Communicating with Parents Early and Often
Setting up clear lines of communication with parents or guardians is to your advantage as a teacher. Quite frankly, good communication with parents will just make your life easier. The more you communicate, keep them abreast of classroom happenings and school news they will feel more like part of the team. The result are parents that are more supportive, more understanding, and less likely to have a negative conclusion when something comes up with their child (Mariconda, 2003).
I want to quickly note here that I am using the term parents and guardians interchangeably. It goes without saying that families are infinitely diverse in their makeup and details. One large barrier to communication is when teachers use their own cultural and belief-based lenses while interacting with culturally and linguistically diverse guardians (Graham-Clay, 2005). As hard as it seems, those lenses must be set aside or at least acknowledged to open lines of communication. Holding onto these lenses is, at best, unintentionally disinviting and, at worst, intentionally so (Purkey & Novak, 2015). So when I use the term parent or guardian, I mean to say any person(s) that meet the three major goals of parenting as laid out by the American Psychological Association (n.d.):
Ensuring a child’s health and safety (basic needs).
Preparing children for life as productive adults.
Transmitting values.
Whoever is taking on these important tasks or parenting, research points to the fact that the more parents and teachers communicate relevant information about a student the better both are at supporting the student’s achievement (American Federation of Teachers, 2007). You can follow some simple guidelines in connecting with parents provided by the American Federation of Teachers (2007):
Initiation. You should contact parents in one form or another as soon as you know who is going to be in your class. This sets the precedent that you are open to two-way communications and establishes expectations.
Timeliness. You should make contact as soon as possible if a problem occurs. New frustrations and problems can come from waiting or ignoring the problem.
Consistency and Frequency. Most parents want ongoing honest feedback about their students and their growth or sticking points.
Follow Through. “Parents and teachers each want to see that the other will actually do what they say they will do” (para. 14).
Clarity and Usefulness. Both parents and teachers need information that helps the student in a form that is easy to use and understand.
By making the effort to communicate with parents early and often you will be making gainful strides to the success of your students. From the minute call about a good day to the dreaded call about an issue, if the lines of communication are open and honest from the start, everyone involved will be better served.
References
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Parenting. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/parenting
American Federation of Teachers. (2007). Building Parent-Teacher Relationships. Reading Rockets. Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/building-parent-teacher-relationships
Graham-Clay, S. (2005). Communicating with Parents: Strategies for Teachers. School Community Journal, 15, 1st ser., 117-129. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ794819.pdf.
Mariconda, B. (2003). Five Keys to Successful Parent-Teacher Communication. Scholastic. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/five-keys-successful-parent-teacher-communication/?eml=SSO/aff/20180319/96525/txtl/GenericLink///////&affiliate_id=96525&clickId=3182665199
Purkey, W. W., & Novak, J. M. (2015). An Introduction to Invitational Theory (Rep.). Retrieved from https://www.invitationaleducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/art_intro_to_invitational_theory-1.pdf.