Tips and Tricks for Website Management
Parent Engagement
Michelle Vroom's Blog Page
Surefire Ways to Engage Parents
Posted 12/4/2013 at 2:00:44 PM by Michelle Vroom [System User]
The plethora of communication tools for schools continues to expand. The challenge isn't getting the word out, it is accomplishing the purpose of your message. Please see some examples below that other school districts follow in addition to the ones listed above.
Face-to face contact is still the most effective for important issues!
- Lunch with a Superintendent in person or as a webinar for an interactive experience through streaming video.
- Standing at the bus line and catching up with parents
- Superintendent, teachers to get out of school and interact with parents
- Show up at sporting events and converse with parents.
- Personal invitations to board meetings and also provide streaming live video feeds for parent and grandparents that can not get out of the house.
- Invitations to student presentations where you give your input as well as the teacher.
- Open assemblies up to family members and show a live streaming feed of it.
- Set up focus groups/associations
- Show up and provide input at Parent Teacher Associations (PTA)
- Periodically provide parent satisfaction surveys to hear what motivates them.
- Ask teachers to set up parent homework help groups and interact with parents in attendance.
- Collaboration and parent webinars for volunteering for example
- Record your Superintendent's message
- When parents come into school, take the opportunity to give them a tour and it also gives you time to get to know them and their relationship with their child/children.
- Create a Twitter account and start tweeting facts about district, words of encouragement and your views.
If you can’t make face-to-face contact with everyone, try to reach others with a video. Putting a face to a voice is great and it makes it more personal. Make it positive so you are not just showing your presence when something negative has to be shared!