97% of principals and teachers agree that families and educators should be equal partners in supporting student learning
Scholastic has released a principal and teacher report resulting from a survey of 4700+ schools. The entire report can be found here. It does an excellent job of covering topics ranging from community and family engagement to professional development to the state of books at home.
The findings of the family engagement topics come as no surprise as we hear similar sentiment from educators daily. The question is, what is being done to address these views and needs?
87% of teacher and principals believe ongoing two-way communication with families is the most important activity in engaging families
Technology can play a key role in providing two-way communication in native language. At LivingTree we believe that technology can provide the perfect foundation to build partnership that can become entrenched through in person events and face to face conversation. Moving away from single direction information flow to platforms that encourage two way conversation should be part of planning conversations this spring. Mobile access and automatic translation should be part of the evaluation metrics to ensure every family is included.
Addressing two way conversation is not the only need that is top of mind for educators. Principals and teachers alike indicate that they need help and would like training and strategies for working with families.
74% of principals and teachers say they need help with family engagement
59% of principals and 47% of teachers are looking for strategies for working with families
Luckily there are many resources available for training and information. We featured some of our favorites on our blog in Fall 2016 (all FREE resources):
We’re also excited to share that Livingtree provides family engagement professional development with tailored courses for teachers, leaders, and family ambassadors. We would love to share best practices and help you put together a plan that is perfect for your district’s goals and culture. It promises to be an ‘engaging’ conversation!