Communicating with Parents and Community Stakeholders Helps Students Succeed

Inside the School seminar presenter Dr. Vera Blake said that students whose parents are active in their formal education have more long-term academic achievement. These students also have higher grades, higher test scores, positive attitudes, and good behavior.

“The school’s best ally in nurturing the students really is the parents,” Blake said.

Parents are not always involved in their child’s academics and sometimes it is the school’s fault. Some schools do not have a school culture that that promotes parent involvement in their children’s education.

“Sometimes we only see the negative experiences. I’ve seen [teachers] look out the window and see a parent parking in the parking lot and say “Oh. My. God.” What we have to remember is that parents are advocating for their children, just as educators are,” Blake said.

Former principal and school improvement consultant Blake said it is the school’s responsibility to get parents involved with their child’s education. To start the communication process, teachers should begin communicating early, keep an open mind and keep focused on what’s best for the child.

“Understand who the parents are and where they’re coming from,” Blake said.

To communicate respectfully with parents off all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, Blake suggested that teachers find out the family’s income, home country, and religion. Teachers should discuss with parents what the parents’ expectations are for their child’s education and what the teacher’s expectations are. Blake said knowing who the parents are is just one idea to help build a sense of trust and confidence with them.

Another way to build trust is to establish credibility. Blake said you can increase parent involvement by having honest conversations.

“Tell the truth, avoid secrets, assume everyone is as smart as you are and assume everyone knows something you don’t,” Blake said. “It’s okay to have disagreements, but the transparency in the decision making is what is more important.”

Along with the parents, community businesses are a stakeholder that can impact a school’s achievement. Establishing a community partnership can be an important and powerful tool to a school. Area businesses can supply schools with helpful resources.

“Community businesses would get lots of free advertisement in our school’s newsletter and Web site from us for thanking them. Anytime anybody did anything to help our school, we would acknowledge them and give them a certificate. The businesses really liked it,” Blake said. “It got to the point where businesses would contact us in the fall and ask us what they could do.”

Effective communication with parents and community stakeholders can promote positive results in the school.

“Clarify goals, seek feedback, support changes and champion new approaches are ways to involve stakeholders,” Blake said.

Schools that include the parents, teachers and community stakeholders will see positive results. Effective communication is the key to a school’s success. Blake said that no one can work alone. All of the parties must work together.

“I’ve told my teachers, they are the only ones that can put the “P” back into P.T.A,” Blake said.