Communicating with Parents and Community Stakeholders

March 29th, 2010 By: Vera Blake, Ed.D in Articles, School Turnaround, Teachers' Corner

Increasing the involvement of parent and community members is vital to school improvement for students and staff. It is in everyone’s best interest to continue to explore strategies and ideas that will facilitate increased involvement in ways that are positive, helpful, and sustainable. Many schools struggle with attempts to find solutions that work. Our students are the beneficiaries of our investment in successful strategies that work in K-12 schools to enrich and strengthen our relationships and communications with parents and other community members.

Frequently, parents of elementary students voluntarily become involved with their children’s schools. They volunteer at a much higher rate in Parent Teacher Organizations, fund raisers, and special events. Middle level colleagues have frequently fought the perceptions among parents that they are ‘tired’ from all of the “fun fairs, fund raisers, play dates” and other activities that required them to always be visibly involved from kindergarten through fifth or sixth grades. They want a break to “rest until school really counts” as several parents mentioned. High school colleagues have often found that those who ‘checked out’ in the earlier grades, did not always check back in because they believed their children were more independent and didn’t need them as involved.

The achievement for students is enhanced when school staffs work more effectively with parents. It is helpful to parents when schools are proactive by initiating outreach. Sometimes, the effort can be as simple as changing the venue for small meetings. For example, explore the possibilities in school neighborhoods through community or party rooms in apartment complexes to community service rooms in a local mall. Parents may be more comfortable in these surroundings because they are often a more consistent part of their lives.

Let’s not forget other community stakeholders who sometimes appreciate being involved beyond donating towards various fund-raising. For example, an effective strategy could be approaching local corporations to request tutors and mentors or asking small businesses lend employee to help chaperone and/or sponsor certain activities. Parents at the secondary level sometimes have to choose among competing parent groups such as various booster clubs and PTOs to support their children. Teachers and coaches are spread thin when they are involved in multiple sponsorships and activities. Involving and including more community stakeholders creates and sustains greater support for the school throughout the community.

Some schools that are experiencing rapidly changing demographics and changing requirements to meet higher standards sometimes find it particularly challenging to research and explore more ways to outreach to community stakeholders. With diminishing funding sources, hiring parent liaisons whose primary responsibilities include the development of outreach programs, are not often an option. Utilizing on-going and existing programs more innovatively and creatively, may yield ever increasing results. For example, in a middle school where students normally are not yet eligible to drive, their parents usually have to arrange for transportation to performance events such as concerts, plays, etc. This may present an opportunity to provide some type of bonus, incentive or reward to students whose parents bring them an hour early and join a meeting or parenting program. Prior to such an event, students are normally asked to come earlier to participate in a last rehearsal, costume dressing, or some other pre-program session with teacher sponsors. This may also serve the purpose of increasing parental attendance at these events by holding them and it reduces the ‘early drop-offs with late returns’ syndrome from parents that many school personnel experience. This is a Double-Win for students.

Tags: achievement