Founder's Focus: The Importance of Parent-Teacher Relationships
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Impact on Student Learning
Children thrive when their parents and teachers partner to support their learning and development. A good working relationship between parents and teachers forms the foundation so both can collaborate to respond to each child’s unique needs.
The Research Behind the Importance of Parent-Teacher Relationships
The powerful link between parent-teacher relationships and student learning has been demonstrated in multiple studies. In Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago, the Consortium on Chicago School Research found that schools with strong connections with parents were 10 times more likely to improve in math and four times more likely to improve in reading than schools weak on this measure. Furthermore, in schools where connections with parents were weak, it undermined virtually all attempts at improving student learning.
Strong relationships can be empowering for both parents and teachers. A few years ago, I met an elementary school parent who explained, “Teachers have to see parents ask them things so that teachers have the confidence to tell us what is happening at school.” Building and sustaining parent-teacher relationships is an ongoing process that needs to start early with banking positive interactions. Research from psychology researcher John Gottman shows that stable relationships need five times as many positive interactions as negative. Positive interactions spill over to help improve student engagement and learning outcomes as well (Christenson & Reschly, 2009).
Schools and teachers can create the conditions for these positive interactions with parents by proactively inviting families as partners and recognizing the important role of families. As the parent I met explained, “For me, it's really important that the teachers support us by communicating what kids are doing in school, what they are low at so that we can help support them too.” When teachers open the doors and invite regular communication, it can set parent-teacher relationships on the right course.
Keep reading the full blog post to learn how Family Engagement Lab focuses on the importance of parent-teacher relationships.
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Sincerely,
Vidya Sundaram
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Education Writers Association 74th National Seminar Agenda
Family Engagement in a Post-COVID Era
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Family Engagement Lab will be featured at a session at the 74th Education Writers Association National Seminar on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, from 1:00-2:15 p.m. (EDT).
Speakers include:
- Vidya Sundaram, Family Engagement Lab
- Sarah Carpenter, Memphis Lift
- Rebecca Winthrop, Center for Universal Education
- Keri Rodrigues, National Parents Union
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Is This Seat Taken? A Roundtable Discussion about Family Members as Co-Creators in Education |
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Family Engagement Lab is excited to participate in the 2021 Teacher Leader Summit: The Virtual Series, a professional development conference which brings together Louisiana birth to grade 12 educators.
We invite you to join one of our four, virtual roundtable discussions at the Summit on opportunities for educators and families to co-create solutions in education. Our session is being offered on:
- Tuesday, June 1: 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m. CDT
- Monday, June 7: 10:00-11:20 a.m. CDT
- Tuesday, June 8: 10:00-11:20 a.m. CDT
- Thursday, June 10: 10:00-11:20 a.m. CDT
Registration information can be found here.
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FASTalk Tip: Using the FASTalk Poll Report As a Tool to Strengthen Two-Way Communication
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To strengthen parent-teacher relationships, families need to know that their voices are heard and that their feedback is valued. One effective strategy for eliciting this dialogue is the use of the FASTalk Friday polls. These polls provide opportunities for busy parents and caregivers to give their feedback in a quick and easy way about how the FASTalk tips and activities are going at home. If families respond to the poll questions, teachers receive a weekly emailed report with data to enhance two-way communication.
Learn more about the FASTalk poll report and see a sample.
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Seeded These Are the Times that Grow Our Souls
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"We must have the courage to walk the talk, but we must also engage in the continuing dialogues that enable us to break free from old categories and to create new ideas that are necessary to address our realities, because revolutions are made not to prove the correctness of ideas but to begin anew."
-Grace Lee Boggs
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Why Shattering the Wall Between Home & School Is a Good Thing |
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Reimagine public education — with no walls between schools and home, parents and teachers. Together, we learned about the most common barriers to strong family engagement in K–3; how technology has opened up the possibility for cost-effective and impactful family engagement strategies; the role that curricula can play in engaging families; and how strong school-home connections support student learning.
The session featured:
- Moderator: Stephanie Sharp, Associate Program Officer, Overdeck Family Foundation
- Vidya Sundaram, co-founder and CEO, Family Engagement Lab
- Dionne Aminata, Illustrative Mathematics Lead Curriculum Writer, Grades 2-5, Curriculum Implementation Support Specialist for LAUSD
- Adrienne Austin, Deputy Chancellor of Community Empowerment, Partnerships, and Communication, NYC Department of Education
- Alejandro Gibes de Gac, Founder and CEO, Springboard Collaborative
- Heejae Lim, Founder and CEO, Talking Points
The webinar recording is accessible from this link after registering. Registration information can be found here. Once you are registered, you can also access the slides from the session.
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This will be our last Learning Series of the school year.
We look forward to connecting again in August.
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Contact Us
Don't forget to follow us on social media for the latest tools and resources to support family engagement.
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