Opening Windows into Students’ Lives
January 01, 2025
Appears in January 2025: School Administrator.
School districts devise a variety of tactics to better engage parents and caregivers
When Alex Marrero started as superintendent of the Denver Public Schools in 2021, he made it a priority to accompany a teacher on a visit to a student’s apartment. While there, he noticed a firefighter’s hat hanging on the wall and asked whose it was. The student’s father told him he had fought fires in Mexico but had come to the United States in search of better opportunities for his family and was now working odd jobs to make ends meet.
The visit gave Marrero a window into what the student’s life was like and served as a catalyst for creating trust and connection between that family and the school district, he says. The experience was so powerful that Marrero asked every member of his district leadership team to tag along on a home visit that school year.
When families are engaged in their children’s education, it leads to positive outcomes, from better academic performance to lower rates of absenteeism, according to longstanding research. But finding ways to meaningfully connect with families takes thoughtful consideration, planning and resources, especially when applied to expansive school systems.
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Family Engagement Post Pandemic
BY NATHAN R. MONELL AND HELEN WESTMORELAND
When schools shifted to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, families got a front-row seat to their children’s education. Family engagement and family-school partnerships became more important than ever.
While students have since returned to the classroom, families’ expectations for being involved in their education remain high. Family-school partnerships are essential to support our students’ success academically, socially and emotionally and to ensure safe and secure learning environments.
In a nationally representative survey of public-school parents, National PTA found families see value in engagement, hold positive ratings of their school environment and believe schools mostly communicate in a welcoming and respectful manner. However, they also believe schools can do a better job of reaching all families, educating families on engagement policies and existing opportunities and providing resources and support to make it possible for all families to engage with their child’s school.
At the same time, decades of research shows that when families are engaged and work together with their schools, students attend more regularly, earn better grades, enroll in higher-level programs and have higher graduation rates. Research also shows family engagement is just as essential to students’ success and school improvement as a rigorous curriculum and effective leaders and teachers. We also know from recent research that schools with stronger family engagement before the pandemic experienced better-than-expected attendance, achievement and school climate outcomes post-pandemic.
Sustaining Support
Yet educators have been struggling to figure out how to engage in ways that reach all families and positively impact all students’ outcomes. Federal and state legislative bills in recent years have tended to divide us rather than build on things schools and teachers are doing. We know school system leaders have felt caught in the middle.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen considerable investments in family engagement, thanks in part to federal ESSER funding, but with the end of that support, school districts now are making difficult decisions about which program investments to sustain.
National PTA is pleased to collaborate with AASA and other organizations to support and develop school system leaders to leverage family engagement as a key strategy for ensuring a high-quality public education for every student.
National PTA and AASA have collaborated on several initiatives to elevate family engagement as a critical ingredient in accelerating student learning and well-being. Our collaboration helped make it possible for National PTA to launch Family Engagement Solutions, a tool to help school system leaders find proven programs to strengthen family-school partnerships.
National PTA and AASA also have launched the Excellence in Family Engagement Award, to debut at AASA’s national conference in March, to recognize and celebrate a superintendent who has made deep and strategic investments in engaging students’ families.
Vital Partners
Strong family engagement policies, practices and procedures are critical to any successful school system, and every strategy to accelerate learning should include families. Families must be valued and treated as essential partners in their children’s education and development.
There could not be a more important time for our organizations to partner as educators, families and policymakers to improve our public education system to make every child’s potential a reality.
Nathan Monell is executive director of National PTA in Washington, D.C. Helen Westmoreland is director of family engagement for National PTA.
Communicating With Caregivers Over Trauma-Related Behaviors
BY THERESA MELITO-CONNERS
You walk into a building, only to realize you don’t know who you’re speaking with or why you’re meeting. This scenario might sound like something from a horror movie, but it also reflects how caregivers can feel at their child’s school.
Trauma-informed communications — recognizing how past experiences shape our interactions with others and the world — prioritize safety, care and respect. While we can’t always know who may be navigating trauma, we can approach every caregiver interaction with openness and empathy. Acknowledging caregivers as individuals with unique experiences in our in-person, virtual and written communications helps us develop stronger bonds of trust and facilitate healthier engagement. When challenges arise, they’re well-positioned to be our partners and collaborators.
Gauging Effectiveness
A fresh semester is a great opportunity to reset and gauge whether your school staff are on the right track.
Before meeting a caregiver for the first time, leave behind your assumptions and judgments.
How we initially treat caregivers profoundly influences our ability to build rapport. Perceived disrespect significantly reduces caregiver participation. Research in Professional School Counseling found educators’ negative perceptions about parenting or householder skills discouraged low-income caregivers. Studies looking at Black and minority families face similar barriers. Past experiences as a child or adult shape demeanor.
A culture of trauma-sensitive communications embodies inclusivity. Use the word “caregivers” in family-related discussions with staff and in external communications. Feature families of various races and compositions in curricula, newsletters, websites and social media posts.
Get to know caregivers in conversations, helping to minimize trauma-related triggers.
Receiving a request to meet with a school administrator to discuss a child’s academic or behavioral performance can be stressful for caregivers. Providing context in your communications can reduce stress. As a district administrator, I start such phone calls to parents with reassurance: “Mackenzie is safe.”
Before an in-person meeting takes place, I ensure the caregiver has information about parking and building security. We ensure campus signage is visible and have a system to guide caregivers to their destination. Clarify who will be attending the meeting and limit the number of staff as this can be intimidating for caregivers. Provide a translator, when needed, and learn a friendly greeting in a caregiver’s native language as a welcoming tactic.
When scheduling, be flexible about meeting times. Private, neutral spaces, such as a conference room or study space rather than an office, foster equity and mitigate power imbalances.
To maintain a relationship, lead with collaborative predictability through clear, consistent conversations.
Ninety percent of parents believe their child is learning on grade level, according to a Gallup report, “B-flation: How ‘Good’ Grades Can Sideline Parents.” Most rely on report cards for assessing their children, yet these impressions clash with standardized test scores or post-pandemic learning loss. A 2024 report by SchoolStatus on school-parent relations showed a third of caregivers don’t feel well-informed about their student’s progress.
Trauma-informed communications encourage structure and shared responsibility, transitioning to a year-round, two-way dialogue centered on student growth. Most surveyed caregivers prefer one streamlined method of communication.
When talking with caregivers, preview an agenda by saying, “Let’s discuss Sam’s behavioral concerns and then explore public and private placement options. I’d value your input.”
When addressing a child’s behavior, focus on empowering the caregiver. Instead of declaring that Rowan “needs to work on deadlines,” brainstorm strategies to improve his study environment or task management. This approach positions families as fellow problem-solvers.
Trauma-informed communications can benefit all learners and the adults who nurture and mold them. By communicating with equity, empathy and resilience, we can empower caregivers to become active participants in their child’s learning and valued members of our school communities.
Theresa Melito-Conners is a special education administrator in the Melrose School District in Melrose, Mass.
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