Preparing Teachers for Family Engagement

This issue of the Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE)'s Newsletter by Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) explores new skills and knowledge teachers can develop to effectively engage families in the twenty-first century. The issue seeks to respond in particular to teachers' desire to be better prepared to relate to diverse students and families. According to HFRP, “family involvement in schools is key to improving student outcomes, but it cannot work without the effective training of teachers.” HFRP suggests that adequate preparation and professional development for teachers in family engagement strategies can have an influence on how teachers feel about engaging families and what they do about it. In addition, the organisation feels that it is essential to support teachers from pre-service onward, given the importance of working effectively with families from early childhood through high school.

Below is a list of the articles in this issue of the FINE Newsletter, with a few communications strategies highlighted:

The Challenge of Cross-Cultural Family-School Communication by Elise Trumbull (suggestions for a parent-teacher conference)
•    Begin with a personal exchange rather than launching into a formal progress report.
•    Allow the personal to be interspersed with the discussion of academics.
•    Explain the goals and expectations of the school and help parents find ways in which they are comfortable supporting their children’s learning.


How Can Elementary Teachers Collaborate More Effectively with Parents to Support Literacy Learning? by Carole St. George
•    After identifying a number of challenges in parent-teacher partnerships (limited time and resources, ineffective communication, and confusion about each role in parent-teacher partnerships), St. George and her colleagues in participatory collegial circles suggested themes for overcoming the challenges:
•    More professional development
•    Redesigning homework into interactive activities

Preparing Teachers to Engage Families Around Student Data by María C. Paredes
Paredes describes professional development for teachers and parent liaisons in order for them to make Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT) highly functional. APTT parent team meetings are centred on analysing achievement data together as a team.
•    Build confidence for teachers to share responsibility for learning with families
•    Train various stakeholders to support the family engagement process
•    Build capacity and support in the greater community

Update: New Skills for Schools
This report reviews teacher certification requirements and  teacher education programmes that mention family involvement.

Successful Family Engagement in the Classroom: What Teachers Need to Know and Be Able to Do to Engage Families in Raising Student Achievement by Lela Spielberg
•    Establish a meaningful, differentiated home-school communication system.
•    Be able to reach all families and be reached by all families in a timely way.
•    Working collaboratively with families to set goals and foster high expectations for student achievement.
•    Showing families what children are learning, and demystifying grade l standards and assessments.
 
Webinar 4 Archive: The Teacher-Parent Relationship: Using Professional Development to Improve Family and Community Engagement
This webinar examines practical examples of how states can embed family engagement into their professional development systems and how teacher education programmes can systematically include family engagement in teaching and learning. The webinar also discusses promising practices in higher education, including partnerships with Parental Information and Resource Centres (PIRCs) to build the capacity of family coordinators.