E-Communication: Boosting Parental Involvement

Getting parents involved in their kids' educations is considered one of the toughest -- and potentially most rewarding -- challenges in education today. A recent MetLife teacher survey found that new teachers view engaging their students' parents as the single most difficult aspect of the job.

Yet there is ample evidence that parental-involvement efforts pay off handsomely, in more and better student learning, higher test scores, better attendance, and fewer behavioral problems. How to achieve such worthy results?

The March edition of Edutopia, the magazine of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, argues that technology offers one of the best routes toward improving communication between schools, teachers, and parents. Electronic mail and Web pages provide a convenient way for parents and teachers to stay in touch, update each other on student progress, and ask and answer questions about what's going on in class and at home. Edutopia says these strategies can facilitate electronic communication.

• Assign an e-mail address to all faculty and staff. For working parents especially, e-mail may be the most effective way of staying in touch with teachers. Of course, teachers will need regular access to a computer for e-mail to work well.
• Start school and class Web pages. They are great for giving parents and caregivers access to assignments, schedules, and notices. Use them to show off student work too! Keep the pages current and update them often to encourage frequent visits.
• Send electronic newsletters. Cut out the middleman (the student whose backpack may house a semester's worth of school fliers) and send an e-newsletter directly to parents. They combine the best features of both e-mail and Web pages. Be sure to offer paper versions for parents who don't have access to a computer.
• Put student data online. Password-protected information on each child can help parents stay on top of their kids' grades, attendance, even lunch-buying habits. Edutopia notes that access to academic performance information can help parents head off problems before they become crises.
• Consider providing laptops to take home. It's an expensive option, but many schools have found that sending computers home with students fosters learning and makes it easier for parents to keep up with what their kids are doing in class.

What's your experience with using technology to increase parent involvement? Click "comments" below to share your story.

Comments

[Cynthia Smith]

School Loop could be a GREAT thing!! The issue I have is that only one of my two children's teachers actually uses it on a consistant basis and she is the only teacher that has utilized it since before the second semester began. I have emailed several of my daughter's teachers through School Loop only to be told by them not to email in that manner. Grades are not being posted at all by the teachers that occassionally post assignments.

I am doing shift work that does not always allow me to contact teachers during "regular" hours. School Loop was going to be a great asset to me in the effort of keeping on top of my student's progress.

[nedra cassarino]

My son went on a trip with other teachers. They have put pictures on their digital locker. How can I access their Locker when my son does not have them as teachers.
thanx Nedra

[Joe Hung]

Another tool for parent teacher communication

www.myclassinfo.org

This is a free service. We (a bunch of parents) built it hoping it would serve the purpose of a parent-teacher communication tool.

If the whole world's information is free and under your fingertips (thanks to google), why not our kids' school routine?