Parent, Family, and Community Engagement: What the Latest Research Tells Us about The Importance of Using Effective Communication Strategies

By Jessie Tobin & Kristen C. Wilcox

As leaders and educators enter a third pandemic-disrupted school year, making schools places where young people have all of their variable needs met is a challenge heightened by the need for clear communications about what is being done in our schools and why.

Navigating a changing landscape of pandemic uncertainty, social and political unrest, climate-induced stressors, and demands for racial justice in combination pose challenges for school staff’s communications with parents, family members, and community members.

In this blog, we discuss what the latest research tells us about parent, family, and community engagement efforts. We end by offering some recommended communication strategies.

Benefits of Parent, Family, and Community Relationship-Building Efforts

As we turn to the latest research on parent, family, and community relationships, a few key-takeaways are clear:

• Scholars suggest that race and class-based disparities in schools can be mitigated by leader and educator approaches that value what parents, caregivers, families, and the diverse cultures they represent, offer.
• Relationships between parents and educators have led to stronger classroom engagement among students as well as more culturally responsive teaching practices.
• Collaborative relationships between school staff and community members have yielded mutually beneficial results, particularly in rural areas, which may be facing challenges posed by population decline and increased economic precarity.

Challenges to Engaging Families during COVID-19: NYKids New Findings

Over the past two school years, several of the systems that contribute to positive youth development have weathered significant disruptions and have been forced to disconnect from one another. These changes have directly impacted educators.

According to preliminary findings from NYKids’ current COVID-19 educator response survey study…

• Some teachers have experienced higher levels of stress in relation to their interactions with parents in particular, noting that parents were sometimes too involved in their children’s virtual classes and at times highly critical of their instruction.
• Other teachers – many of whom care for children of their own – felt overly burdened as their roles as children’s caregivers expanded while parents juggled competing demands.
• Still other educators noted experiencing greater stress in response to insufficient mental health (as well as other) support being offered to vulnerable children from community-based providers.

Improving Parent, Family, and Community Communications: Three Strategies

Many of the above-outlined issues can be addressed, at least in part, by using recommended communication strategies that invite multi-way sharing of ideas and perspectives.

• Strategy 1: A viable practice that can be applied in the new school year is simple: it prompts educators to determine what parents’ preferred methods of communication (as there are now expanded options) are from the very start. This strategy of discovering from the “users” (i.e. child’s caregivers’) point of view as to the best way to communicate is particularly salient for those who may not speak English as their first language. When these preferred and “user-centered” methods are established, educators encourage two-way communication strategies for optimal results throughout the year.
• Strategy 2: Another tactic involves teachers visiting the homes of their students at the beginning of the year, asking what parents’ goals are for their children, and then scheduling follow-up meetings.
• Strategy 3: Lastly, educators can draw inspiration from technological tools that were successful during fully online learning. One resource, known as Seesaw, is an online platform that displays students’ digital portfolios, allows teachers to gauge learning processes, and invites families to virtually connect with this process.

For more strategies on engaging with parents and caregivers, as well as supporting educators amid pandemic-related challenges, visit NYKids’ resources page.

As always, we thank you for your interest in our research and we invite you to reach out to nykids@albany.edu for your improvement and research partnership needs.