How to Make Parent Engagement Meaningful
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Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Families & the Community Opinion

How to Make Parent Engagement Meaningful

By Larry Ferlazzo — July 19, 2022 4 min read
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Feodora Chiosea/iStock/Getty
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Larry Ferlazzo
Opinion Contributor,  Education Week
Larry Ferlazzo is an English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif.

During the summer, I am sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past 11 years. You can see all those collections from the first 10 years here.

Today’s theme is Parent Engagement.

You can see the list following this excerpt from one of the posts:

parentinvolvement

1. Parents Are Among Teachers’ Best Assets

Don’t view parents as obstacles. See them as partners to enhance student learning. Read more.

2. Lessons Teachers Have Learned From Students’ Families

Reaching students comes easier if teachers see themselves as equal partners with families. Read more.

3. Spanish-Language Infographic: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Educator Xatli Stox translates into Spanish Lindsay Kuhl’s infographic on helping parents support distance learning. Read more.

4. Spanish-Language Visualization: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Educators Wendi Pillars and Xatli Stox collaborate to create a Spanish-language version of Wendi’s original visualization of “7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning.” Read more.

5. Visualization of ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Teacher Wendi Pillars shares a visual illustration of the points made in Larry Ferlazzo’s video “7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning.” Read more.

6. Infographic: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Teacher Lindsay Kuhl shares a visual illustration of the points made in Larry Ferlazzo’s video “7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning.” Read more.

7. Video: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Larry Ferlazzo speaks directly to parents and offers seven tips for supporting their children’s learning journey during the school closure crisis. Read more.

8. Don’t Treat Parent-Teacher Conferences ‘Like Trips to the Dentist’

Beth Brady, Carol Pelletier Radford, Rich Czyz, Robert Ward, Jennifer Abrams, and Barbara R. Blackburn share their thoughts on teachers meeting with parents. Read more.

9. The Student’s Role in Parent-Teacher Conferences

Jenny Edwards, Beth Gotcher, Sherri Wilson, Katy Ridnouer, Ryan Huels, Tara Brown, and Sarah Thomas share their reflections on parent-teacher conferences. Read more.

10. Strategies for Effective Parent-Teacher Conferences

Today’s post highlights suggestions from Luz Santana, Leticia Skae, Mandi White, Tara Dale, Sanée Bell, PJ Caposey, and Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez about increasing the effectiveness of parent-teacher conferences. Read more.

11. Building Relationships With Families of ELLs

Rusul Alrubail (who acted as “guest host” for this post), Anna Bartosik, Jordan Lanfair, Anabel Gonzalez, Karen Nemeth, and Judie Haynes offer suggestions on how to engage with parents of English-language learners. Read more.

12. ‘Successful Schools Solicit’ Family Engagement

Debbie Silver, Jenny Edwards, Sean Slade, Judy Bradbury, and Nadja N. Reilly provide their commentaries on family engagement and schools. Read more.

13. Seeing Families as ‘Co-Creators’ of Our Schools

Jennifer Orr, Shane Safir, Karen L. Mapp, Allen Mendler, Mary Tedrow, and Patricia Vitale-Reilly share their suggestions on how educators can engage families. Read more.

14. Listening to Parents With Our Heads and Hearts

Katy Ridnouer, Janice Fialka, and Joe Mazza provide their guest responses. Read more.

15. Parent Engagement Requires ‘Trust, Not Blame’

Jane Baskwill, Julia Thompson, and Bryon V. Garrett share their thoughts. Read more.

16. Parents Can Teach Educators ‘Lessons About Learning and Life’

This post features contributions from Catherine Compton-Lilly, Sherrel Bergmann, Judith Brough, and Maurice J. Elias. Read more.

17. Keys to Parent Engagement—Relationships, Climate, Communication

This post highlights responses from Darcy Hutchins and Mai Xi Lee, along with many readers’ comments. Read more.

18. Embracing & Celebrating Diverse Families

Two author/educators, Cindi Rigsbee and Darcy J. Hutchins, provide guest responses in this post, which includes contributions from readers. Read more.

19. The Difference Between Parent ‘Involvement’ & Parent ‘Engagement’

I describe the differences between the two models, and author Katy Ridnouer and Assistant Principal Mai Xi Lee also contribute their thoughts. Read more.

20. Ways to Build Trust Between Parents & Teachers—Part One

Betsy Landers, National PTA president, and Carrie Rose, executive director of the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project, provide guest responses in this post. Read more.

21. A Conversation About Building Trust Between Parents & Teachers

Superintendent and author Steve Constantino and Principal Joe Mazza engage in a conversation about parent engagement. Read more.

Explore other thematic posts:

Related Tags:
Parents Opinion

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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