2. What is the key?
We need to establish
“precise, coherent, and
continuous home-school
communication”
(Musti-Rao & Cartledge,
2004, p. 15).
3. Establishing Positive Parent-Teacher Relationships
• Connect early and positively.
• Explain the importance of parents’ roles in student
achievement.
• Differentiate for parents.
5. Did You Know?
Actions teachers take are instrumental to parent
involvement -- especially those in low-income
households (Patore & Edwards, 2011).
6. Connect early and positively.
• Make contact with parents before trouble
arises.
• Ask parents to observe your class at the
beginning of the year.
• Send home surveys to get parents’ feedback
on home assignments.
8. Facts that you can share with parents in
newsletters, meetings, on your website, etc…
Students of involved parents have:
• higher rates of school attendance
• better social skills and behavior
• higher grades and test scores
• lower rates of retention
• higher rates of high school graduation and
postsecondary study
(Patore & Edwards, 2011)
9. Parent Involvement Correlated with
Increased Student Achievement
(Friedman and Mandelbaum, 2011)
• Reading to your children in their early school
years
• Talking to your children about their school
day, showing a genuine interest
• Telling your children stories
• Having at least 20 books in the home
• Limiting screen time
10. Offer ongoing support and information
• Post education articles and resources for
parents on teacher websites or school social
media pages.
• Arrange parent workshops.
• Send home specific, step-by-step directions
for common assignments.
12. Establish
Differentiated
Communication
• Tell them your preferred method of contact.
• How would the parent prefer to be contacted?
(Vatterott, 2012)
13. Try to work with the parent’s schedule.
• Be open to meeting at a location other than
the school.
• Be reasonably flexible about a meeting time.
• Understand that parents can be involved –
even if you never see them face-to-face.
14. Did you know?
“A parent does not need to come to school to be
involved” (Payne, 2004, p. 2).
“There is no correlation between physical
presence of parents at school and student
achievement. The correlation is between
student achievement and parental involvement”
(Payne, 2004, p. 1).
15. Remember each parent is different.
"Teachers need to consider the types of
involvement that fit into parents' time
constraints, and what parents need to know to
(skills knowledge) to be involved“ (Paratore &
Edwards, 2011, p. 441).
16. References
Friedman, T. & Mandelbaum, M. (2011). That used to be us: How America fell behind
in the world it invented and how we can come back. New York, NY: Picador.
Musti-Rao, S., & Cartledge, G. (2004). Making home an advantage in the prevention of
reading failure: Strategies for collaborating with parents in urban schools.
Preventing School Failure, 48(4). 15-21.
Paratore, J. R., & Edwards, P. A. (2011). Parent-teacher partnerships that make a
difference in children's literacy achievement. In L. M. Morrow & L. B.
Gambrell (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction. (pp. 436-454). New
York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Payne, R. K. (2004). No Child Left Behind, part IV: Parent and community involvement.
Instructional Leader, 17(6). 1-2, 9-12.
Vatterott, C. (2012, October). "Coeducation": Negotiating a new parent-school
relationship. Poster session presented at the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development Fall Conference, Atlanta, GA.
