Busy? Here's the TL;DR
- Remember to recognize and celebrate the people who make school-home communication possible in your district
- Include both teachers and non-instructional staff in your recognition program
- Recognize the specific ways that your standout communicators are contributing to school-home communication. One great way to do this is through a newsletter roundup.
- Here’s an example from Rome City Schools you can follow.
Engaging students’ caregivers at home is increasingly important as educators work to help students recover from the pandemic’s impacts on learning.
Research shows positive school-home engagement supports better academic outcomes, improved social skills and behavior, easier adaptation to school, and even a greater likelihood of continuing to post-secondary education. One important part of school-home communications is remembering to recognize and celebrate the people who make this communication possible.
We get to see lots of innovative and creative school-home communication recognition programs through our work with school districts across the country. Rome City Schools is an excellent example of a recognition program that promotes quality family communications by rewarding top communicators each month.
Here are three tips and takeaways from the Rome City Schools program to apply when recognizing your district’s standout communicators.
1. Create Categories to Recognize Specific Areas of School-Home Communication
Schools communicate with caregivers in a variety of ways. From phone calls to emails to text messages, adding variety and flexibility to the options for school-home communication methods helps schools reach and engage more families. When creating a recognition program, it's important to include specific categories to highlight the different types of school-home communication that are making a difference in your district.
Consider these categories from Rome City Schools for your program:
- Champion Callers
- Terrific Texters
- All Stars
2. Don’t Forget Non-Instructional Staff
When creating your program, remember that non-instructional staff such as counselors and attendance clerks are also helping to engage students’ caregivers through school-home communications. These staff members play a vital role in creating communities where student success and well-being are supported. In Rome City Schools, both teachers and school staff use SchoolStatus. And, both teachers and non-instructional staff are eligible to be recognized for excellence in school-home communication.
Interested in using school-home communication to help improve attendance and student performance? Download our new ebook for tips on making sure you’re reaching all families.
3. Use a Newsletter to Highlight the Star Communicators
One great idea for recognizing your star communicators is highlighting them in a digital newsletter. A quick newsletter roundup of the top communicators from your school or district can easily be created using Smore. Consider adding photos of the winners with a little about their specific efforts to reach families.
Need an example? Check out this newsletter from Rome City Schools, which combines SchoolStatus and Smore!
Recognizing and rewarding the teachers and staff who make school-home communications successful is an important part of publicly valuing the hard work they do to support students. It is also an opportunity to share best practices and help educators within your school community learn from each other.
On behalf of The SchoolStatus Group, thank you to all of the people who are working every day to make school-home engagement meaningful. We love celebrating and supporting you!
