have to be – but texting is fairly new for me as a few teachers are starting to use that method here.
I appreciate the parents that are involved in the same way and manner that you are. I know that very involved parents can get a bad reputation for being ‘helicopter parents,’ but I’d prefer that to disengaged parents.
This is great! I remember how much my parents communicated with my teachers growing up and it was always so helpful!
These are great tips! I love the postcard idea. I wish I heard from my son’s teacher more often. His report cards are stellar, so there’s no issues but because of that, there is no communication from her otherwise really. My daughter was in trouble all the time, so I heard from the teacher daily with her lol.
Isn’t it sad that the only time you hear from school is when a child is behaving poorly? I wish things were flipped. Or at least there were more positive phone calls home. Some principals have adopted this “Principal Positive Phone Call” home and will reach out to multiple staff members to ask which students have been stellar that week and will call families to let them know. It must be so nice to be on the receiving end of that phone call!
My strategy has strived for making everything I say at conference time redundant. Talking as frequently as possible makes that possible. Loving your communication ideas for everyday updates, like those cute notes.
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Yes!! Those are my favorite kinds of conferences. When you’re sitting down and you say “wellllllllll….not much has changed since a few days ago when we chatted!”
I love that questionnaire you have for the parents!
I think the more the lines of communication are open with the parents, the more comfortable they become in partnering with you in the learning process, and through that, they become more open to communicating regularly and see that everyone is working towards the same goal.
I really like the point you make about the parents being the ones who are at every IEP meeting too!
I find myself making quite a few phone calls to parents in my work and I’ve only ever had a couple who aren’t open to working together to achieve better outcomes (e.g. want to “blame” the school or imply that it’s the schools fault that the child isn’t performing to the standards they would like to see), but I find most parents are awesome at partnering with teachers and want to know what they can do at home to support their child’s learning at school.
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Yes! I view it as any other relationship I have. If a friend is a close friend, I know that me calling them at any time during the day (even if I have to leave a voicemail or it may go unanswered) is not unusual. An acquaintance, I may hesitate to reach out at odd times of the day. I want the parents I work with to KNOW that we have a close relationship like that. That – even if I may not be available to chat- they can reach out at any time!
I love love love how much you pour yourself into your work <3 It shows in every one of your blog posts that you absolutely ADORE your classroom and seeing your kids thrive… and that you understand the importance of having the parents play an integral part in developing what they are learning in the classroom. Makes it much more of a collaborative effort <3
Thanks for sharing this, and for sharing your heart, always. XO
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This is so important!! My daughter is in half days at preschool currently, but it is still so necessary.
That’s a crucial time to get parents and teachers working together! It’s when a child is learning how to BE in school. To be away from home. So when the relationship between school and home is built strong from the very beginning, the easier the transition will be for the child.
Since sending my kids to school, this has been the biggest issue! I find that I have no clue what is going on at school and the teacher does not use the planner or school zone to communicate. I know teachers have so much to do and don’t expect lots of communication every day, but even letting us know what unit they are doing would be a help.
Yes! I know a lot of teachers who combat this by sending out a weekly (or even monthly) newsletter to share what is going on during the month. That way, parents are informed about what’s happening in the classroom. This is especially important for follow-up at home.
So many great ideas!!! My daughters teacher gave every kid a notebook to keep in their backpack the first day of school. That way if we need to tell the teacher anything or vice versa we can easily write it down in the book! I thought this was a brilliant idea!
It’s so important to maintain open communication with your child’s teachers. I approve this message as an educator and a parent.
I cannot over emphasize just how important this is. It helps your kids to do better as teachers know youa re interested in what is going on at school
It’s heartwarming to be reminded that teachers like this are out there. My oldest daughter had an amazing preschool teacher (I’m still friends with her on FB almost a decade later, lol!), and she was so obviously a sweet person who cared about her students AND their families. She was an amazing advocate and has become a valued friend over the years.
Unfortunately, we haven’t had another teacher quite like her since. We HAVE had some good ones though, but none like that first one – she actually tended to do the sorts of things you listed here.
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