What Parents Want From Teachers
By: Dorothy Rich
From: Educational Leadership, May 1998
Exercises: Rachel Harmel
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1.
Parents in Anchorage, Alaska, and Rochester, New York, have been rating the
teachers of their children. This is something new – and some teachers may perceive
getting a report card from parents as threatening. But increasingly, parents and
community members are grading schools and are seeing themselves as customers.
Such reports can be a good thing. Educators can make the most of them, getting
credits for what they do well and making sure that the report cards help both teachers
and parents work together to improve student learning.
2.
In my work with schools across the United States, I have identified three
consistent parent concerns: how well teachers know and care (1) about teaching, (2)
about their children, and (3) about communicating with parents. Here, I use the basic
list of questions from the Anchorage and Rochester (1997) report cards. For each
question, I outline specific strategies, used in the MegaSkills Parent Involvement
Program, that every teacher can use to get higher ratings from parents – not just in
Anchorage or Rochester, but anywhere. I have found that teachers can use these
questions and reports to spark their own creative ideas (see Rich 1997).
…About Teaching
3.
 Does this teacher appear to enjoy teaching and believe in what he or she does
in school? Teachers need to smile … often. We need to hare stories, not only about
our interests and successes, but about funny things that happen in school. A good
laugh together between teachers and parents is a strong bond.
4.
 Does the teacher set high expectations and help children reach them? Set and
share with parents specific learning goals for their children. Start with easily
measurable goals such as a certain number of books to read and papers to write.
Involve children in setting these goals and keeping track of their own progress.
5.
 Does the teacher know the subject matter of the class and how to teach it?
This can get sticky, because everybody went to school once. Teachers must be
academic sharers – explaining the curriculum, teaching methods, and how parents can
reinforce learning at home.
6.
 Does the teacher create a safe classroom where children are encouraged to
pay attention, participate in class, and learn? Invite parents to see the class in action.
Ensure that you have many ways to get students to participate daily – by birth dates,
letters in names, and all those good old stand-bys.
7.
 Does the teacher deal with behavior problems fairly and consistently? Have a
set of rules that everyone understands. Include only those that can be enforced with
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reliable, consistent consequences. Kids and parents should know the rules as well as
you do.
8.
 Does the teacher assign meaningful homework? Are the assignments clear?
Is enough time provided? Is homework returned in a timely manner? Before making
assignments, ask yourself: “What does this really teach? Would I want to do this?”
Ask children to rephrase the assignment in their own words. Share your homework
schedule with parents, and check with them at conferences, through random phone
calls, and through informal surveys.
9.
 Does the teacher make clear what my child is expected to learn? Parents, like
students, need to know what is expected – and what excellent, average, and poor work
looks like. Ask for their input on these expectations. Then make sure everyone knows
the standards. Such publicized expectations are helpful for students trying to improve
their own work – before they turn it in.
…About Their Children
10.  Does the teacher understand how our child learns and try to meet these
needs? Teachers must remember details about all the students in the class. It helps to
keep a file on every student and place little notes in the files every now and then. This
specific information is priceless during phone calls or conferences.
11.  Does the teacher treat my child fairly and with respect? Here again,
classroom rules help ensure fairness. When we identify each child’s abilities and build
on them, we show respect. When we do the same for the family, we build a bridge
from the classroom into the home.
12.  Does the teacher contact me promptly with any concerns about my child’s
academic and behavioral performance? No parent wants to learn at the end of the
year that there are problems that started mid-year. Use all means to contact parents,
even hard-to-reach parents. Keep notes on when and how you made these efforts.
13.  Does the teacher provide helpful information during conferences? Use those
trusty files on each child for both praise and problems. When we share those
problems, we need to have a solution or two ready and ask for parents’ ideas.
14.  Does the teacher tell me how my child is doing in class? All parents want to
hear that their children are doing wonderfully and that they are above average. While
we can’t promise this, we can keep parents informed and, especially, discuss what
they can do to help. Avoid that old classic, “Your child can do better,” unless you
have concrete suggestions that parents can try.
…About Communicating With Parents
15.  Does the teacher provide clear information about class expectations? Here’s
where a written set of expectations can provide information about the curriculum,
goals for class achievement, standards for quality of work, and the classroom behavior
code. Be brief and as specific as possible. At the fall open house, give each parent a
copy and ask for questions.
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16.  Does the teacher use a variety of communication tools to report progress and
student needs? Use many ways to get your points across. You may lecture, send notes,
e-mail, telephone, hold conferences – and it’s still hard. At the elementary level,
attach memos for parents to the school menu. In kindergarten, attach them to jackets.
At the secondary level, it’s a lot harder. It’s helpful to have parents’ work numbers
and addresses.
17.  Is my child’s teacher accessible and responsive to me when I call or want to
meet? Teachers can be accessible without being on call. Parents need to know what
days and hours teachers will be available. How much easier and more efficient this
will be when every teacher has a telephone in the classroom! Some teachers give out
their home telephone numbers; others do not. This is a personal choice.
18.  Does the teacher work with me to develop a cooperative strategy to help my
child? Make sure that parents know that everything about education is cooperative –
that you expect them to work with you in mutually supportive ways. This is the big
message that has to get across early – and often.
Moving Forward
19. The changes resulting from parent report cards in Rochester and Anchorage are
yet to be determined. (The Rochester surveys, begun in early 1998, will be analyzed
later this school year.)
20. The Anchorage surveys were begun two years ago. The state legislature
instructed schools to find out from parents which issues were most significant to
them. What evolved in Anchorage was a systematic set of surveys – for elementary,
middle, and secondary schools. Each school could add additional items to the basic set
of questions.
21. Fred Stofflet, Director of Curriculum and Evaluation for the Anchorage Public
Schools, reports that getting people to return the surveys was difficult. Overall, there
was about a 50-percent return rate, with the highest response at the elementary level.
22. What the surveys provide, he says, is the basis for ongoing discussions at each
school, often about curriculum. The surveys also get at differences between what
adults and children say. In the area of school safety, for example, adults and students
had differing perceptions, and that, says Stofflet, helped identify an area that needed
attention.
23. Stofflet says that in Anchorage, teachers initial concerns have evaporated. Even
though information from the surveys was used in their evaluations, teachers came to
understand that the purpose of the surveys was to find out what was on parents’ and
students’ minds and to deal with issues before they become problems.
24. Surveys and activities such as these may seem insignificant, compared to other
weighty issues surrounding education reform (see Langdon 1997). But reform is not
somewhere “out there”. It’s in every classroom and in every home.
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References
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Anchorage School District. (1997). Teacher Evaluation Document, Anchorage:
Alaska Board of Education.
Langdon, C. (1997). “The Fourth Phi Delta Kappa Poll of Teachers’ Attitudes
Towards the Public Schools.” Phi Delta Kappan 79, 3: 212-220.
Rich, D. (August 6, 1997). “Seven Habits of Good Teachers Today: What This ‘Good
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Teacher’ Didn’t Know.” Education Week 16, 41: 53, 57.
Rochester Teachers Association (September 17, 1997). “Parents in N.Y. District to
Critique Teachers”, Education Week 17, 3: 3.
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