Families play a crucial role in their children’s academic success. Effective communication with parents in schools can enhance the learning process by facilitating family involvement and promoting engagement.
At Ravenna, we recognize the importance of communication in educational institutions and its impact on the school-teacher-family relationship. We also recognize the challenges when communicating with families, such as limited school resources, language and cultural differences, technological barriers, and busy schedules.
The following tips can help schools improve communications with families.
1. Find the Preferred Communication Method
While communicating verbally, especially when engaging in face-to-face meetings, is generally the most effective method, it isn’t necessarily the most practical or feasible. Parents who work long hours may prefer to correspond with teachers and administrators via email, which allows them to sit down and gather their thoughts when they have free time. Families with a native language other than English may also feel more comfortable using electronic communications.
2. Clarify Expectations Early
The student enrollment and registration period provide an opportunity for schools to establish a solid communication foundation with families. You can share your expectations of what success looks like at your educational institutions and offer guidance regarding how families can become more involved in the learning process.
You can also make families aware of the various online and offline resources and events that enable families to share feedback about their experiences with your school.
3. Encourage Parents to Support the Learning Experience
Engaged families want to contribute to their children’s academic growth. Schools can help by supplying resources to families, enabling them to assist in the educational process. For example, you can provide them with a list of websites containing information about improving their child’s study or test preparation skills.
4. Be Flexible
Communicating between families and schools isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” proposition. You may need to establish an individualized system for some families, especially those that are homeless or change addresses frequently. These situations often require a more creative approach to ensure the communication lines remain open.
Contact Ravenna to Learn More
Ravenna Solutions offers highly configurable admissions and enrollment customer relationship management (CRM) software that gives your school a faster, more efficient way to process applications. Implementing our software can free up more time to focus on communicating with families.
Request a software demo today or speak with a team member to learn more.
