Communicating with Families in a Standards-Based Class

One of the mistakes we made early on in our transition to standards-based grading and reporting was our communication with parents. Because we understood our students’ learning so much better than we had in the past, we assumed that reporting that learning to parents would not only help them understand the benefits of a standards-based system, but also see that we were intentionally addressing both strengths and struggles. So after a quarter of great learning and tracking and assessing, we sent detailed standards-based reports home with a key and a brief explanation. We waited for the praise to roll in.

What we forgot, however, was that most parents really want one thing above all else. They want to know we like their kids. Yes, most also want to know if they are being decent human beings, if they are getting their work done, where they are struggling, and where they are excelling, but if we know their kids well enough to appreciate the quirks, understand the contradictions, and ultimately enjoy the people they have raised, then parents are happy. Our mistake was showing that we knew their students academically, without taking the time to show we knew--and liked--them as people as well.

Having a comprehensive communication plan is vital in all classrooms, but maybe even more so as we transition to standards-based learning. The shift to a completely new method of teaching and grading can be a difficult change for students and parents, and forgetting to communicate what we often do best--which is getting to know our students--can make the transition even harder. Initially, tracking and reporting learning can take a lot of time for teachers, particularly if they are learning a new grade book tool or using technology differently for the first time; the idea of communicating in addition to standards-based reporting can cause stress and force teachers to steal time from other important tasks such as planning or assessing. Even so, it’s an essential part of the transition that can make the difference between class- and school-wide implementation success or failure.

In order to help teachers and schools avoid (or at least lessen) this aspect of implementation dip, we gathered suggestions and ideas we have seen teachers in our district use to successfully--and efficiently--build and maintain effective communication plans in a standards-based class.

The Plan: A comprehensive classroom communication plan has multiple purposes, which at times overlap. We have separated them here, but you’ll notice that some of the strategies cross parts, making the communication more efficient. Depending on your teaching situation and the number of students, you may need to adjust ideas to fit your context, and you and your colleagues may have other tried and true strategies to add to these lists.

Personal Connections: Parents want to know you care about their kid. This means occasional communications about specific, personal interactions, needs, successes, or other relevant updates.

• Personal emails: One teacher takes 20 minutes every Friday afternoon to send personal emails. She keeps a list of students and checks off when she emails their families. The emails are short and positive--one nice thing that the student did that week. She can usually get through 10 students each week, though says she tries to send one positive email to each family within the first month.
• Postcards or notes home: Like the emails, this is a great way to quickly connect. One teacher gets a set of mailing labels printed at the beginning of the year and pre-labels postcards (generic ones that the school prints). She keeps these next to her computer and tries to send one a day.
• Parent conferences: This is a common way to make personal connections, and teachers we talked to recommended always starting and ending the conferences with positive, personal stories or observations.
• Individual comments on standards-based reports (at end of unit, in the portal, or at reporting time): Most standards-based grading and reporting tools allow teachers to enter individual comments. While this can take extra time, a few positive and personal words can go a long way to showing parents you know their kids and care about their success.

Curriculum: Parents want to know what you’re doing in class. Letting them know the content you are using to practice important skills can help them feel connected to their kids, and can also give them ideas for conversations at home. If your standards are mostly skill-based, then communicating about content becomes even more important, as your reporting system may not include the rich, engaging choices you and the students are making about content. Some parents are really interested in the curriculum, while others just want to know that there is one, so it’s important to find a balance--consider a system that provides layers of detail that parents can access if they choose.

• Class and/or team blogs or websites: While it can be time-consuming to keep up a blog or website, many teachers are turning to their students to help, providing a relevant anchor task and another way to work on skills and collaboration. One teacher assigns small writing teams to the task each week, providing guidelines for updates, a chance to include photos, and practice at asking and responding to questions. Another updates his website each unit, providing detailed descriptions of what they will be studying, links to additional videos and related TED talks, and a calendar of summative assessments. In order to ensure the parents see these updates, he sends a group email to the parents.
• Google classroom or other LMS (learning management system): Many teachers use an LMS to organize tasks and assignments for students, and these can be used with parents as well. Parents can have access to their students’ sites, and some teachers set up views for parents within the system as well.
• Common blurb on top of standards-based reports: Most reporting tools allow teachers to write and post a common message for parents and families. This is an efficient way to provide an overview of the curriculum, but should not take the place of more detailed communication for parents who want it.
• Weekly emails from students to parents: This is one of our favorites, and can be used for a variety of purposes. One team of teachers has their students write to their families every Friday. They carve out 30 minutes to reflect on the week in a variety of categories, including content, habits, skills, and questions. The students cc their home-room teachers, and the teachers have set up the emails to go directly into a folder (so they don’t fill up their inboxes!).  The expectation is that this is communication between student and family, but the teachers can monitor what’s being communicated if necessary. Parents have loved this, and often reply to their kids (parents are told that teachers will not reply to these emails!).

Habits and Behaviors: Parents want to know their kid is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and what to do (or what you’re doing) if they’re not. So many parents get in the habit of checking online portals for completion, which can cause misunderstandings and stress when they are not accurate or updated regularly. Constant checking like this can lead to a much greater focus on compliance than on learning, so it’s important to develop a system that allows accountability and provides necessary information without distracting from what is most important.

• Weekly emails from students to parents: Getting students to keep track of their own work completion can help them practice positive executive functioning skills. Having students include a to-do list in their weekly email keeps parents informed and prevents having to communicate this in other ways. Early in the year, this may require more organization on the teacher’s part (ensuring the lists are accurate!), but as time goes on, there will only be a handful of students who need continued guidance (and this is ok--students’ executive functioning skills develop at different rates through adolescence). These emails are also a great place to ask students to reflect on their behaviors or habits for the week--providing guiding questions can be helpful. One teacher we know also has a few email templates for students who need more structure, with questions already entered.
• Weekly contact from core teachers: Teachers who work on a team can collaborate on this type of communication. One team we work with has 4 teachers and 80 middle school students. They meet once a week to formally talk about students anyway, and during this time they create a google doc list of any significant habits/behaviors or missing work issues that need to be communicated to parents. The core teacher (homeroom teacher) then writes emails home to the students on their list that need communication. They found this system to be effective, and quickly realized that they did not need to email home every time a student missed an assignment--they were able to coordinate with each other to use school time to address most issues, and those that couldn’t be resolved could then be communicated.
• Summary habits scores in standards-based reports: It’s the teacher’s job to improve problem habits and behaviors, not just to report them, so we strongly suggest using the formal reporting system for summative habit scores only--and combining this with personal comments and follow up communication as necessary.

Learning: Finally, parents do also want to know how their kid is progressing in skills--where they excel and where they struggle. Some want to know this so they can help at home, some want to know what questions to ask, and others want to make sure their children are progressing as expected. Teachers in standards-based classrooms have LOTS of information about learning to share, and we caution you to work with families to determine the level of information that is most useful and desired. The level of detail we need as teachers is not always what parents need or want, and can lead to overload, frustration, and disconnection.

• Unit and/or marking period reports: During these formal reporting periods, teachers will have the most accurate, summative data about the learning targets to report. It’s important to let parents and students know that while summative, these current levels of achievement are just that, current. They can change as the learning changes. Make sure there is a simple key with explanations of what they will see, as well as any other contextual information that is relevant to the report. If sending a standards-based report home for the first time, we highly recommend an email or letter prior to receiving it, and an opportunity for questions or feedback after receiving it.
• Portal: Many standards-based grading tools offer a portal, where parents and students can check their progress and achievement whenever they want. This can be confusing to parents new to standards-based grading, particularly if you previously had a portal based on completion and points. Be sure to clearly communicate to parents and students about what will be updated and when, how it’s different than an assignment-based portal, and all of the other ways they have to see how their students are doing in your class.

There is no single tool that can quickly and comprehensively communicate all of the above purposes at the same time, and wishing that the standards-based grade book tool could take care of it all will just lead to frustration for everyone. Developing new and effective ways to communicate with our families during the transition to a standards-based system may be a bit more time consuming initially, but making sure that families feel included during the changes will provide the safety and trust we all need to improve learning.

Here is a template with an example of a full communication plan for a team. Feel free to use as is or adapt for your needs!

Have other strategies you use to build relationships and communicate for a variety of purposes? Let us know!