Following our first Back to School Event – Anticipating Parent Concerns, I realized that no matter how we cut our data, the theme always emerges: Communication is queen!
Possip Founder and CEO, Shani Dowell, reflects on some of the most common feedback about school communication we hear from parents across the nation. This is part one of a two-part series.
We typically see Communication Traps fall into two categories: UNDER-communicating and OVER-communicating.
Under-Communication:
When schools or districts communicate less than they need to. This could include the following:
- No Communication
- Having Unspoken Rules
- Communicating on a “Need to Know” Basis – as Interpreted by Leadership
- Having an Insiders Club
Over-Communication:
The well-intentioned cousin of under-communication, this occurs when schools or districts value communication – but may need the additional step of thinking through strategy and streamlining systems for communicating. We will dive into Over Communication Traps in the next part of this blog series!
Under-Communication Traps
No Communication
It seems obvious that families need communication – but it often just doesn’t happen. We recommend having a plan and system for communicating with families at least weekly – and having a system to hear from families at least bi-weekly. As you plan your system, think about how often you want families to hear from the following contacts at school:
- District or network leadership
- School leadership
- Grade level leadership
- Teachers
- PTO or Other
Also, consider how you’ll communicate during special events or times. So often, leaders get so busy solving problems in times of crisis that they forget to communicate!
What systems will you create to make sure there families always receive pertinent and timely information?
Unspoken Rules
Some schools and cultures can harbor unspoken rules for behavior and information. This can happen particularly in schools where multiple generations of families or siblings have potentially attended this school – and there are assumptions about what people know and understand about “how things work”.
Unspoken rules can reflect true and critical things about how the school or system operates that are not made explicit and transparent for everyone. For example, how does grading work? What constitutes a good grade or bad grade? What are behavioral expectations?
Making sure to explicitly articulate “unspoken rules” becomes crucial in culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse school settings. Often the decision-makers might have assumptions about what everyone expects, thinks, or knows. For example, if you expect all parents to come to Back to School night, make that explicit in phone calls and communications leading up to the event.
Or, there might be an unspoken rule that students will only make a school sports team if they are also participating in sports outside of the school year. Make that information explicit as well, especially to incoming families.
While all forms of under-communication don’t feel great, unspoken rules can be the most insidious – as people don’t even know what they don’t know. They can truly miss opportunities for themselves or their child, simply because they don’t know what the rules of the road are.
Need to Know
Communicating on a need to know basis forms another facet of under-communication. An example of this could be communicating to one grade level about something that you perceive to only affect their grade or to one classroom about something that you perceive to only affect their classroom. In reality, information doesn’t flow that neatly or cleanly. Often information for families of students in one classroom or grade flows to – and even can affect – others.
For example, consider state testing. Often, information about state testing will go to those who are in the tested grades. However, all students will ultimately be affected by this information.
Rather than make assumptions about who will be interested in knowing information, help parents and families focus on what matters most. In a newsletter or communication you can share, “this is most relevant for 3rd grade families”. Or send a letter home to the families most affected, but post on a Parent Portal or website the communication so all can see it – or at least have the opportunity to see it.
Having an Insiders Club
Some schools have a group of parents who know more than others. Sometimes these are parents who have direct relationships with teachers – or they are just parents who are curious and comfortable enough to ask anyone – principals, teachers, and other staff – their questions. “Insiders Clubs” breed imperfect information and inequity – some people are information holders, and some aren’t. As a school administrator, it can be hard to remember that not everyone has the information if it has been shared with a subset of parents or family members. Further, when an “insiders club” forms (intentionally or not), family members might start relying on their informal communication networks for information – meaning as a school you don’t have a pulse on what all parents know or don’t know.
While you celebrate and lean on champions who are able to reinforce the communication you’ve already sent, try to avoid having only subsets of parents with access to information that all parents might need.
Does your communication with families unintentionally fall into any of these traps? Do you know what your families think about how often the school communicates? Taking a critical look at what you say and don’t say – and how – can ultimately lead to a stronger school community. Asking parents and staff for their honest feedback can expedite this process and Possip exists to help.
Stay tuned for Over Communication Traps in the next part of this blog series!
