Communication
Q. How to solve language barrier issues for communication?
Recommendations: Seeking help from others for translation.
Activities:
• List the major points that you would like to share with the parents. Then, you can ask your co-workers to translate these points into parents’ native languages prior to the meeting with parents.
• Invite a co-worker who may know the parents and can be a translator in your conversation.
Q. What to include in communicating with parents?
Recommendations: Make the conversation brief and targeted.
• To get parents’ attention, the conversation must be brief and to the point. Plan and practice what you want your message to be no matter what the question from parents is. AVOID using educational jargon (e.g., ESL or EL). Parents might not know what they stand for.
Q. How to help parents to network with each other?
Recommendations: Share parents’ contact information and link families together.
Activities:
• Help establish a parent telephone tree to provide school information and encourage interaction among parents.
• Structure a network that links every family with a designated parent representative.
Engagement
Q. How to use newsletter to deliver school information and recognize achievement?
Recommendations: Highlight information that values parents’ contribution and students’ as well as teachers’ success.
Activities:
• Prepare a one-page weekly newsletter for all teachers and staff, as well as a newletter for parents. In the newsletter for teachers and staff, you can highlight successes from the previous week, note any concerns, and include a weekly events schedule as a reminder. In the newsletter for parents, you can highlight teachers’, school’s and students’ successes from the previous week, recognize parents’ contribution to school and value their talent, and include a weekly events schedule as a reminder.
Q. How to incorporate parents and teachers’ contribution to school?
Recommendations: Listen to parents’ voices and incorporate their suggestions to school development.
Activities:
• Initiate a conversation for parents and teachers to let them know their voices matter in any decision the school makes.
• Create family “suggestion or comment” boxes (both electronic and onsite) for families to anonymously provide their questions, concerns and recommendations.
• Create roles for parents on all decision-making and advisory committees, properly training them for the areas in which they will serve (e.g., curriculum, budget, and school safety).
Q. How to encourage parents and teachers to participate in school activities?
• Provide equal and diverse representation for parents and teachers on school governing bodies.
• Conduct a survey of parents and teachers to identify volunteer interests, talents and availability, matching these resources to school programs and staff-support needs.
• Create volunteer recognition activities at the end of the semester.
Q. How to use newsletter to deliver school information and recognize achievement?
Recommendations: Highlight information that values parents’ contribution and students’ as well as teachers’ success.
Activities:
• Prepare a one-page weekly newsletter for all teachers and staff, as well as a newletter for parents. In the newsletter for teachers and staff, you can highlight successes from the previous week, note any concerns, and include a weekly events schedule as a reminder. In the newsletter for parents, you can highlight teachers’, school’s and students’ successes from the previous week, recognize parents’ contribution to school and value their talent, and include a weekly events schedule as a reminder.
Q. How to incorporate parents and teachers’ contribution to school?
Recommendations: Listen to parents’ voices and incorporate their suggestions to school development.
Activities:
• Initiate a conversation for parents and teachers to let them know their voices matter in any decision the school makes.
• Create family “suggestion or comment” boxes (both electronic and onsite) for families to anonymously provide their questions, concerns and recommendations.
• Create roles for parents on all decision-making and advisory committees, properly training them for the areas in which they will serve (e.g., curriculum, budget, and school safety).
Q. How to encourage parents and teachers to participate in school activities?
• Provide equal and diverse representation for parents and teachers on school governing bodies.
• Conduct a survey of parents and teachers to identify volunteer interests, talents and availability, matching these resources to school programs and staff-support needs.
• Create volunteer recognition activities at the end of the semester.
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