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Building strong, healthy relationships with caregivers is one of the most powerful things you can do as an educator to support your students’ learning. In fact, studies show that parental involvement can lead to students earning higher grades, attending school more regularly, and participating regularly — giving rise to more motivation in students.
Whether it’s a quick conversation, a thoughtful comment in a student’s report card, or a scheduled parent-teacher conference, every check-in is one more block toward building a strong bridge between home and school. To make building this connection even easier, we’ve put together a simple checklist of ways to connect with caregivers and keep those lines of communication open all year.
Checklist for Checking In
By Team TPT
Grades: Any
This interactive, step-by-step checklist from TPT can help you open the lines of communication with parents and caregivers from day one.
1. Try to contact every caregiver
Consistent effort goes a long way on the road to building trust. Make sure you try to communicate with all caregivers to ensure that no student’s family feels left out. Keep a contact log with updated addresses, emails, and phone numbers to track your outreach.
2. Send home a survey
Start the year by asking families what you should know about their child. You can use a Google form, or for families without the internet, you can offer alternative ways for them to respond, such as snail mail, texts, or a phone call. The responses should give you some valuable insights into their strengths, growth areas, and interests.
3. Keep communications simple
Caregivers are often just as busy as teachers! As much as possible, keep your communication simple, organized, and on a regular schedule.
4. Make yourself accessible to families
Let families know upfront that you’re open to feedback and to talking to them. If English is not their first language, try to ensure they receive translated instructions.
5. Set office hours
You can’t be available 24/7 — nor should you try to be — so it’s important to set healthy boundaries about when you will respond and when you won’t. Make it clear to parents when you have “office hours” and are readily available to chat.
6. Share about yourself
Help parents put a face to the name by creating a short “all about me” video or letter to send to families or caregivers. Whichever you choose, keep it short and sweet.
7. Get creative
Once you’ve tackled a basic foundation of communication, get a little creative with your outreach. Maybe you can create a themed monthly newsletter or an online “meet the teacher” call. The goal throughout the year should be to make your parent-teacher communication informative and engaging.
Find more ideas to become partners in learning
While communicating with parents can feel daunting on top of everything else you have on your plate, these relationships are invaluable for parents, teachers, and students. Discover more parent-teacher communication resources on TPT.