Opinion Blog

Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Education Opinion

Q&A Collections: Parent Engagement in Schools

By Larry Ferlazzo — July 15, 2020 3 min read
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During the summer, I will be sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past nine years. You can see all those collections from the first eight years here.

Here are the ones I’ve posted so far:

This Year’s Most Popular Q&A Posts

Race & Racism in Schools

School Closures & the Coronavirus Crisis

Classroom-Management Advice

Best Ways to Begin the School Year

Best Ways to End the School Year

Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning

Implementing the Common Core

Facing Gender Challenges in Education

Teaching Social Studies.

Cooperative & Collaborative Learning

Using Tech in the Classroom

Student Voices

Today’s theme is on Parent Engagement in Schools. You can see the list following this excerpt from one of them:

*Spanish-Language Infographic: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Educator Xatli Stox translates Lindsay Kuhl’s infographic on helping parents support distance learning into Spanish.

*Spanish-Language Visualization: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Educators Wendi Pillars and Xatli Stox collaborate to create a Spanish-language version of Wendi’s original visualization of “7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning.”

*Visualization of ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Teacher Wendi Pillars shares a visual illustration of the points made in Larry Ferlazzo’s video, “7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning.”

*Infographic: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning’

Teacher Lindsay Kuhl shares a visual illustration of the points made in Larry Ferlazzo’s video, “7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning.”

*Video: ‘7 Tips for Parents Supporting Remote Learning

Larry Ferlazzo speaks directly to parents and offers 7 tips for supporting their children’s learning journey during the school closure crisis.

* Don’t Treat Parent-Teacher Conferences ‘Like Trips to the Dentist’

Beth Brady, Carol Pelletier Radford, Rich Czyz, Robert Ward, Jennifer Abrams, and Barbara R. Blackburn share their thoughts on teachers meeting with parents.

* The Student’s Role in Parent-Teacher Conferences

Jenny Edwards, Dr. Beth Gotcher, Sherri Wilson, Katy Ridnouer, Ryan Huels, Tara Brown, and Sarah Thomas share their reflections on parent-teacher conferences.

* Strategies for Effective Parent-Teacher Conferences

Today’s post highlights suggestions from Luz Santana, Leticia Skae, Mandi White, Tara Dale, Sanée Bell, PJ Caposey, and Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez about increasing the effectiveness of parent-teacher conferences.

* Building Relationships With Families of ELLs

Rusul Alrubail (who acted as “guest host” for this post), Anna Bartosik, Jordan Lanfair, Anabel Gonzalez, Karen Nemeth, and Judie Haynes offer suggestions on how to engage with parents of English-language learners.

* ‘Successful Schools Solicit’ Family Engagement

Debbie Silver, Jenny Edwards, Sean Slade, Judy Bradbury, and Nadja N. Reilly provide their commentaries on family engagement and schools.

* Seeing Families as ‘Co-Creators’ of Our Schools

Jennifer Orr, Shane Safir, Karen L. Mapp, Allen Mendler, Mary Tedrow, and Patricia Vitale-Reilly share their suggestions on how educators can engage families.

* Listening to Parents With Our Heads and Hearts

Katy Ridnouer, Janice Fialka, and Joe Mazza provide their guest responses.

* Parent Engagement Requires ‘Trust, Not Blame’

Jane Baskwill, Julia Thompson, and Bryon V. Garrett share their thoughts.

* Parents Can Teach Educators ‘Lessons About Learning and Life’

This post features contributions from Catherine Compton-Lilly, Dr. Sherrel Bergmann, Dr. Judith Brough, and Maurice J. Elias.

* Keys to Parent Engagement—Relationships, Climate, Communication

This post highlights responses from Darcy Hutchins and Mai Xi Lee, along with many readers’ comments.

* Embracing & Celebrating Diverse Families

Two author/educators, Cindi Rigsbee and Darcy J. Hutchins, provide guest responses in this post, which includes contributions from readers.

* The Difference Between Parent ‘Involvement’ & Parent ‘Engagement

I describe the differences between the two models, and author Katy Ridnouer and Assistant Principal Mai Xi Lee also contribute their thoughts.

* Ways to Build Trust Between Parents & Teachers—Part One

Betsy Landers, National PTA president, and Carrie Rose, executive director of the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project, provide guest responses in this post.

* A Conversation About Building Trust Between Parents & Teachers

Superintendent and author Steve Constantino and Principal Joe Mazza engage in a conversation about parent engagement.

In addition to these posts, you can find all my other favorite parent-engagement resources here.

I hope you’ve found this summary useful and, again, keep those questions coming!

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.