‘True Grit’ in LA: Five ways teachers, parents, schools come together
When it comes to meeting our students’ needs, it’s no secret among teachers that partnerships with parents are crucial. We may get to know students well during a seven-hour school day, but as teachers, we can never hope to know as much about our students as parents know about their children.
Angie Trae-Greenbarg
While parent engagement may seem like a no-brainer, getting it right takes dedicated and continued effort. Parents, teachers, and students alike are frequently frustrated by a number of roadblocks, such as scheduling conflicts, language barriers, lack of technology, and a by-the-numbers approach that doesn’t account for individual circumstances.
But when partnerships are done right, everyone thrives. By working to close the communication gap, Valor Academy, the school where I teach, has created a collaborative culture and a support system for all of us. Now, with a feedback loop between students, parents, and teachers, we have a robust picture of how students are doing – not just for the hours the child is in school, but all the hours at home that impact growth and development.
I recently participated in a series of focus groups with over 400 classroom teachers and administrators from some of Los Angeles’s most-improved schools. The work of these focus groups culminated in the report: “True Grit: The Game-Changing Factors and People Lifting School Performance in LAUSD.”
No school, including mine, said parent engagement was easy. But by evaluating a number of best practices, the survey identified actionable steps every school can take. Here are five simple, concrete
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