What Parents Want: Innovative Ways to Improve Communication and Build Trust in Schools

Family engagement is often named as a core component of strong public schools and a key to helping children succeed. But what does engagement really mean? Too often, school leaders assume that if they send notices in folders and invite parents to school events, they have checked the box on family engagement, not realizing that they are missing opportunities to listen to parents and caregivers and act on their feedback about what would truly improve relationships and help students thrive.

On Tuesday, June 24, school and community leaders will have a chance to learn about three prototypes for communication and relationship-building that are already improving the dynamics between schools and parents. For the past nine months, three elementary schools in the southwestern Pennsylvania area have been designing new approaches in partnership with Parents as Allies and the Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX). They have designed and tested simple, flexible, and inexpensive ways to listen to parents, incorporate their feedback—including feedback from those not typically available for after school meetings or events—and establish new communication channels for building trust and social capital for the whole school community. (See our new policy brief and blog post with specifics on the tools and techniques they employed.)

Join us for our fourth LSX Summit and a conversation with this latest cohort of LSX fellows whose expertise spans from running schools to applying skills of journalism, research, tech development, publishing, and social entrepreneurship to helping kids thrive. Also tap into a new video and toolkit on how to make this real in your community. Engaging parents as essential partners in their child’s success has been a longtime pillar of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, and this event highlights a swath of new communications tools and user-tested approaches that can be borrowed and adapted by school and community leaders around the country.

Speakers:

• Susana Beltrán-Grimm, LSX Fellow and Assistant Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology and Education at Portland State University
• Tara García Mathewson, LSX Fellow and investigative education reporter for CalMatters and The Markup
• Tabitha Marino, LSX Fellow and Assistant Superintendent, New Castle School District (Pennsylvania)
• Scott Miller, LSX Fellow and Principal, Avonworth Primary Center (K-2) (Pennsylvania)
• Miroslava Rodríguez, LSX Fellow and co-founder of Erandi Aprende, a bilingual STEM education venture
• Erica Slobodnik, LSX Fellow and Principal at Duquesne City Elementary School (Pennsylvania)
• Sheila R. Thomas, LSX Fellow and founder of Thomas Educational Consulting and Training
• Yu-Ling Cheng, Director of Kidsburgh and Parents as Allies in Pennsylvania
• Lisa Guernsey, Co-Founder of LSX and Senior Director of Education Policy at New America (Moderator)

With thanks to the Jacobs Foundation and the Grable Foundation for their support of this class of LSX Fellows.