Google doc version (to view or copy): Dealing with Difficult Parents
STUDY GUIDE: Dealing with Difficult Parents
- Authors: Todd Whitaker & Douglas J. Fiore
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: 2016
Directions
How do educators and school leaders maintain student attendance and engagement in a remote or hybrid learning environment? Strong partnerships with families are key to keeping students engaged and in attendance every day. This text takes a deeper look at the many challenges faced by educators and educational leaders when partnering with parents and identifies actionable strategies to implement to enhance and develop the family-school partnership. Below is a Families as Partners: A To-Do List to be used with professional development participants around actionable steps to take to enhance partnerships and in turn increase student engagement and attendance in a remote or hybrid learning environment. This resource was adapted from TheMainIdea.net.
Resource
Families as Partners: A To-Do List
- We sponsor family learning workshops on topics suggested by families.
- We ask families what types of workshops or informational events they would be interested in attending and what session times are most convenient for them.
- We provide families with information about developing home environments that support learning.
- We survey families to determine their needs and then follow through by assigning staff members to help address those needs and working to link families with community resources.
- We train staff members and support them in reaching out to all families.
- We schedule family-teacher-student conferences to establish student learning goals for the year and progress monitor success during the school year.
- We listen to families feedback about their children’s strengths and how learning in a remote setting is going.
- We involve families in student recognition events.
- We communicate expectations for students to families.
- We provide families with structured ways to provide feedback to educators and school leaders.
- We have staff members available to assist and support families in their interactions with the school (i.e., home-school liaisons)
- We send home communications regarding:
student academic progress
student discipline
student attendance - We directly speak to families if students are having academic difficulty.
- We have specific goals and activities that keep families informed about and in support of their children’s schoolwork/homework.
- We offer learning activities and events for the whole family.
- We invite families to borrow resources from school libraries for themselves.
- We connect families with resources and activities in the community that promote learning.
- We provide families materials they can use to evaluate their child’s progress and provide feedback to teachers.
- We help families understand student assessments, including report cards and testing, and how to help students improve.
- School staff and school communications aid families in linking home learning activities to learning in the classroom.
- We include families and other community members in developing children’s learning outside of school activities.
- We gather data about the frequency of family and community participation in school programs.
- We assign staff members to help families address concerns or complaints.
- We supply information and referrals about services available in the community for families.
- We use a variety of strategies to reach out to adults, families, and children of all ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds in the community.