This scenario plays out for me every single school year. Before I talk with parents, I make it explicit to them that I would like their child to be present during the meeting. In my experience, when the child isn’t there, the whole broken telephone slash “Mr. Morris said this…” doesn’t quite have the same impact as a parole-board style hearing where the convict must be present to account for his transgressions. Parents want to hear about the good stuff, but it seems like they mostly want to hear about the bad shit; the things their child can improve on. Teachers are all too ready to elaborate on how a child can go from good to perfect. Thus, the parent-teacher interview is a great time for simply reiterating to a child that he or she needs to simply work harder. When the child is there, that message is driven home, and everyone, including said student, benefits from this exchange.

But these parent-teacher interviews only happen once or twice a year. Meeting a parent two times over a period that lasts ten months is like skipping a pebble down a pond. You may get a few positive bounces above water, but eventually the rock succumbs to gravity.

The solution to this challenge, then, seems laid out plain in front of us. Keep that rock bouncing above water. More parent-teacher interviews.

Education is meant to serve students. Students get served when both parents and teachers are in communication and work together towards the same means. Notes in the agenda sent home to parents and phone calls made make an impact. But that face time with parent, teacher and über conscious student, all happening in the classroom where the student frequents day in and day out, go the extra mile. Parent-teacher interviews are a timetabling and burdensome challenge for all involved, but if we had a few more, that rock might continue to skip across the whole damn pond.

After the first month of school is a ripe time for teachers to meet with parents. Teachers, at that point, have a “feel” for their students’ attitudes, abilities, and capacity to excel academically and by other means. More importantly, an interview before that first report card establishes a culture of parent-teacher kinship and dual responsibility for a child’s welfare. An interview before a first report card fosters that school is meant to provide growth and progression, and not a cold verdict and sentencing. After the first report card is another opportune time to foster the skipping of the rock. The child, who is the focal point of education, has had one interview where strengths and areas for improvement were discussed and subsequently has been assessed on her “cascade to excellence” or lack of progression. And finally, at least two more interviews through the mid-point and second half of the school year. With the parent-teacher interaction maintaining a consistent connection, students would be hard-pressed to fall back into habits that are detrimental to their success.

A lot of talk around education these days pertains to parent engagement and how to get parents on par with what is happening inside the classrooms of their children. In order to bridge that gap between the teacher and the parent, we must forge pathways that foster student accountability. Perhaps subtracting a few days of “instructional time” to increase parent-teacher interaction is the path to ensuring that both parents and teachers are on the same page in ensuring that a child, who is the focal point of education, is progressing, accountable and aware that school and home are intricately connected and a part of their success as future productive citizens in society.

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Creating a nurturing relationship between teachers and parents can be realized when both parties wholeheartedly understand that the student comes first. Yes, it sounds cliché but when teachers have to instruct, manage and negotiate with 30 students on a daily basis, the priority of creating a bridge between teachers and parents gets lost. Ideally, I should have called the parents of each of my 28 students at some point during the first two weeks of school. I should have began to build parent engagement based on fostering a fruitful and empowering relationship that would ultimately benefit each of my students. But I didn’t. The reason I didn’t was because I was busy dealing with creating lesson plans, teaching students and fostering my ideal classroom environment. That was important, but I need to do better – we all need to do better.

Waiting until a student does something they are not supposed to do is the wrong first step in the path to parent engagement. Establishing a relationship, like the ones teachers build with students, should be key to the teaching practice. I commend those teachers who have told me they took time out of their first days to make a connection with parents. We need more teachers that see parent engagement as a necessity.

Creating a relationship with parents is good on two major fronts. Firstly, it effectively fosters parent engagement in students’ learning. Teachers are busy, and many teacher-cynics lump portions of student deficits on parents. “Why aren’t they taught this at home?” is a common statement heard in staffrooms when discussing students who lack either academic fortitude or cultural competency. “We’re here to teach them curriculum, not basic manners and basic common sense” is another overused and empty phrase heard often. This mentality implies that teachers are the only ones busy with educating youth. But we fail to acknowledge that parents are burdened and busy with their own lives. Keeping up with your own child’s scholastic direction is preached more than practiced, indeed.

There are some practical solutions to solving the problem of parent engagement. First, start with establishing time. Whether it is through written correspondence; letters in the agenda or emails, teachers should be diligent in providing time to communicate with parents. Secondly, teachers should take the initiative. Contact parents early in order to establish that “open door” policy with them. This creates an aura that you are available to chat about anything – academics or social issues. Lastly, teachers need to remember that a phone call or an email doesn’t always have to pertain to academics. Talk to parents about things that their child has a knack for. This last one requires teachers to observe students beyond the limiting scope of grades, assignments and assessments. If teachers can see their students as humans, it will go a long way in establishing parent engagement.

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