To those of you who have been in education for any length of time, it comes as no suprise to you that family involvement in school has been identified as a key predictor of students success.
When I asked my superintendent to write about his thought on parent communication, this is what he had to say: “Communication between parents and teachers is a big part of student success. There is no doubt that when teachers and parents work together student performance will increase. The lines of communication must be open early in the school year. Letters of introduction to the home should be sent even prior to the 1st day. When teachers make positive phone calls early on, it makes the negative phone calls later easier. When parents know what the Expectations and Objectives are they can provide more support for their child at home. ” -Chris Fine, Superintendent Lathrop RII School District.
I agree that parent involvement is a big part of student success. Technology has helped make communicating with parents much easier. For years we have communicated the happenings in our classrooms through newsletters that we photocopied and sent home. Now we can send those same letters through email, we can attach them to our blog page, or even blog about what is going on in our classrooms. Seesaw, the app that I blogged about last week, has a parent communication program in it that parents can create feedback to their children about their online journal via the web. A few photos follow showing the way Seesaw helps teachers invite parents to follow their child’s journal.
Fine's Fantastic 4th Grade! 
My oldest son used Seesaw in his 6th-grade language arts class and I loved getting the opportunity to see the things that he was writing about in class! I think parent communication is vital at all age levels and I think it is done much better at the elementary level than the middle school or high school levels. I teach high school business courses and I send home an email at the beginning of each semester to introduce myself to parents and let them know how everything works in my classroom. I get so many responses from parents thanking me for contacting home. As a mom of a middle school student, I rarely hear from teachers about what is going on in their classrooms. I also have two sons who are in elementary school. One teacher sends home a paper newsletter each week. The other teacher uses the Remind app to contact parents and I love it. I always know what is going on and I know I can always contact her if I have any questions or concerns. I love being aware of what my children are learning because it allows me to check in with them at home to make sure everything is going well at school!
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I totally agree with you that elementary teachers do a better job at communicating with parents. I don’t say that because I am an elementary teacher, but from my experience with my children as well. I too have a child in middle school. He has one teacher who sends weekly updates as to what is happening in class. I get that on my email account. I have a child in high school as well, and of the two years that he has been in high school, I have yet to hear from one of his teachers, other than his sister (my daughter) who I get a daily update from! Poor kid!
I think that it is great that you let parents know that you are available for them to come to if they have need anything, that is a great way to begin an open line of communication with parents! Not many teachers do that!
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I think your post is a great reminder to me about the importance of communication. It seems like I start every year with great intentions, but then seems thing to pile up and it doesn’t happen as often as I would like. At this time, I use the Remind app, but I have heard so much about Seesaw recently that I may have to check into that for next year. I enjoyed how you shared the thoughts of your principal. I felt like it was very valuable advice.
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I think that Seesaw is more of a way for parents to be able to communicate with their kids about the things that they have put in their journals than it would be for teachers to communicate with parents.
I like the idea of using blogs, or attaching a newsletter to blogs to communicate with parents. I have never heard about Remind. I think I may look in to that as a communication tool. Is it something you have found easy to use?
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Ms. Fine, I think I like your superintendent’s ideas and philosophy about communicating! š How can we help secondary teachers communicate more effectively with families? I know that they seem more students within their classes, so that is probably very daunting. But, surely, we could use technology to our advantage to promote open communication home and school. And, do you think that opening that line of communication would result in better attendance in districts and schools where that is an issue?
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Dr. Seeger,
I think that high school teachers are wanting the students to take responsibility for themselves, which I can understand. I am afraid that sometimes they don’t realize that kids being responsible and parents being involved in their education are two seperate things. However, I feel that even teenagers can benefit from positive home/school communication. I think that in a position as leader of curriculum and instruction, goals could be established that focus on the school communicating with parents. For example, a high school Facebook account , or blog could be set up that focuses on school happenings, and perhaps every week a different department or two have a newsletter due to add to the account. Invite parents in to volunteer, just like we do at the elementary. I do believe that attendance would improve, as well as grades and behavior.
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