Reaching out to our families, especially those from marginalized communities, in thoughtful and meaningful ways will help build and rebuild bridges and support student success. Downloading and conducting this Family-School Relationship Survey from Panorama Education is a great way to provide schools with a clear picture of family attitudes about several key topics.
8 Ways to Encourage Family Engagement in Secondary Schools
Read 8 Ways to Encourage Family Engagement in Secondary Schools from Edutopia for practical approaches to ongoing family engagement.
How Transparency Can Transform School Culture
Simple steps like sharing notes from district meetings, school board presentations and trainings are ways to be transparent within a school community. Establishing a voice on social media to celebrate successes, seek input and share struggles will also aid in your efforts while modeling this method of transparency for staff. For insights and inspiration, read this article from …
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Stories from the Field: Cultivating relationships through administrator actions
Download Cultivating Relationships Through Administrator Actions from Transforming Education for tips, strategies and practical advice from the field. Educational leaders can set the tone for supportive, collegial relationships in a variety of ways including: Being present during the school day; engaging with staff and students. Modeling respectful, engaging interactions with teachers and staff. Seeking teacher input …
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Peace Learning Center: Introduction to Restorative Practices
Download Introduction to Restorative Practices from Peace Learning Center for additional insights into the benefits of circles and the need for Principal and administration vision, staff buy in and professional development to support the effort.
Video: Weekly Circles, Building Community to Foster Academic Achievement
Implement a Weekly Circles model to build and strengthen relationships between students. Watch this 5-minute Weekly Circles video from Edutopia to help you create an effective practice for your school(s).
Culturally Responsive Education Hub
ideas such as: • Video discussions – Could a parent/guardian in a front-line worker profession share the upsides and downsides of their role during COVID-19? Or could a parent/guardian in an arts or design profession lead a group discussion about their work process? Or could a multilingual parent/guardian lead a book club for multilingual learners? …
Maintaining Relationships in a Time of Social Distancing
A toolbox offers tips and actions for helping teachers maintain relationships with families despite social distancing, such as: • Reflecting on any assumptions they might have about how families “should” educate or care for their children during isolation. • Reaching all their students’ families in their home languages through apps such as Talking Points (free …
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COVID-19 Remote Advisory Activities
Offers a range of activities to help students continue to develop socially, emotionally, and personally with their peers. While all activities focus on relationship building, some couple that with basic tasks such as attendance and grade checks.
Designing an Advisory System
Springpoint provides five case studies to highlight different ways advisory can be structured and run in a school. The case studies are all pre-pandemic but will help schools that don’t have advisory as they think about various models.