A step-by-step guide to building bridges with parents
You don’t have to look far to find an article detailing the state of student achievement these days. Math and reading scores are down from where they were pre-pandemic and educators and parents alike are scrambling to find ways to close the gap. Unfortunately, academic scores aren’t the only concern in need of attention; an extraordinary percentage of our students are facing mental health challenges — many of them dire.
In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released their Youth Risk Behavior Survey1. Of the high school students surveyed:
At a time when schools are already contending with staff shortages, burnout, and limited budgets, having an open line of communication between school and home is critical. Now for the good news — 9 out of 10 teachers and caregivers agree that collaboration and trust are essential for their students’ success. With everything that’s already on your plate, how will you ever find time to keep your students’ parents in the loop and engaged? To be honest you can’t afford not to, and we’ve got some easy ways to start bridging that gap.
Five easy ways to build bridges from school to home (and back!)
- Prioritize positive communications: To maximize engagement from parents, the 5:1 positive to negative ratio is a good one to keep in mind. If their student is struggling in a particular area, start with a few positive observations, highlight an area they could help provide some support, and close with another positive observation. This helps minimize negative feelings about your constructive feedback and gives them a sense that you see the “good” in their child. You can also make it a habit to email home when you observe a student making a good choice, being helpful to their peers, or independently working toward a goal. These positive communications become the foundation for your bridge.
- Establish and maintain open lines of communication: Parents and caregivers who feel heard and seen are more likely to not only receive your feedback and call for support with an open mind but will also feel comfortable sharing with you any changes that may be going on at home that could affect the student in the classroom. Find out what means of communication each parent prefers and reach out to them regularly with updates, stressing that you are available to them at any time. Building trust and rapport with families provides the support beams for your bridge.
- Offer personalized communications that allow for collaboration: Parents are flooded with daily emails and calls about events, school fundraisers, activities, lunch menus, fees, picture days, etc. making it difficult for them to filter out the information that pertains to their child’s academic progress or any other specific concerns. Sending clear, personalized communications about their student will help them stay in the loop and feel like an important member of their child’s educational team. These personalized communications provide the driving surface for your bridge — a way for you to all move toward your goals.
- Define success for your district to guide interactions: Communicating a student’s success in relation to your school and district’s goals helps parents adopt a “bigger picture” understanding of where their child is academically. Go beyond simply reporting grades; tie them to specific standards and provide clear guidance for how they can provide support at home. Helping parents see where their child is in relation to district goals and giving them ideas for how to help them will help provide the lanes on your bridge that guide you all in the same direction, side by side.
- Trust the trust — let the bridges you build with parents carry you through difficult conversations: There may come a time when you need to broach an uncomfortable topic or provide feedback that could be viewed as negative. The bridges you’ve built with positive and open communication, collaboration, and honesty will not only help deliver your message in the spirit in which it was intended, it will allow the caregivers’ trust to flow back to you. They will know you have their student’s best interests in mind and an understanding of how best to support them as the individual they are. Trust the bridge you built and let it carry you all to success!
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary and Trends Report: 2011–2021 (2023), https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf