Parent diplomacy has always been a delicate task for educators, often resulting in horror stories shared among teachers. However, in my ten years of teaching in a public school near Boston, these strained conversations have become the new normal, especially during the pandemic. The expectations regarding teacher-parent communication are evolving, and it’s causing burnout and concern for the future.
Increased parental involvement seems like a positive development on the surface. Research proves that children whose parents are active in school perform better academically and socially. However, when some parents are constantly in touch while others are unreachable, it negatively impacts students. I’ve discovered that this is a widespread issue that has been growing.
Many communities are facing severe teacher shortages. According to a 2022 survey by the National Education Association, half of the teachers are considering leaving the profession earlier than planned, and burnout is a significant problem. In fact, a 2022 Gallup poll found that K-12 education workers experience more burnout than any other industry surveyed. The lack of teachers has led to overcrowded classrooms in public schools across the country.
Nevertheless, parents, understandably, want to be more involved. A 2021 Education Week survey revealed that over 75 percent of educators reported increased parent-school communication due to COVID. Similarly, nearly 80 percent of parents expressed a heightened interest in their children’s education during the pandemic, according to a poll conducted by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. My school district has always encouraged teacher-parent involvement and recently invested in translation services to facilitate communication with caregivers. Last year, the district encouraged teachers to call at least three families a week and document these conversations in a school database.
Online grading systems were intended to facilitate parent-teacher communication and gain popularity in the early 2000s. While some veteran colleagues found the new system confusing, I appreciated its easy accessibility. Previously, I would have students get their parents to sign failed tests and quizzes, but with more parents joining the online portal, I can now send grade alerts directly to their phones. These platforms are now almost universally used, with only 6 percent of respondents in a 2022 Education Week survey stating that their district does not use one. These platforms have also advanced, allowing me to share written feedback on assignments, class discussion notes, and updates on school policies. While this provides parents with a more comprehensive view of their child’s performance and increases information accessibility, it also adds new stressors for teachers. Parents can now contact me at the click of a button, whereas they previously had to wait for official events or go through secretaries and principals to set up in-person conferences. Although I appreciate the reduced barriers for communication, I have learned not to post grades after putting my baby to bed because I would receive emails from parents wanting to discuss their child’s grades, no matter how late it was.
Cindy Chanin, the founder of a college-consulting and tutoring business, who has worked with teachers and administrators in elite private schools in Los Angeles and New York City, explains that private-school teachers face even greater challenges. Some parents pay $50,000 or more per year for their child’s education and thus tend to focus on outcomes and desire more control over various aspects, such as granting extra time for projects and determining how field trips are conducted. Chanin notes that the teachers she works with are overwhelmed.
However, while managing emails from parents can be difficult, some teachers struggle with an even bigger problem – involving parents in the first place. Erica Fields, a researcher at the Education Development Center, explains that lower-income families sometimes view themselves as educationally inadequate and are less likely to participate in their child’s learning or question a teacher’s decisions. Language barriers can exacerbate communication challenges, not to mention educational jargon. On average, parents from families below the poverty line or with limited English proficiency attend fewer school events.
In 2020, these issues reached a breaking point for me. The most vocal parents seemed fixated on issues I had no control over, while reaching out to already strained parents became even more challenging during such a disruptive time for their children’s education. When my district decided on remote learning in the fall of 2020, some parents accused us of going against the governor’s advice and giving in to “woke” culture. Tensions escalated with certain parents following the global racial reckoning triggered by George Floyd’s murder. While my students were eager to express their opinions, some parents voiced their disagreement, believing that these topics should not be discussed at all. In other districts, the situation became even more intense. According to a 2022 Rand Corporation report, 37 percent of teachers and 61 percent of principals experienced harassment due to their school’s COVID-19 safety policies or for teaching about racial bias during the 2021-22 school year.
Despite the frequency of communication with caregivers, I don’t believe that the majority of our conversations were actually benefiting the students. Some of my parent-teacher conferences turned into debates about vaccines and police brutality, rather than focusing on a student’s academic performance. I wanted to collaborate with these parents but struggled to find common ground.
Meanwhile, I was even more uncertain about reaching the parents of my most vulnerable students, who I was genuinely concerned about. Although I knew that returning to an overcrowded building was unsafe, I also knew that many of my students lived in poverty. Some didn’t have anyone at home who spoke English, preventing them from practicing language skills between classes. Several lacked internet access, resorting to local McDonald’s or Starbucks for free Wi-Fi to attend school. When I did manage to connect with parents, I heard stories of layoffs, financial struggles, and family members who passed away. In the face of such challenges, it felt trivial to bother them about their child’s missing homework assignment.
Throughout my career, I estimate that I’ve spent at least five hours a week communicating with or attempting to reach parents. When I feel like I’m not making a difference for the students, I question the value of these conversations. Nonetheless, I do have discussions with parents that genuinely contribute to student success. For instance, during the pandemic, I engaged in conversations with caregivers weighing the risks of in-person learning against the potential mental health risks of online schooling. We acknowledged the uncertainty ahead, but committed to working through it together.
Considering the immense strain parents and teachers are under, nitpicking about grades is not a productive use of our time, nor is arguing about COVID policies, which teachers have no control over. However, we cannot give up on these relationships altogether. While they can easily go wrong, they have the potential to help students not only survive but thrive.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
