Tips on How Teachers Can Maintain Parental Interest and Involvement

Here are some ideas for supporting ongoing parental interest and involvement that many early childhood educators have found to be successful:

Make the most of drop-off and pick-up activities. Even though these times can be tumultuous, don’t miss out on opportunities to engage interested parents. Greet with enthusiasm and when possible, acknowledge their arrival in some special way. For example, prompt the class by saying “look who’s here - let’s say hello to Sarah and Mr. Henry.”  This serves several purposes: it makes Sarah feel welcomed, makes her dad feel more at ease about Sarah’s her being there, and teaches (and models) the importance of greeting and acknowledging others.

Share a detail or two. When speaking with parents, be sure to add some specific information about their child’s progress. “She’s doing fine” is not nearly as satisfying to a parent as “You wouldn’t believe how much fun she had creating clay animals the other day!”

Host a variety of special events. Try to plan activities such as informal breakfasts, picnics, class trips and fairs featuring educational books and toys throughout the school year. Eliciting ideas for these events from parents may encourage them to be more involved in developing and planning. Be sure to consider whether parents have preferences about when during the day or evening these activities should take place.

Communicate frequently. Whether in person  (parent-teacher conferences,), through printed materials (flyers, newsletters, school bulletin boards) or online (school Web sites, group or individual e-mails) , try to make frequent contact with parents. And be sure to ask parents whether the information being shared is useful and how it can be improved, both in terms of content (e.g. about school activities, upcoming events) and format.

High expectations count. Help make parents aware of the school’s high standards for achievement, learning goals, curriculum and strategies for helping every child succeed. Don’t be reluctant to invite parents to become involved in decision-making and planning ways to help the school community meet these goals.

Celebrate achievements though work sampling. Create portfolios, scrap books, and/or other collections of children’s experiences in the classroom for parents to look at  whenever they visit the classroom.

Encourage peer networking among parents. A good way to start building parent networks is by creating a parent contact list .Be sure to include teachers, aides and other relevant school personnel. Eliciting help from a few parent volunteers may be especially helpful as this will encourage them to take ownership of this activity.

Identify and make useful resources available to parents. Some parents will need reassurance and guidance about behavior management. Some will have concerns about motor skills or language development. A few will have questions about signs of risk for learning disabilities, and others will want guidance about how to cultivate special skills and talents in their children. Try to be prepared to lead parents to these and other types of resources, either through a lending library in the school, through local agencies or via helpful resources on the Web.

Invite parents into the classroom. Extend frequent invitations for parents to visit their child’s school and spend time in the classroom. Whether parents are invited to be silent observers or to help with activities, these visits can be most helpful and enjoyable. (And think about how special a parent will feel receiving a note from the class thanking them for their visit!)

Next: Hard conversations