Late last year, (I’m a little behind on articles to read) the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran an article about teacher preparation and parent engagement. It points out that many education schools do not include coursework on how to interact effectively with parents and families as part of their regular certification program. Studies – and plenty of practitioners – suggest that parent engagement is a key part of improving student achievement, especially for students from economically disadvantaged families. So why hasn’t this become a priority.

On a personal note, I would’ve liked to have training on how to effectively interact and engage parents, especially as a first year teacher in a high poverty school. There were no courses covering this topic for my degree; there was no professional development offered once I started teaching either. Knowing how to reach out to parents actively is not always natural. Sure class newsletters and notes in students’ planners are a good start, but what do you do when you there is no response?

Teachers need training in best practice techniques to reach out to parents and other family members. Unfortunately, for some teachers the natural response is to write off these parents as not really caring about their child’s education, which of course is rarely true. Many parents had negative schooling experiences themselves. Just as teachers don’t know how to reach out effectively them, they (the parents) don’t know how to connect with the teachers.