Parents2

Strengthening Home-School Relationships

What is the key?

We need to establish “precise, coherent, and continuous home-school communication” (Musti-Rao & Cartledge, 2004, p. 15).

Establishing Positive Parent-Teacher Relationships

• Connect early and positively.• Explain the importance of parents’ roles in student

achievement.• Differentiate for parents.

Connect early and positively.

Did You Know?

Actions teachers take are instrumental to parent involvement -- especially those in low-income households (Patore & Edwards, 2011).

Connect early and positively.

• Make contact with parents before trouble arises.

• Ask parents to observe your class at the beginning of the year.

• Send home surveys to get parents’ feedback on home assignments.

Explain the importance of parents’ roles in student achievement.(Musti-Rao & Cartledge, 2004)

Facts that you can share with parents in newsletters, meetings, on your website, etc…

Students of involved parents have:

• higher rates of school attendance• better social skills and behavior• higher grades and test scores• lower rates of retention• higher rates of high school graduation and

postsecondary study

(Patore & Edwards, 2011)

Parent Involvement Correlated with Increased Student Achievement

(Friedman and Mandelbaum, 2011)• Reading to your children in their early school

years• Talking to your children about their school day,

showing a genuine interest • Telling your children stories • Having at least 20 books in the home• Limiting screen time

Offer ongoing support and information

• Post education articles and resources for parents on teacher websites or school social media pages.

• Arrange parent workshops.• Send home specific, step-by-step directions

for common assignments.

Differentiate for Parents

Establish Differentiated Communication

• Tell them your preferred method of contact.

• How would the parent prefer to be contacted?

(Vatterott, 2012)

Try to work with the parent’s schedule.

• Be open to meeting at a location other than the school.

• Be reasonably flexible about a meeting time.

• Understand that parents can be involved – even if you never see them face-to-face.

Did you know?

“A parent does not need to come to school to be involved” (Payne, 2004, p. 2).

“There is no correlation between physical presence of parents at school and student achievement. The correlation is between student achievement and parental involvement” (Payne, 2004, p. 1).

Remember each parent is different.

"Teachers need to consider the types of involvement that fit into parents' time constraints, and what parents need to know to (skills knowledge) to be involved“ (Paratore & Edwards, 2011, p. 441).

ReferencesFriedman, T. & Mandelbaum, M. (2011). That used to be us: How America fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back. New York, NY: Picador.

Musti-Rao, S., & Cartledge, G. (2004). Making home an advantage in the prevention of reading failure: Strategies for collaborating with parents in urban schools. Preventing School Failure, 48(4). 15-21.

Paratore, J. R., & Edwards, P. A. (2011). Parent-teacher partnerships that make a difference in children's literacy achievement. In L. M. Morrow & L. B. Gambrell (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction. (pp. 436-454). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Payne, R. K. (2004). No Child Left Behind, part IV: Parent and community involvement. Instructional Leader, 17(6). 1-2, 9-12.

Vatterott, C. (2012, October). "Coeducation": Negotiating a new parent-school relationship. Poster session presented at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Fall Conference, Atlanta, GA.