Parents are informed
Parents are informed is a research-based measure from the Tell Them From Me surveys. It is a source of evidence linked to What Works Best and the School Excellence Framework.
What is it?
There are multiple ways schools can keep parents informed and involved in their child's education, such as newsletters, report cards, and parent-teacher interviews. Regardless of the nature and format, all communication exchanges between teachers and parents provide opportunities to from partnerships that support student learning.
The Tell Them From Me surveys ask parents about the communication and information that they receive from school. The results are reported as the average score for parents are informed.
Why is it important?
Family-school relations and parental involvement support student achievement. Teachers can employ a variety of effective communication strategies, such as phone calls and parent-teacher meetings, which both inform and allow for interaction with parents.
The clarity of communications is important. Readability and structural considerations, such as page length and use of white space, can influence the effectiveness of written communication between schools and parents, while student reports which provide separate grades on a variety of learning goals per class are found to be clearer, easier to understand, and more informative for parents.
School improvement links
| School Excellence Framework element | What works best theme |
|---|---|
| Reporting | Wellbeing |
| Educational leadership |
Evidence base
Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., & Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Graham-Clay, S. (2005). Communicating with parents: Strategies for teachers. School Community Journal, 16(1), 117-129.
Hill, N. E., & Tyson, D. F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 740-763.
Minke, K. M., & Anderson, K. J. (2003). Restructuring routine parent-teacher conferences: The family-school conference model. The Elementary School Journal, 104(1), 49-69.
Nagro, S. A. (2015). Prose checklist: Strategies for improving school-to-home written communication. Teaching Exceptional Children, 47(5), 256-263.
Swan, G. M., Guskey, T. R., & Jung, L. A. (2014). Parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of standards based and traditional report cards. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 26(3), 289-299.
Explainers of the Tell Them From Me measures have been produced in collaboration with The Learning Bar. The Tell Them From Me measures are provided by, and remain the intellectual property of, The Learning Bar. The explainers can also be found online within the Tell Them From Me portal. Tell Them From Me and TTFM are trademarks of The Learning Bar.