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Permission granted by Alabama Department of Early Childhood
Education Dive
Clear parent communication, support essential for remote learning success
Shawna De La Rosa
Sept. 14, 2020
Dive Brief:
Nearly 50% of parents reported in a Canvas survey struggling to keep
their child engaged in remote schoolwork this spring, and 30% said
instructions from schools were unclear, according to an EdTech: Focus
on K-12 article offering best practices for educators to support
parents during remote learning.
CDW-G analyst Curtiss Strietelmeier, a former superintendent and
teacher, writes that schools should clearly document online learning
plans and identify how students will be taught, list frequently asked
questions, publish a list of important department contacts, and create
tutorial videos to help parents and students understand ed tech tools.
The article also suggests districts develop a plan for tackling IT
requests, including prioritizing certain tasks and designating roles,
and provide teachers with ed tech professional development so they can
help parents troubleshoot minor tech issues during remote learning.
Dive Insight:
While strong parent-teacher communication has always been important,
it’s now critical since many caregivers feel overwhelmed with the
demands of distance learning. Educators must be sure parents understand
what is expected of students so they can help support learning
strategies from home. One step many teachers have taken is implementing
virtual office hours so parents and students know when to reach out for
help.
The issue is even more complicated for parents of English language
learners. Many ELL families don’t have access to computers, in which
case some use phones to access remote learning. For these families,
educators might also have to consider using ed tech communication tools
with translation abilities, as many ELL parents may not yet be
proficient English speakers.
A consistent schedule will also help parents of ELL students keep their
children on track. Rather than bombarding ELL students and their
families with emails, for instance, Kentucky teacher Cheri Mann creates
a daily spreadsheet and walks students through lessons by phone. She
also sends links of assignments by phone to students without access to
computers.
Developing strong communication habits now will pay off for the
remainder of the year, middle school instructional coach Crystal
Frommert writes for Edutopia. Frommert sends each family a personalized
note to launch the year positively, a gesture she says will be
particularly helpful to build productive relationships with parents in
distance learning environments. In addition to a positive comment about
the student, she includes the best ways for parents to reach out to her
with concerns.
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