Teachers must utilize effective relationships with parents to maintain effective educational practices with each student. Effective Teacher-Parent Relationships are characterized by:
- A partnership based model.
- Shared values and goals, with the parent and the teacher agreeing on the desired outcomes of
Teachers must utilize effective relationships with parents to maintain effective educational practices with each student. Effective Teacher-Parent Relationships are characterized by:
- A partnership based model.
- Shared values and goals, with the parent and the teacher agreeing on the desired outcomes of the education along with the academic path that will be most effective.
- Mutual respect for time and expertise. Communication between teachers and parents is most effective when both people have an equal voice in the shared goals for the student along with an appreciation for the amount of time that either can attribute to the academic or social progress of the student.
- Mutual accommodations to compensate for deficiencies on either side of the relationship. For example, a teacher may benefit from providing a translator to the parent of an English Language Learner (ELL) student and a parent may benefit from providing relevant developmental information and history about the student that the teacher would not otherwise know.
- Regular communication from both the teacher and the parent so that the partnership can be ongoing rather than exclusive to a crisis or intervention.
Conferences with parents are an essential tool for effective communication between parents and teachers. These conferences happen in a variety of formats and are essential to developing positive relationships that are focused on the academic and social growth of the student in question. Conferences may or may not include the student. However, it is a best practice to bring the element of student voice to the conference, regardless of the student being in attendance. The two most common formats of a conference are casual and formal.
Casual Conferences occur spontaneously. Characterized by informal meetings, these conferences may occur at school, on the phone, or even in the broader community setting (Jordan, Reyes-Blanes, et. al. 1998). Research shows that frequent, early, and positive communication from teachers to parents is a consistently effective way to build productive partnerships between parents and teachers (Gregory and Ostrosky, 2013).
Formal Scheduled Conferences typically have an intended purpose. These purposes can include, but are not limited to, an academic check-in to evaluate student strengths and challenges, an academic intervention to address specific student challenges, and academic assessment of learning abilities to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP). All three types can occur commonly. Addressing general academic strengths and challenges is a good practice for every student. Interventions are more effective when both the parents and the teachers agree on the purpose, plan, and goals of the intervention; which is why a conference can be valuable. Also, developing an IEP must include input from the parent of the student so that, like an intervention, the purpose, plan, and goals of the IEP are clear and agreed upon (Jordan, Reyes-Blanes, et. al. 1998).
When preparing for a conference the teacher must allow for ample time for the conference to occur. At a minimum conferences last 30 minutes when everyone involved has time to participate in the discussion. However, the teacher must also respect time restraints so that the conference does not last too long and create a scheduling conflict for any of the participants.
Parents can feel uncomfortable and vulnerable around teachers and other education professionals due to their own experiences in education (Jordan, Reyes-Blanes, et. al. 1998). Teachers should be advised to create a family centered environment so that families are comfortable at the school (Gregory and Ostrosky, 2013).
Parents may have their own concerns about their relationships with a teacher, in addition to the experiences of their child (Jordan, Reyes-Blanes, et. al. 1998) and may have either a positive or negative impression of teachers because teachers can be seen as self-appointed “experts” (Gregory and Ostrosky, 2013); when this occurs communication becomes a teacher monologue, rather than a dialogue between teachers and parents (Guo, 2010). One way to avoid this is to approach the meeting from a team-building perspective.
In part because of this perceived monologue effect, teachers must be aware of their potential attitudes toward parents; this is especially important when the parent comes from a different demographic (cultural, economic, geographic, etc.) than the teacher (Jordan, Reyes-Blanes, et. al. 1998).
Some of the issues that teachers may encounter, when addressing demographic differences, are:
- The concept of family and family roles.
- Expectations for student behavior.
- Expectations of teacher behavior.
- Expectations of parent involvement.
- Socio-economic resources, especially as they apply to schoolwork that occurs outside of the home.
Of particular note are parents that speak little or no English. One of the greatest under-represented cultural demographics in school communities is that of ELL parents (Guo, 2010). These parents need to have a translator present at the meetings; the school should provide a translator as a part of creating an accessible and fair education for every student. The translator can provide a comfortable and welcoming element to t