Communication is the foundation of all other parent involvement activities, one of the most important elements of effective home-school partnerships. Yet, most parents typically hear from the school only when their child is in trouble. Whether you're alerting parents to upcoming school events or trying to provide an explanation of the curriculum, it's important that printed communication can be easily read and understood by all parents. Here are three strategies which can result in better communication: 1) Keep messages clear and jargon-free. 2) Make sure notices are written in the language parents speak. 3) Try using a variety of communications media, such as radio, computerized phone messages, personal invitations or local cable TV. Some specific examples of efforts that various schools have made to improve communication are:

Personal Contact:

• Establish regular visitation days for observation of classes and a chance for parents to offer constructive suggestions.
• Have children prepare a luncheon for parents, teachers, and themselves. Send handwritten invitations.
• Invite several parents to sample the school lunch once a month. Seat them with the principal, a teacher, and several randomly selected students.
• Start Coffee Nights for parents. At one school, coffee nights are held in the home of a parent on a weekday evening and attended by three or four staff as well as five to ten parents, usually friends or neighbours of the host. Staff members are introduced; informal discussions center around concerns/questions related specifically to the school. A rose is sent the next morning to the host parent with thanks from the staff members who attended. The principal takes most of the responsibility for arranging the coffee nights.
• Be sure that teachers are represented and recognized at PTA or other parent group meetings.

• To keep parents informed, direct communication between home and school can be created using a sophisticated telephone answering system. Teachers record daily homework assignments on the machine; parents can call to learn what has been assigned as homework, or to leave a message for the teacher. Parents may also use the hotline to call the school if there is a problem. To supplement the hotline, staff can be encouraged to send personal messages, special letters and general newsletters to parents.
  John Vinokur (Automated Response Technology Inc. 309-955 Plymouth Ave. Montreal, Quebec H4P 1B2. Tel: 514-946-8825) sets up telephone information systems for a school or district.
• Try teacher phone calls to parents to invite them to orientation nights.
• Advertise one evening a week for parents or students to telephone the principal with questions or to discuss problems.
• Have teachers make at least one positive phone call per week to parents to report on a child's accomplishment.

• Hold staff workshops on communications skills with a special focus on parents.
• Set up an idea exchange in the school newspaper. Ask parents to send in ideas. Then, in a later issue of the paper, publish ideas and how they are used.
• Send home "Happy-Grams" - good news notes about accomplishments and achievements.
• Send home weekly notices in a school envelope, inviting two-way communication on the envelope.
• Reward students for returning signed notices, homework, etc., with redeemable points, for example.
• Request when a parent visits school that he/she complete a survey, on interests and needs, perhaps while enjoying a cup of coffee.

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