Engaging Families in Learning and Planning

Susan H. Peele, M.Ed.February 22 – 23, 2013

Introduce yourself to your friend on the right and the left ….counting by 3’s from the center seat.

Share your response to each of the following questions:◦ 1. What has been your most successful means of

communicating with families?◦ 2. Why do you this it is effective?◦ 3. What has been your biggest challenge when it

comes to communicating with families?◦ 4. How can those challenges be addressed?

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

ACTIVITY

• Research demonstrates and suggests that family involvement in education matters for student success.

• Family engagement improves -– School readiness;– Student achievement; – Social skills;– School attendance;– Academic performance and;– Attitudes about school.

The Facts

• By creating a seamless system of strategies that places families as a core partner in the learning process children will learn and grow and the partnership…– Results in a shared responsibility in supporting family

engagement;– Provides guidance that reflects each person’s role and

responsibility in promoting productive home-school communication

– Provides strategies so that parents and educators enter into conversations/conferences with shared expectations and an increased ability to work together to improve children’s educational outcomes.

• Family engagement does not happen in a vacuum;

• It takes the committed actions of both families and providers/teachers working together;

• Through shared responsibility programs and teachers reach out to and engage families in meaningful ways;

• Through shared responsibility families do their part to actively support their children’s learning and developing;

• Home-School communication predicts positive outcomes for children and schools;

• Parent-teacher conferences is an opportunity for parents to learn from teachers and teachers to learn from parents;

• Teacher efforts to better understand the aspirations and perceptions of families can help them feel respected and build trust.

For Families◦ YOU are the child’s first and most important teacher;◦ YOU and your child’s school have something in common

– both want the child to learn and do well;◦ YOU have valuable information about your child’s

Talents, Interests, Learning styles, Non-school learning opportunities, and Strengths and needs

◦ YOU may learn something new about how your child learns;

◦ Family – Teacher conferences are a great way to start talking.

Tips for Productive and Effective Engagement

• Ways for Families to Be InvolvedACTIVITY

• For Teachers – Before The Conference

– Send invitations• Send information about conferences and meetings

– Flyers– Notes– Phone calls – Community meetings

– Provide information about time, purpose and alternative scheduling options

Tips for Productive and Effective Engagement

– Review the child’s progress

• Be prepared to go over the child’s progress• Focus on learning - what the child is doing (not what

they are not doing)• Focus on next steps (scaffolding)• Think about what you would like to learn about the

child from the parent• Share program and curriculum goals and objectives

with the parent

More Tips…..

• Prepare thoughts and materialMore Tips…..

• Create a list of key issues you want to discuss about the child’s progress and growth•Prepare a portfolio of work samples and examples and walk the parents through it•Prepare suggestions that may assist and ask for ideas from the family and be ready to accept their ideas and thoughts •Be prepared to make a plan with the parents for Next Steps•Be prepared to arm parents with knowledge and suggestions for how to help their children learn•Admit to challenges (without being judgmental or critical)

Send reminders• Send reminders the week before the conference• Written invitation• Telephone call• Email

• Include an outline/agenda to prepare parents• Provide alternative scheduling options with contact

information

More Tips ….

Create a welcoming environment

Make the classroom (if meeting there) comfortable by providing adult size seating, if possible;

Be sure displays include work by all of the children; and Provide a private space for the conference.

More Tips ….

For Teachers --During the Conference◦ Discuss progress and growth

Start with the positive Reference to typical development – not other children Focus on “progress” toward learning goals and identify the

goals that need to be addressed◦ Use examples

Walk parents through data and observations Use portfolio samples

◦ Ask questions and listen actively Solicit family input about strengths and needs Ask about their hopes and dreams for their child

More Tips ….

• Share ideas for supporting learning– Provide suggestions and strategies that can be

used at home– Provide/offer supportive materials

• Seek solutions collaboratively– Avoid judgments about “what” parents should do

--- emphasize how “we” can work together to address learning and resolve any problems.

More Tips …

• Make a “Next Steps” plan– Spend time discussing how you and the family will support

the child,– Be specific

• What will you do• How long will you do them• How will you check in with one another about progress

• Establish lines of communication– Describe how you will communicate (notes, phone,

letters, email, etc.)– Schedule a way and time to follow up

More Tips ….

• For Teachers – After the Conference

– Follow up with families (Thank you’s are powerful!)• Phone call or note

– Thank you for attending– Ask if they have further questions or concerns and– Send home materials, if promised

• Contact parents who did not attend– Offer to reschedule and/or– Offer alternative ways to communicate about their child

More Tips

Communicate regularly

Communicate ongoing with positive news and updates on progress and challenges

Inform families about other opportunities for their involvement

Connect in-class activities

Create instructional practices that are responsive to what you learned about family culture, learning environment, and child strength and needs.

More Tips …

Best intentions assumed

Emphasis on learning

Home-school collaboration

Examples and evidence

Active listening

Respect for all

Dedication to follow-up

“BE HEARD” -For a Great Parent- Teacher Conference

Resources• Biddle, Julie K. (2012) The Three Rs of Leadership, HighScope Press,

Ypsilanti, Michigan.• Child Care Information Exchange, (September/October 2003) Bruno, Holly

Elissa, Hearing Parents in Every Language: An Invitation to ECE Professionals.

• Dodge, Diane Trister, Colker, Laura J., Heroman, Cate. (2002) The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool, Fourth Edition. Teaching Strategies, Inc. Washington, DC.

• Graham-Clay, Susan (2010 ) Communicating with Parents: Strategies for Teachers.

• Harvard Family Research Project (2010) Cambridge, MA.• Henderson, A. , Mapp. K. I.., Johnson, V., & Davies, D. (2007) Beyond the

bake sale: The essential guide to family-school partnerships. New York: The New Press

• Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2003). The essential conversation: What parents and teachers can learn from each other. New York: Ballentine Books

• NAEYC – Young Children (2009) Communications Skills for Challenging Conversations, a training for program administrators