Smart Parents
We spend a lot of our time creating and sharing resources for educators and parents (who are often one and the same audience). Time and time again, we observe that families are left out of the equation when it comes to determining the primary audience for education reports, papers and articles—even though they are among the hungriest for informed opinions that can help them. Smart Parents is a blog series for parents, by parents who are navigating educational opportunities + making powerful decisions for and with their students. Learn more in Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful Learning.
Small Talk, Big Benefits: Adding Conversations to Reading and Everyday Moments
By: Erin Gohl and Kristen Thorson. Reading with children has a plethora of developmental benefits. Recent research suggests dialogic, or conversation-based, reading can even further broaden and deepen the benefits of the reading experience.
10 Strategies for Schools to Improve Parent Engagement
By: Jennifer Larson. The key to productive and positive parent engagement is a consistent and simplified flow of communication between school, home and all other stakeholders. Schools can take advantage of best practices to give parents more visibility into their child’s day-to-day.
Family Technology Pact: Why You Need One and the Hidden Benefits
By: Rachel Wigglesworth. Everyone uses digital media nowadays. How can we navigate what is an appropriate amount of use with our families? Rachel shares how she is trying a family "technology pact."
Families are Fundamental: Takeaways from The National Center for Families Learning Conference
Research shows that family engagement in learning has marked positive effects on learning measures across all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. How can we get more families engaged in their children's learning? This conference provided some fresh ideas.