Our Core Beliefs About Family Partnership
- All families have dreams for their children and want the best for them.
- All families have the capacity to support their children’s learning.
- Families and school staff should be equal partners.
- The responsibility for building partnerships between school and home rests primarily with the school staff, especially school leaders.
Family Teacher Conferences
Building Family Partnership
Family Teacher Conferences are an opportunity to work in partnership with all families to support students to discover their spark, a strong sense of self, and purpose.
Scroll through this postcard carousel for recommendations and resources to help you plan for meaningful and impactful family teacher conferences.
Communicate Students' Growth
Share what their student knows and can do, how they have grown, and what they will work on next.
Share Artifacts of Student Learning
Build a mini-portfolio of each student's work to show their progress in the standards. Select examples in several content areas that highlight the specific skills and knowledge they have built over time.
Listen to Families
Invite family members to share their concerns, questions, hopes, goals, and dreams for their students. Note them and discuss a possible plan of support and/or enrichment.
Involve Students
Encourage students to be present and to discuss their learning, goals, challenges, hopes, and dreams. Prepare them in advance to share how they have grown, what they are proud of, and what they want to improve next.
Dig Deeper
This Rubric for Family Teacher Conferences can be used to identify best practices for Family Teacher Conferences.
Goals for Building Family Partnership
Collaborate with families, and the greater community in support of student achievement based on authentic relationships, mutual respect, and shared responsibilities.
Establish ongoing and reciprocal communication with families to promote student growth.
Engage caregivers to inform your curriculum, instruction, and relationship building with students.
Reflection Questions
- What does collaboration and effective partnership with families look like in your role and at your site?
- How are you continuously building towards authentic relationships?
- How are you practicing cultural humility in your partnership with families?
This page was last updated on October 20, 2023