Adolescent+Experience

=School & Family Communications=

**What is a School and Community Partnership**

 * An attempt at connecting the home life of students and involving their parents in order to enhance the learning capacity and quality of students.
 * It intends to link parents with teachers, administrators, and the school in general.
 * Many methods must be taken to contact parents, paying mind to the various needs of the school community.
 * Involves the outside community to enhance the quality of instruction
 * Collaborate with colleges, universities, civic organizations, local businesses, etc. in order to enrich the school with community resources.

Why Is It Important?

 * Studies show that families play a large role in the child's learning, development, and success in school in all grades.
 * While families may be active partners in early education years, fewer families remain active when the child enters middle school. As a result, some parents may lack a proper understanding of their child's school and what the child is experiencing (the changes of adolescence, relationships in school, etc.).
 * More progress can be made with a student in class if there is assistance in the home.
 * Parents back up what teachers are saying or doing in school. This forces the student to continue their learning
 * Students who know their parents care could be more inclined to care as well.
 * Imagine what it might be like if your parents didn't care about school, would you?


 * Not only is it important for the parents to understand the needs for their children, but it is also important for schools to be able to obtain information to better understand the families' cultures and goals for their kids.
 * Small workshops/meetings should be conducted to clearly summarize important information. Opportunities should be given to parents to exchange their own ideas regarding different topics that effect their children.
 * Parents who cannot attend meetings should have a way of obtaining this information.
 * Parental involvement is similar to adding teammates to your team. It doesn't hurt to have a parent advocating for the goals of the school and the teacher while the student is at home.
 * Not all parents are invested in their children's education. It is important to pay special attention to students who have little parental support. Often a school will be the only support some students get. The parents of these students must be shown that their child's education is important.

Communicating
Effective Methods of communication [|Tips for Communicating with Parents] [|Tips for Parents communicating with schools]
 * 1) Most importantly, know the population of parents. If you work in an affluent district, you may have to go through different mediums than you would a poorer district.
 * 2) Communicate with families about school programs and student progress via school-to-home and home-to-school contacts.
 * 3) //Are we effectively using?.//.... Notices? Memos? Conferences? Newsletters? Report cards? Phone messaging system? Emails? etc. to get in touch with the families?
 * 4) Are we provide clear info on how to interpret our reports card grades and how to improve grades??
 * 5) //We also need to organize and establish effective communication channels to dessiminate info in an accurate & timely manner, especially in the areas that are not receiving proper attention.// Where communication channels exist, how 'two-way' are they? Can families easily contact or respond to us as teachers?
 * Sending letters home. (Everyone has a mailing address)
 * Emailing parents when something noteworthy happens.
 * Calling home for students performance, both good and bad.
 * Creating workshops for parents and teachers.
 * Parent-Student-Teacher conferences.
 * Regular reporting of student progress and behavior (ex. Newsletter).

**Challenges We Face**

 * 1) Make our communications clear and understandable for ALL families.
 * 2) Develop effective 2-way channels. With newsletters, include respond/reply forms.
 * 3) Encourage students understand and participate in all school-family-community partnerships.
 * 4) Ensuring parents are communicated to even if they cannot attend meetings.

media type="youtube" key="IjldBWDBdP8" height="344" width="425"

Parent Involvement
media type="youtube" key="UlXFz-Q2l5U" height="344" width="425"