EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION LEADS TO SUCCESS. Part I: Strengthening School Home Communication

Transcription

1 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION LEADS TO SUCCESS Superintendent s Parent Forum May 4, 2010 Part I: Strengthening School Home Communication Question #1 What can schools do to strengthen communication with their parents/guardians? Elementary Weekly folders Streamline communications by student Surveys asking parents what they want Color-coded communications principal one color/teachers one color Electronic communications Robocalls Webpage Year calendars units at a glance Make Infinite Campus stronger for elementary school information Strong leadership lead by example Improved system Better utilization of tools timely notice Have parents sign forms know that they have been received Phone calls Consistency Monthly calendar/newsletter School should provide a sense of community Provide leadership to do it Newsletters w/ space for personal comments-template Website- s Board/calendar in hallways Yard signs on lawn of school Regular Q&A meetings with principal, teachers and families Regular Communication about decision making, how the school is performing, etc. Offer options for communication, such as , website, hard copy, newsletter. Post information snapshot (2-way) in the school as well. A parent Portal in addition to the admin and teacher portals that might have a blog and other technological tools Conversation within the school - SIP, Communicate at beginning of school year of how communication will be published for the year capable or able?

2 Opening up computer lab for parents who need computer access Bigger to-do of the first day of school (Nashville example). In beginning find how best to communicate who is responsible for implementing plan admin, PTA is there DPS support/resource to make it happen? Parents put more time into their schools Some parents intimidated? Room parents to serve English and Spanish perhaps two in each. Have more consistency in sending information to parents through Thursday folders Also, follow-up with communication that has already been sent home Must be able to communicate with parents of all backgrounds and ethnicity Develop a school-wide calendar for multiple delivery methods Implement Infinite Campus at all schools Most schools have libraries with computers computer training for family? Family address tied to school. PTO get cell # s for texting Communicate better with ECE and early grades Post all website keep website updated! Hit multiple channels of communication , paper, web Increase Parent Engagement so they want and seek the communication Is there a district standard for communication or does each school have its own policy? Is there a stated policy on communication, privacy and how contact info is used? If so, how can we get this info out and when? Ability to group s (Cory uses Weekly newsletter Website with school info Allow access on computer at the school to get info and ability to print (central communications center) and visual information Newsletters from classroom teacher blast once a week newsletter blog-classroom-teacher have a computer available for parents to access autodialer leaves information on school activity for the current week on the home voice messaging system Auto-text messaging to cell phones on place a suggestion/communication box for

3 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION LEADS TO SUCCESS Superintendent s Parent Forum May 4, 2010 parents to anonymously submit ideas E-newsletter re: school schedule is sent every Friday Friday folders go home with kids Stickers on kids shirts notifying parents of early release Automated message to parents phone Parent s responsibility/accountability to reading Friday Folder info. Parents sign contract agreeing to read info from school more to save paper Middle School Odyssey sends out Thursday letter works for now Brown-get updates on units of inquiry don t get info on metrics parents don t know what to ask How to share CSC info Communicate on big issues/events and decisions on supporting school Not much info on what is going on in the District Only hear if there is a crisis about a child Help Parent understand how to help students improve Prefer to be called, as opposed to parent portal Personal calls something good/issues/problems o Staff to parents o Parents to staff o Parents to parents Different styles for different parents ( , phone, hardcopy) Thursday Folders all communication/hardcopy or More Rotocalls Parent Portal o Must be forward thinking-assignments due are just as important as assignments past o Must be up to date o Must allow kids to fix problems Timely High School Share systems that are working very well

4 Current calendars Phone calls Infinite Campus (as long as the teachers have it updated) Between Parents/Student/Counselor Starts with strong leadership = Principal Already in the plan Need someone assigned to specifically work on communication, paid or volunteer at each school Continue phone message and website Phone system needs to be upgraded return phone # to hear a recorded message and website Registration from phone, , hardcopy preferred method of communication Work on getting accurate s and updates School newspaper more geared for community Good news newsletter every quarter 1 page Type in s and have parents review s that are written down for activities Figure out what information parents want to know Ways of communication rotocalls, IC s, newsletters/newspapers In-school parent liaisons are extremely helpful and really get parents engaged A clear vision by leadership at school to help parents know what s expected of them; they are accessible in building Question #2 How should teachers communicate with parents and what kind of information would you like to receive? Elementary Welcomed by the school Principal involved Give more information about meetings Recognize and identify differences in cultures (related to communication) Outreach Kids planners to and from Wiki pages/blogspot-updated in a timely fashion Communication from teacher about individual progress in addition to October conference, mid and end of year conferences after benchmarks for example Syllabus type calendar given to parent at beginning of year Lesson Plans-daily so we can support our kids and have teacher accountability

5 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION LEADS TO SUCCESS Superintendent s Parent Forum May 4, 2010 Curriculum Homework School activities Supply lists Progress Reports more frequently Calendar sent home each trimester with students or via . Newsletters sent out monthly. Consistency in behavior policies. Newsletters Inconsistency from year to year follow policy in engagement standards Teacher newsletter Staple classroom news to front of homework When the student is not doing well in the classes or a class If the child does not seem happy or appears to have a problem Twice a month letter from teacher Include important dates and curriculum info Mandatory schedule for teacher communication across the school (2x month) Maybe visual communication center in classrooms Teacher conference 2x a year Teachers need to communicate the classroom activities, curriculum. Should inform on the current subjects high level, needs to know basis. Allows parents to know so they can assist their children in learning Parents should sign off on planner nightly, re: homework, assignments, etc. Classes have website page has connection to each teachers classroom Teachers have daily info on what s going on in classroom on a daily basis Middle School Update Parent Portal proactive not retrospective (takes parents out) Phone calls administrative (school days off, special event)

6 Good news call Things that need to be addressed (behavior, absences, missing assignments) High School Principal=open to ideas/communication from the parents open forum availability Accountability=signed forms from the parents Be more available for conferences outside of regularly set-times IC in real time Information given in multiple languages Part II: Parent Forum Communication What are the best practices for sharing information from the Forum with the principal and the parents in your school as well as soliciting ideas to bring back to the Forum?

7 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION LEADS TO SUCCESS Superintendent s Parent Forum May 4, 2010 Elementary Timely minutes so that they can be shared with PTA and CSC Ask principals to pass information on to teachers and other committees Ask principals to pass on questions from other parents and teachers to Forum Members to take back to Forum All school meetings Bridge gap between cultures Write up something to send in the weekly communications Face to face with parents Bribing kids to bring back a sign-off that parents have read the communication Talk Report-typed summary Power point Outreach Room Parents CSC/PTA meetings Forum Communications Box Ask on playground , send to yahoo group Standing agenda item for CSC, PTA,etc. Post handouts on bulletin board documents to principals Add content into school newsletter Post communications on the playground PTO meetings DPS responsibility Electronic format to post on website Communicate the conclusions Get input ahead of time so representatives can gather information Lets get engaged Weekly teacher communication Parent questionnaire about teacher-student relationship Non-standard communication posters, humor, etc.

8 Communicate thru CSC meetings Be more proactive with communicating with parents and teachers Talk individually with parents and principals Principal assistants to handle all communication Use electronic newsletter to distribute info link to the DPS website Partner with other schools sister schools, i.e. Steele is doing a book drive and looking to donate books to another school How do parent leaders develop the next cadre of parent leaders in their school? Maybe a good topic to discuss at future meeting What is the purpose/process that s expected? o Are we suppose to take agenda topics and solicit feedback that s difficult to do o Easier to bring info back to schools to share What is our role? Proposed flow of info: o Send agenda ahead of forum Liaison can post topic to school in (bulletin), solicit feedback or specific concerns prior to meeting o After forum Report back to school population, this is what was discussed Ask for parent feedback, create DPS website, or to collect responses, so this burden isn t on liaison and format/collection is consistent o Are we working on school or district issues? Clarify o Send forum minutes to principal and CSC, or key parents, as well as liaison Principal meeting, parent meeting and CSC meeting Can we ask for volunteers to help in communication? PTA meetings Meeting with principal (back and forth) Send notification to parents about who are the parent reps in their school Put summary into weekly newsletters DPS providing translators to schools to assist in info dissemination PTA mentoring have schools with established PTA s mentor schools who do not have PTA s. Mentor schools would be Cory, Slavens, UPark, Bromwell, Steele, etc. Scheduling a parent forum to provide the learned knowledge from the session o Invite the school o After school w/coffee and muffins

9 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION LEADS TO SUCCESS Superintendent s Parent Forum May 4, 2010 o Offer two sessions; am and pm o Meet with the principal 30 minutes before school starts o Include the teachers Have classroom parent to attend the Supt Forum then they can communicate with other parents Place this forum meeting date, time, location in the school newsletter inviting parents to attend Make parent forum member available to parents at PTSA/PTO/PTA, CSC and SLT meetings Parent should meet with principal to relay info from meeting. Principal should be on board and support forum parent in presenting info Connect Parent Forum meeting info from DPS website to each schools website. Middle School What will principals do with it? Hard to create dialogue not just disseminating information and get a better understanding of what is going on. Grassroots is important and need to know community and how to best communicate Build relationships between parents and teachers Have parent engagement person designated to help navigate how to solve issues Something mandatory for parents (assembly) Develop point person for each communication tech to implement communication plan (1 to text, 1 for , phone) Template for each school (to come from DPS central) on school communication template for newsletter, , website, parent portal updates, etc. that individual schools can modify to fit their communities. Parent Liaison every school needs one for communication, volunteer and outreach High School High School becomes more of a drop off service Possibly to keep parents involved, offer a point system for the child s GPA or within class points to encourage the parents to come Back-to-School/Report Card Pick-Up Then the child is excited about involving his/her parents Need staff person to enforce communication guidelines and follow-up. Then use parents and staff and student to contribute

10 Needs to be continued from year to year We need to talk to principals then have someone to continue to follow up Parents/Reps give information to students as well as principal and parents. Get students involved! Report back to principal, PTA, CSC Parents groups, student leadership Address cultural information when doing outreach to parents Engage parents in their neighborhood, especially with schools that have a lot of choiced students Use a newsletter format Have a forum this summer that has the students speaking about school culture and communication and support for teachers