Parent Communication: TO vs WITH
We must understand the difference bewtween communicating To and communicating WITH. Photo from http://bit.ly/pvuhJa
As our school moves to attempt to add another stream of communication to parents via SMS (text messaging), I have been asked – “how many ways do we need to communicate with parents?” Should parents not just try harder to stay informed of their child’s education?
My responses are twofold:
- We need to differentiate our parent communication so we meet families where they are. Each family has a varied level of involvement and engagement due to time availability, access to technology, and ability to exchange in dialogue. Some families have the cultural capital (non-financial social assets like time, money, confidence, etc) to engage in ongoing face-to-face dialogue with the principal, teachers and staff