Strong teacher and parent communication builds a sturdy foundation to support student success. School staff play a key role in creating a welcoming environment necessary to engage parents. By providing teachers with the skills and techniques they need to successfully engage parents and access community resources, Turning the Page builds trust between parents, teachers, and community members. Together, these groups help build and strengthen school communities.
The Problem
Unfortunately, there is sometimes a disconnect between parents and teachers. Learning Heroes is an organization that provides parents with the tools and resources that can help them support their children’s success in school. Late last year, they released a report describing this disconnect and barriers to communication between parents and teachers. The report states:
“Over three years, one alarming finding has remained constant: Nearly 9 in 10 parents, regardless of race, income, geography, and education levels, believe their child is achieving at or above grade level. Yet national data indicates only about one-third of students actually perform at that level. In 8th grade mathematics, while 44% of white students scored at the proficient level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2017, only 20% of Hispanic and 13% of African-American students did so.”
Those are quite troubling statistics. Parents and teachers also have different concerns about what’s important in their children’s and student’s lives. Parents worry about their children’s happiness, about peer pressure, and about responsible Internet use. But teachers worry about the challenges students face at home (such as poverty or food insecurity). Teachers also worry if students have enough academic support from a parent or guardian. On the contrary, 21% of parents surveyed are confident that their child is doing well, and don’t need to be more involved. Another 33% of parents believe they are as involved as they should be.
The Reason
Focus groups and interviews suggest that this difference in prioritization is a reason for the disconnect. Teachers report they are more likely to contact parents about behavioral problems (82%) than about academic problems. Some parents however, wish that teachers would reach out sooner about academic issues. “I think the teachers wait [too long],” said an elementary school parent in Massachusetts. “If you’re having an issue right now, I want to know about it on Monday, not next Monday.” On the flip side, some teachers point out that sometimes parents are difficult to get in touch with. 78% of teachers agree that “the students whose parents regularly communicate with me tend to do better academically than students whose parents do not communicate with me.”
32% of parents say they have limited time to become more involved. It is undeniably difficult to be a parent and on top of that balance a career and other life necessities. One parent from Cincinnati, OH mentioned that they become less involved with their older children. “I’m not involved as much with my older as with my younger because as kids get older, I try to give them independence.” Another parent from Sacramento agrees: “Once you get to middle school, I’m not talking to your teacher anymore.” But this perspective may need to change. “Given the sharp drop in student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress between elementary and middle school, and the percent of students who drop out in 9th grade, middle school is a critical time to understand and address learning gaps to keep children on track for career and college readiness,” the report states.
The Solution
During their research, Learning Heroes provided a Family Worksheet to parents and teachers. The worksheet provides parents with questions they can ask their child’s teacher in a parent-teacher conference. It also refers to tailored, skills-based resources they can use to help their child at home. The worksheet is designed so parents might question what they think they know to engage in a more productive conversation with teachers about their child’s learning. You can read the full Learning Heroes report here, with Family Worksheet examples.
At Turning the Page, two of our objectives include providing teachers with: 1) New opportunities to share school, classroom, and individual student priorities and goals with parents; and 2) Methods for how to use existing school platforms to share positive and specific messages with parents around student learning.
Knowing that there is a problem is the first step towards solving it. With all of these stats in mind, we are encouraged to continue bridging the gap between teachers and parents.
Is eliminating the disconnect between teachers and parents important to you? Consider a donation to Turning the Page today.