5 ways to engage with parents
11/13/2018

Today, we celebrate Parents Day during American Education Week. Parent engagement can be a challenging aspect of starting in a classroom or school position. Approaching parent engagement proactively helps foster collaboration with students’ parents. Here are five ways to connect with parents.

• Texting Parents. Texting is a quick way to update parents on their child’s progress and builds a constant flow of contact with parents.
• Focus on the Positive. Contact parents before there’s a problem. Write parents a brief email when their child has done well in school – whether it’s on an assignment or being helpful in the classroom. This equates educator-parent interactions with positive news, making them more willing to hear when there’s a problem.
• Share School Experiences. Have students create a class newsletter to keep parents updated on current milestones, activities and events.
• Treat Parents as Partners. Ask parents for their input on the child’s progress and to keep you updated. It will open the lines of communication.
• Entice Parents into School. Build programs and opportunities for parents to use the school as a resource, like a Parent Resource Center. Make parents comfortable and offer access to computers and fax machines – it’s truly valuable to those families that face home or job insecurity. This makes it more accessible for all families to connect with educators. 

This article used content and ideas from an NEA article.