Key Takeaways
- During an EdSource roundtable, educators and parent leaders shared what they think parents should know as they head into the new school year.
- Panelists emphasized the importance of communication between parents and staff and with students, as well as opening these lines of communication early.
- Preparing students for success during key transition years, such as when they start school or transition to middle or high school, is especially crucial, panelists said.
With the start of a new school year in California, parents should communicate early and often with teachers and other school staff to prepare their children for success.
This communication should also take place with their children, especially if they are making major educational transitions, such as starting middle or high school.
Those were among the tips experts shared Thursday during an EdSource roundtable focused on what parents should know as their children return to school this year.
The panelists – including a counselor, teacher, principal and parent leaders – agreed that parents and school staff can prepare students for success if they work together.
“You have to take responsibility for the teacher, the school, the district, and you all have the same goal, which is your child’s success,” said speaker Chris Deng, a San Leandro parent whose children attended the San Leandro Unified School District. “And it’s all built on that, and then it’s just working with each other.”
Here are other key takeaways from the EdSource roundtable.
Take advantage of opportunities
Alma Lopez, counseling coordinator for the Livingston Union High School District, urged parents not to wait for parent-teacher conferences to voice concerns to their children’s teachers and school staff.
These conferences generally take place at least six weeks after the start of the school year. “Sometimes there are things that need to be brought to the attention of the teacher or the principal, or someone else in the school building before that,” Lopez said.
Being proactive can be especially crucial for parents whose children are on an individualized education plan or learning English.
“I think it’s just important to not necessarily feel like you have to know everything about the system, but to know that you, as a parent, are an important part of that team to work with the school to ensure that your students’ needs are met,” Lopez said.
Humanize each other
Parents might benefit from remembering that their child’s teacher is not only a teacher, but also a human being, said Maritza Bermudez, an Orange County parent advocate. Bermudez said parents should try to create a “deep connection” with teachers, which she said can be a “game changer” when it comes to communication.
“The teacher didn’t take my questions defensively, like, ‘Oh wow, this mom comes in with all these questions, she’s grilling me,'” Bermudez said. “You don’t have to have all the answers, but please know that I am here for my child. How can we partner together?”
Alicia Simba, a transitional kindergarten teacher in the Oakland Unified School District, said it’s easy for teachers and parents to feel judged, which can create a “stalemate” when trying to communicate.
To avoid this, Simba recommended “assuming the best intention” in every conversation. “Coming from a collaborative place, without judgment or accusation” is beneficial, she added.
Prepare for school transitions
Parents should expect additional challenges when their child starts school or moves to a new level, such as middle or high school.
For parents whose children are going to school for the first time in kindergarten or transitional kindergarten, they should be prepared to deal with “unpredictable feelings,” Simba said.
She has seen parents who, at the beginning of the school year, predicted that their child would cry every day and have a hard time, only for that child to “have an easy time.” Alternatively, she saw children who were “sobbing uncontrollably” even though their parents expected a smooth transition.
“I think it’s just about letting parents know that all feelings are okay, and not trying to shame kids for how they feel,” Simba added.
For students transitioning to college, Lopez said the “big change” she typically sees is in their friendships.
“I spend a lot of time talking to our sixth graders about how their friendships might change. They might shift. They might end. They might grow,” she said. She encouraged parents to talk to their children about friendship and help them understand that these changes are normal.
When students eventually enter high school, it’s important for parents to help them “start learning to speak up for themselves,” said Melissa Agudelo, principal of Lincoln High School in the San Diego Unified School District.
Agudelo shared the “conversation strategies” she used with her own children to open lines of communication. For example, rather than just asking how their day was after a day of school, she suggested asking more specific questions.
“My favorite is best, worst, new. What was the best thing that happened in your day, the worst thing that happened in your day and something new,” Agudelo said.
Another option, she said, is to ask “the three things that are most on your mind about school today.”
These types of questions work, she says, because they are “completely open-ended.” But parents also need to be willing to “listen and engage,” she said, because their children might feel comfortable enough to share things that are difficult to hear.
“Working with them, honoring that trust and helping them develop their voice, that’s what we’re looking for at the high school level, that’s what universities are looking for, that’s what employers are looking for,” Agudelo said.
This story was originally published by EdSource.
