Engaging Families in

Learning and Planning

Susan H. Peele, M.Ed.
February 22 – 23, 2013
 ACTIVITY
Introduce yourself to your friend on the right and
the left ….counting by 3’s from the center seat.
Share your response to each of the following
questions:
◦ 1. What has been your most successful means of
communicating with families?
◦ 2. Why do you this it is effective?
◦ 3. What has been your biggest challenge when it
comes to communicating with families?
◦ 4. How can those challenges be addressed?

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

 The Facts
• Research demonstrates and suggests that family
involvement in education matters for student
success.
• Family engagement improves -
– School readiness;
– Student achievement;
– Social skills;
– School attendance;
– Academic performance and;
– Attitudes about school.
• By creating a seamless system of strategies that
places families as a core partner in the learning
process children will learn and grow and the
partnership…
– Results in a shared responsibility in supporting family
engagement;
– Provides guidance that reflects each person’s role and
responsibility in promoting productive home-school
communication
– Provides strategies so that parents and educators enter
into conversations/conferences with shared
expectations and an increased ability to work together
to improve children’s educational outcomes.
• Family engagement does not happen in a vacuum;

• It takes the committed actions of both families and

providers/teachers working together;
• Through shared responsibility programs and teachers
reach out to and engage families in meaningful ways;
• Through shared responsibility families do their part
to actively support their children’s learning and
developing;
• Home-School communication predicts positive
outcomes for children and schools;
• Parent-teacher conferences is an opportunity
for parents to learn from teachers and
teachers to learn from parents;
• Teacher efforts to better understand the
aspirations and perceptions of families can
help them feel respected and build trust.
 Tips for Productive and Effective
Engagement
 For Families
◦ YOU are the child’s first and most important teacher;
◦ YOU and your child’s school have something in common
– both want the child to learn and do well;
◦ YOU have valuable information about your child’s
 Talents,
 Interests,
 Learning styles,
 Non-school learning opportunities, and
 Strengths and needs
◦ YOU may learn something new about how your child
learns;
◦ Family – Teacher conferences are a great way to start
talking.
 ACTIVITY
• Ways for Families to Be Involved
 Tips for Productive and Effective
Engagement
• For Teachers – Before The Conference

– Send invitations
• Send information about conferences and meetings
– Flyers
– Notes
– Phone calls
– Community meetings

– Provide information about time, purpose

and alternative scheduling options
 More Tips…..
– Review the child’s progress

• Be prepared to go over the child’s progress

• Focus on learning - what the child is doing (not what
they are not doing)
• Focus on next steps (scaffolding)
• Think about what you would like to learn about the
child from the parent
• Share program and curriculum goals and objectives
with the parent
 More Tips…..
• Prepare thoughts and material
•Create a list of key issues you want to discuss about
the child’s progress and growth
•Prepare a portfolio of work samples and examples
and walk the parents through it
•Prepare suggestions that may assist and ask for ideas
from the family and be ready to accept their ideas and
thoughts
•Be prepared to make a plan with the parents for Next
Steps
•Be prepared to arm parents with knowledge and
suggestions for how to help their children learn
•Admit to challenges (without being judgmental or
critical)
 More Tips ….
 Send reminders
• Send reminders the week before the conference
• Written invitation
• Telephone call
• Email
• Include an outline/agenda to prepare parents
• Provide alternative scheduling options with contact
information
 More Tips ….
 Create a welcoming environment

 Make the classroom (if meeting there) comfortable by

providing adult size seating, if possible;
 Be sure displays include work by all of the children; and
 Provide a private space for the

conference.
 More Tips ….
For Teachers --During the Conference
◦ Discuss progress and growth
 Start with the positive
 Reference to typical development – not other children
 Focus on “progress” toward learning goals and identify the
goals that need to be addressed
◦ Use examples
 Walk parents through data and observations
 Use portfolio samples
◦ Ask questions and listen actively
 Solicit family input about strengths and needs
 Ask about their hopes and dreams for their child
 More Tips …
• Share ideas for supporting learning
– Provide suggestions and strategies that can be
used at home
– Provide/offer supportive materials

• Seek solutions collaboratively

– Avoid judgments about “what” parents should do
--- emphasize how “we” can work together to
address learning and resolve any problems.
 More Tips ….
• Make a “Next Steps” plan
– Spend time discussing how you and the family will support
the child,
– Be specific
• What will you do
• How long will you do them
• How will you check in with one another about progress
• Establish lines of communication
– Describe how you will communicate (notes, phone, letters,
email, etc.)
– Schedule a way and time to follow up
 More Tips
• For Teachers – After the Conference
– Follow up with families (Thank you’s are powerful!)
• Phone call or note
– Thank you for attending
– Ask if they have further questions or concerns and
– Send home materials, if promised
• Contact parents who did not attend
– Offer to reschedule and/or
– Offer alternative ways to communicate about their child
 More Tips …
 Communicate regularly
 Communicate ongoing with positive news and updates
on progress and challenges
 Inform families about other opportunities for their
involvement
 Connect in-class activities
 Create instructional practices that are responsive to what
you learned about family culture, learning environment,
and child strength and needs.
 “BE HEARD” -For a Great Parent- Teacher Conference
Best intentions assumed
Emphasis on learning
Home-school collaboration
Examples and evidence
Active listening
Respect for all
Dedication to follow-up
 Resources
• Biddle, Julie K. (2012) The Three Rs of Leadership, HighScope Press,
Ypsilanti, Michigan.
• Child Care Information Exchange, (September/October 2003) Bruno, Holly
Elissa, Hearing Parents in Every Language: An Invitation to ECE
Professionals.
• Dodge, Diane Trister, Colker, Laura J., Heroman, Cate. (2002) The Creative
Curriculum® for Preschool, Fourth Edition. Teaching Strategies, Inc.
Washington, DC.
• Graham-Clay, Susan (2010 ) Communicating with Parents: Strategies for
Teachers.
• Harvard Family Research Project (2010) Cambridge, MA.
• Henderson, A. , Mapp. K. I.., Johnson, V., & Davies, D. (2007) Beyond the
bake sale: The essential guide to family-school partnerships. New York:
The New Press
• Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2003). The essential conversation: What parents
and teachers can learn from each other. New York: Ballentine Books
• NAEYC – Young Children (2009) Communications Skills for Challenging
Conversations, a training for program administrators