5 Recommendations for Modernizing Home/School Communication
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2. What is constitutes good home school/communication? Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication Digital Revolution Meaningful Assessments Changing Roll of the Teacher Global Relevance
3. Once or twice a year parent/teacher/conferences? Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication
4. Progress reports and report cards two times a year? Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication
5. Do we have an “old school” communication style? Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication
6. Classroom web sites, online gradebooks, email, robo-calls… Are these enough? Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication
7. Nope… The students in our schools and shortly the parents expect more. Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication
8. Communication is expected to be two-way and ubiquitous. Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication
9. Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication http://pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change/
10. Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication http://pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change/
11. Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication http://pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change/
12. The committee asks the Board to direct staff to create guidelines for home/school communication that account for new technologies and modern communication practices. Innovative Schools Committee 5 Recommendations Home/School Communication
Notas do Editor
One of the more tricky recommendations as many of us do not relate to the changes that technology has played in changing behaviors surrounding communication. Far reaching, especially in terms of education practice.
The last two slides are typical of traditional home to school communication. Missing would be face-to-face as when parents would come and pick up their children by coming up to the door. Some still do.
Many would consider these as the modern tools of communication. They are not. They are old school too. One big issue is that most of these tools are one-way communication tools. It could be argued that one way communication in today’s age, is not real communication and that communication requires a two way street. Many of us still hold on to old theories on home to school communication, as you know, we are preparing to open the parent portal so that parents and students can be up to date on grades and attendance via Aeries ABI. Many of the questions and comments I have been receiving from teachers are along the lines of, “what is the district requiring me to do” as opposed to thinking about how will this help parents and students to be informed, or what can parents help me to understand about their child. The underlying theme here is actually one that needs to be addressed in terms of the new communication systems technology is promoting.
When our innovation committee was the largest, the loudest topic was that regarding home/school communication. (As a side note, the conversations revolved around “old school” tools which makes sense to the generation of adults with children now, but still had the same challenges we’ve never really addressed.)
The following slides will provide some back up…
When we are talking about communication processes and parents, we are essentially talking about the millennial generation, those between 18-29.
Notice the number of millennials with profiles on a social networking site. You can pretty much bank on the fact that all millennials and younger will have a social networking profile. Notice too that their priorities are not much different from those of our own or older generations. Being a good parent ranks at the top of their priority list. Being a good parent translates into being well connected to their children’s school.
This last slide is a little tongue-in-cheek, but it is the truth. One thing that I did not share, is the fact that this generation is the first generation that has been always connected; they are also the first generation of what I’ll call the “maker-generation.” They want to and can readily contribute to the things that they believe are important to them. They are not just reading or watching, they are contributing. What does that mean for schools and communication?
Answering the questions as to what we expect of our schools, teachers, and administrators? How do those expectations fit within the structures that we have created?