How can your school district strengthen family engagement and improve attendance -- without adding costs to your budget?
During a special webinar, sponsored by ClassDojo and hosted by Tech & Learning’s Content and Brand Director Christine Weiser, the focus was on transforming school culture through meaningful family connections. Lorri Hobson, former Director of ADM/Attendance for Cleveland Metropolitan School District in Ohio and Director of Productive Development at Attendance Works, and Chad Stevens, Head of K-12 Engagement at ClassDojo, walked attendees through a simple, effective five-step process that has proven to improve interactions with families and address attendance challenges.
Watch the webinar HERE for free on demand
Key Takeaways
The webinar focused on the five-step "caring conversations" process:
1. Learn
Before initiating communication, learn something positive about the student's talents or skills. “The learning should entail something that speaks to the child's talents, their skills, something that they do really well,” said Hobson.
Parents often have valuable insights about their children and should be seen as partners in the education process.
2. Share
Share this positive information with the family early in the conversation. By starting with positive feedback, Hobson said that families who may have negative preconceptions about school communications can be disarmed.
3. Inform
Inform the family about the reason for the call or communication. “At the discussion phase, you want to share what the challenges are, why you're calling, and what you're committed to do,” Hobson said. “And this is an opportunity to glean and learn from the parent or caregiver.
4. Discuss
Engage in a two-way conversation, discussing challenges and solutions and actively listening to the parent's perspective.
“Don't forget, our parents and caregivers know their children in a special way, what motivates them, what discourages them, what colors they like, what's their favorite genre of music,” said Hobson. “And I think it's so important that when we have conversations with parents that we use that time to maximize our learning.”
Hobson said that when dealing with angry parents, it’s good practice to let them vent, acknowledge their feelings, and then offer to continue the conversation at a better time or transfer them to someone who can help.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of apology for past negative experiences, or the importance of "warm transfers" when directing parents to other school staff.
5. Plan
Arrive at a collaborative plan of action with agreed-upon commitments from both the school and the family.
“We don't push for teachers or educators to make commitments beyond their scope or beyond their locus of control,” said Hobson. “So when you arrive at a plan, you're agreeing on what's within your purview to achieve or accomplish. The same should be true for parents. We're not asking them to make commitments beyond their parental authority because the likelihood of that plan being successful is slim.”
Documenting the plan and following up is crucial for building trust.
Using ClassDojo's New Free District Platform to Scale These Tips
Hobson noted that the new free ClassDojo For Districts platform can be used to scale this advice.
“It's very easy to use,” said Stevens. “It's got an amazing user interface, and so you can really scale it extremely rapidly to bring every school community together with the same ease, joy, and positivity that ClassDojo brings into the classrooms. We just try to keep it simple and powerful, the same things you're used to.”
In addition to driving deeper family engagement with instant two-way family communication, Stevens also noted ClassDojo's data privacy measures, assuring participants that the platform is funded through optional premium services and adheres to strict security and compliance standards.
“Now districts and schools and teachers can all communicate with families in the same place,” said Stevens. “We know there's been a lot of different tools out there for communication. We have schools today sending district-wide announcements, updates, celebrations, whatever you need.”
Stevens also pointed out ClassDojo's high school mode and the company’s efforts to address the unique communication needs of older students.
In closing, Hobson advised educators to be intentional about building productive relationships and to embrace change by implementing this simple process to improve parent engagement.
