Key Idea A key to active parent involvement is building a strong relationship between parents and teachers, and the best way to do that is in person, through live communications.

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Strategies

• Call home before school begins and welcome each student to school.
• Designate a staff member to work and communicate with parents.
• Establish a communication plan between parents, teachers, and students who are struggling academically.
• Provide a phone call protocol for staff to use when communicating with parents.
• Establish multiple opportunities for face-to-face interaction between teachers and parents.
• Extend personal invitations to parents for school events.
• Focus school events at the individual student level.

Strategies for SEAs

• Provide information to schools and districts on best practices with regards to parent communication strategies.
• Provide sample protocols and verbal communications examples that schools can use as a starting point for their own communications protocols.
• Collect sample schedules and examples of school events that other schools use effectively.

Resources

All Your Parents - Part 2: Communicate from the National Center for Family Literacy

Telephone Etiquette 101: University of Missouri College of Business http://business.missouri.edu/341/default.aspx

Mbadu, D. (2008, March 26). The power of parent-teacher relations. Teacher Magazine. Retrieved March 28, 2008, from www.teachermagazine.org/tm/section/first-person/2008/03/26/mbadu_first_web.h19.html

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