Season 7 Episode #6 Beyond Involvement: How Educators Can Truly Engage Parents as Essential Partners

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The magic happens when educators and parents join forces as true partners in a child's education. Gone are the days when "parent involvement" meant simply attending conferences or helping with homework. Today's inclusive classrooms demand meaningful engagement where families are recognized as essential collaborators in student success.

Have you ever wondered why some teacher-parent relationships flourish while others remain strained? The answer often lies in intentional communication. As a classroom teacher for ten years, I discovered that establishing positive connections before challenges arise creates a foundation of trust that transforms the educational experience. My simple strategy of scheduling "celebration calls" to a few families each week ensured every parent heard good news about their child multiple times throughout the year.

The CARE framework provides a roadmap for building these crucial partnerships: Communicate Intentionally, Access and Activate Resources, Respect and Respond to Diversity, and Engage in Shared Decision Making. This episode unpacks each element with practical strategies you can implement immediately. From maintaining a 3:1 ratio of positive to challenging conversations to providing multilingual resources that honor diverse family backgrounds, these approaches recognize a fundamental truth: the parent is the expert on their own child.

Research consistently shows that when parents and teachers collaborate effectively, students experience higher academic achievement, improved behavior, enhanced social-emotional skills, and increased self-advocacy. Yet many families—particularly those with diverse learners—feel disconnected from schools due to previous negative experiences, language barriers, or overwhelming information. By acknowledging these challenges and implementing thoughtful engagement strategies, educators can create classrooms where every child and family feels valued, understood, and empowered. Ready to transform your parent partnerships? Start with just one strategy this week and watch what happens!

You can purchase our CARE Framework here: 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back again to another episode of the Cultural
Curriculum Chat podcast.
I'm your host, jeva Edmonds,and today we are tackling a
crucial topic how educators canbuild meaningful partnerships
with parents to create trulyinclusive classrooms.

(00:20):
We know that when parents andteachers collaborate effectively
, student success skyrockets.
If you've ever struggled toengage parents or felt like
communication barriers were inthe way, or you just wanted a
stronger connection withfamilies, this episode is for
you.
I've been a classroom teacherfor oh my gosh, I was in the

(00:43):
classroom for 10 years, andeight years in a leadership role
with the African-AmericanCultural Center, and just by the
cadence of getting to know yourstudents' families, having that
open communication is soimportant.
You just build relationshipswith the family as a whole and

(01:03):
not just building relationshipswith just your student.
So I cannot wait to give yousome best practice strategies,
as well as some fun tips that Ihad up my sleeve that I used
when I was a classroom teacher.
So let's get into it.
Research shows that parentinvolvement is one of the

(01:23):
strongest predictors of studentsuccess.
Yet many teachers find itchallenging to establish these
strong partnerships.
Why is that?
Some of the biggest barriersinclude communication gaps,
cultural misunderstandings,limited time.
Are you with me there, yeah,and unclear expectations between

(01:45):
parents and schools.
So today we're going to thinkabout solutions that will help
you overcome these obstacles andcreate lasting, meaningful
engagement with our families.
Inclusive education thriveswhen schools and families work

(02:05):
together.
This is why parent engagementmatters in inclusive education.
Parents are not just supportersof education, they are our
essential partners, and wheneducators embrace collaboration,
students benefit in multipleways.
The research is there there'shigher academic achievement and

(02:25):
motivation, improved behaviorand social-emotional skills,
increased confidence andself-advocacy in diverse
learners and stronger trustbetween schools and their
families.
I can remember just this parentengagement that my parents
instilled in me.
They were both teachers and sothey knew how education was so

(02:47):
important for their daughters.
And I remember going toparent-teacher conferences with
my mother, and it wasn't whenpeople think about, when we're
talking about parent-teacherconferences, only when a child
is struggling.
It's also when a child iscelebrated as well.
So I was at all of thoseparent-teacher conferences with
my mother and listening to theteacher and having that open

(03:10):
communication.
My mother had questions alreadyprepared.
She wanted to see the evidenceof the work that I did.
And again, having that facebehind that name of a parent
that you're calling is soimportant.
I love sending celebrationemails to families and

(03:31):
scheduling them out, so itwasn't in the middle of my
contract time, it was rightafter, so parents would get it,
probably on their way home fromwork, left a message.
I only picked like a couplestudents a week to make sure

(03:53):
that they had something goodthat I could share.
I wasn't calling my wholeroster every week, but I picked
two or three every week and madesure that I was able to cover
all of my students in my rosterbefore the end of the year.
I made sure I had it at leasttwo or three times before the
end of the year to send acelebration phone call or

(04:15):
celebration email communication.
With that it builds that trustwith your families.
Your families are like, wow,they're not just calling me or
communicating with me when mychild is in crisis or my child,
you know, needs redirection.
They're actually calling me toshare that, something that they
noticed that needed to berecognized.
So that's something that's evenmore critical.

(04:40):
But here's the challenge.
You know many parents,especially those children with
diverse learning needs, feeldisconnected in the education
process.
You know so many of thosefamilies feel like, well, I
bring you to the school.
You have the supports in placeor lack thereof supports, but I
am trusting that the districtand the administration has my

(05:00):
child's needs as a priority, andsometimes they probably have
had too, on the opposite feelingof a traumatic school
experience themselves, and sothey might be struggling with
connecting with their child'steacher because of how they had

(05:21):
treatment in their own pastschool experience and even their
struggle with language barriersor even an accent that might be
hard to understand or simplynot knowing how to get involved.
There is so many communicationthat comes out, lots of email

(05:42):
and newsletter updates and stuff, and sometimes some parents
feel a little overwhelmed.
Feel a little overwhelmed, andagain it's not the fault of the
staff or the building, but itjust goes to show of probably
that analysis, paralysis oroverwhelm of there's just so
much I don't know how to siftthrough it.
So, as an educator, how can youstep up and rise above where

(06:07):
they understand that this isimportant communication?
How are you going tocommunicate that?
That's my challenge for you.
I created a framework that canhelp you sustain and even
enhance your parental engagement.

(06:28):
A lot of the times when weheard that old adage of parental
involvement, we want to step itup a notch and call it parental
engagement, because you can beinvolved.
But are you engaged in yourchild's learning?
So, to create a structured andeffective approach to family
engagement, I have developed theCARE framework and I'm going to

(06:49):
have that link to purchase theguide in the show notes so you
can get access to it.
But CARE stands for CommunicateIntentionally, access and
Activate your Resources, respectand Respond to Diversity and
Engaged in Shared DecisionMaking.
So I'll break it downCommunicate intentionally.
Remember what I said before.

(07:11):
Start by building thatrelationship before a challenge
arise, giving that positivefeedback, talking about
something that was so cool thatchild did in your class today
before something happened.
So when the parent will befamiliar with your email, your
cadence, your style.
So when the parent will befamiliar with your email, your

(07:33):
cadence, your style, and theyalso know that how you could
reach each other in times ofchallenging situations.
So aim for but my favoritenumber is three three positive
interactions for every oneproblem related conversation.
Okay, create a welcomingatmosphere by asking parents
about their child's strengthsand interests before you start

(07:54):
asking about concerns.
I usually have that set uparound the first parent-teacher
conferences to show and havethem share their strengths and
interests of their child with me.
When we have open family nightor an open house conversation I
usually have that it is such aflurry of different families and

(08:14):
it's just chaotic.
That one-on-one time when youare talking with that family is
so important to really get yourclipboard ready to go and write
down what they see in theirchild Because, remember, the
parent is the expert of theirown child.
Let me say that again, theparent is the expert of their

(08:34):
own child.
You only get a small window ofseeing and interacting with that
child, but they have known thatchild for since they were born.
So this is something that youneed to respect and understand.
So instead of thinking about,oh, this kid is doing all these
challenges, we're just going toput that aside, no, you also

(08:57):
need to address that.
But beforehand, make sure youknow you have the things that
you see about that child,because every child has
something great that they haveto share with our world A access
and activate those resources.
So many parents, like I said,they're feeling overwhelmed and
activate those resources.
So many parents, like I said,they're feeling overwhelmed with
all the processes in oureducation system right now.

(09:19):
Yep, there's a lot going on.
I'm just saying like thetornado of new information is
coming at us left and right whenit comes to our educational
system, so you need to provideclear and accessible information
in multiple formats.
For example, if you havemultilingual families or a

(09:40):
family that English is theirsecond or maybe third language,
make sure that yourcommunication can easily be
Google translated into theirmother tongue, like we say, or
their original tongue, so thatthey have all the information to
the best that you can share,that is clear and to the point.

(10:01):
Offering parents a simpleone-page guide on how to support
reading strategies at home, ora hyperlink of a YouTube video
that you use in the classroom tofurther extend your learning
All of those are really goodexamples of clear, concise
access to resources andinformation.

(10:26):
R respect and respond todiversity.
Cultural responsiveness is key.
Hey, you've been hopped on thiscultural curriculum chat
podcast.
In Mrs Edmonds' Cultural Cornerwe talk all things
multicultural and culturalresponsive tactics.
So different families havedifferent perspectives on

(10:47):
education and acknowledgingthose differences strengthens
those relationships.
Again, we don't know otherpeople's lived experiences in
our students' cumulative file,right?
So a lot of the stuff we haveto learn as we go, and you and I
all both know that it takestime to get to know our students

(11:11):
on a deeper level, and alsoit's going to take time to
understand their families.
So, just by being respectful,you don't have to be an expert
in their culture, but justacknowledge that your culture is
not the only culture that iswithin your classroom, and a

(11:47):
great tip for that would besimply asking families how they
prefer to communicate, whetherthrough phone calls, emails,
in-person meetings or translatedresources.
Something very simple can reallybe impactful in a positive way.
So how do we implement parentpartnerships in our classroom?
You don't need to overhaul yourentire system overnight, but

(12:09):
here are some actionable stepsthat you can take today.
Steps that you can take today,like I've shared before.
Send a quick note positive note, to be exact or a message to a
parent about their child'sprogress.
Ask parents for their inputbefore making major classroom

(12:32):
decisions and provide flexibleoptions for communication to
accommodate different schedulesand preferences.
Now, it's not a very perfectsystem and each child will and
their family are different, sodefinitely use discretion.
I challenge you to implementjust one of these strategies

(12:54):
this week and see how ittransforms your parent
partnerships, and if you'relooking for more resources on
fostering inclusive education.
Visit my website atjebedmundscom forward slash shop
, and that isJ-E-B-E-H-E-D-M-U-N-D-S dot com.

(13:16):
Forward slash shop for toolsand guides designed just for you
.
Thank you so much for tuninginto the Cultural Curriculum
Chat podcast and if you'rewatching on YouTube, mrs Edmunds
Cultural Corner, if you foundthis episode helpful, be sure to
subscribe, leave a review andshare this episode with a fellow

(13:37):
educator.
Together, we can build strongerschools.
One parent partnership at atime.
Until next time, keep inspiringand empowering your students.
Bye-bye.