#504 – Fostering Parent/School Partnerships, with Laura Rounds

If you are listening to the podcast with your instructional team or would like to explore this topic more deeply, here are guiding questions to prompt your reflection:

• What does it mean for families to be co-educators?
• How can schools build stronger trust with families?
• What small actions can families take to support learning at home?
• Why is consistency between home and school important for students?
• How can educators make parents feel welcomed as partners?
• Why do secondary students still need strong family involvement?
• What is one step that your school could take to strengthen parent/school partnerships?

• 20 Tips for Developing Positive Relationships With Parents (Elena Aguilar via Edutopia)
• What Can Parents Do to Strengthen Parent-School Connections? (Silvia Alvarez de Davila via University of Minnesota Extension)
• Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family–School Partnerships (Karen L. Mapp and Paul J. Kuttner via SEDL in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education)
• Six Strategies for Partnering With Families at the Start of the School Year (Responsive Classroom)

#504 Fostering Parent/School Partnerships, with Laura Rounds

AVID Open Access
30 min

Transcript

The following transcript was automatically generated from the podcast audio by generative artificial intelligence.  Because of the automated nature of the process, this transcript may include unintended transcription and mechanical errors.

Laura Rounds 0:00 It’s about shared responsibility with school and families. It’s when families are seen as — I call it co-educators — they’re just not recipients of information. We have to align our work so that both sides can bring value to the role in which education supports our kids.

Rena Clark 0:22 The top topic for today’s podcast is Fostering Parent-School Partnerships with Laura Rounds. Unpacking Education is brought to you by AVID. AVID believes in seeing the potential of every student. To learn more about AVID, visit their website at avid.org. Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I’m Rena Clark,

Paul Beckermann 0:51 I’m Paul Beckermann,

Winston Benjamin 0:52 and I’m Winston Benjamin. We are educators,

Paul Beckermann 0:56 and we’re here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Student 1:01 Education is our passport to the future.

Rena Clark 1:05 Our quote for today is from James P. Comer and Norris Haynes in their Edutopia article, “The Home School Team: An Emphasis on Parent Involvement.” They write, “Children learn best when the significant adults in their lives — parents, teachers, and other family and community members — work together to encourage and support them.” All right, Paul, what do we think?

Paul Beckermann 1:31 Well, the part that jumps out to me here is that “work together” part. It reminds me of a story that my former superintendent used to share all the time. He’d say, you can have the best sled dog team in the world, but if all the dogs are pulling in different directions, that sled is going nowhere. I think the same can be said for working with students, right? If we’re all pulling our kids in different directions, those students will have a hard time getting anywhere as well. So the more we can work together — and the team is big, right, it’s parents, it’s teachers, it’s all these folks together — if we can pull in the same direction, we’re going to do a great service for those students.

Rena Clark 2:07 Absolutely, and I just love that connection to parents and family, and also community members, because I think some of the projects I’ve done in my work that have had the biggest impact, the most influence, and that have actually created other opportunities, have been things where we have invited community members and family. In fact, I have a fly-off coming up. We’re building electric airplanes in my class right now, and we’ve invited community members. We’re having some judges, we’ve had some engineers come in, and it’s just so much more meaningful. The kids are way more excited to build the airplanes and learn to present in front of an authentic audience, so it’s so important to create that opportunity for students. I get pretty excited.

Paul Beckermann 2:48 A fly-off — that sounds great. I kind of want to fly off to Washington and come watch.

Rena Clark 2:55 Well, as of today, I don’t have a single kid’s airplane off the ground, but tomorrow we’re going to have several get up there. Only mine’s gotten off the ground so far.

Paul Beckermann 3:03 The Wright brothers had some trials and errors too. It’s okay.

Rena Clark 3:06 That’s part of the design process.

Paul Beckermann 3:09 Exactly.

Rena Clark 3:10 Well, I am very excited to welcome Laura Rounds to the Unpacking Education Podcast. Welcome.

Laura Rounds 3:17 Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

Paul Beckermann 3:21 Awesome.

Rena Clark 3:22 Laura is an experienced educational leader — former school counseling director and a very passionate parent advocate dedicated to strengthening the connection between families and schools, which we’re going to talk about. She has over two decades of experience in education. She has served in a range of roles, including school counselor, director of school counseling, district AVID administrator, associate professor of psychology, and implementation strategist for AVID Center. Lots of background, lots of great insight. Again, looking forward to talking with you more.

Laura Rounds 3:57 I’m really excited to be here and make the connection between home and school, and to really build that solid foundation of partnership.

Rena Clark 4:07 And I guess just to start right off — I love that you have this counseling experience background. I know my counselors at my school are so meaningful, impactful, and support us in so many ways — but if you could just start with why parent-school partnerships are more important now than ever, especially in this current time.

Laura Rounds 4:26 Of course. It’s probably more important now than ever before, as students are trying to navigate a really complex world compared to when we were kids. Not only are they having to manage the complexity of academics and the competitive nature it has at schools, they’re also dealing with social and emotional obstacles in their lives — with social media and other implications. It’s probably never been more important that we support our schools so they aren’t working alone.

When families and schools are aligned with each other, students can experience consistency — where they’re not hearing one thing from their parents and something else from school, but rather an aligned conversation that benefits the student. I hear the message all the time from parents I work with — as a PTO parent, as a parent who volunteers, and as a parent highly engaged in the community — that we want to support the schools in so many different ways, but how do we do that? How do we ensure that our kids are getting the best experience they can in their young years? It’s all about making those connections and knowing when and where you can step in as a parent to support our schools. That’s where the partnership begins, and I’m excited to share a little of my experience as a parent, as well as my professional knowledge as a school counselor, and what we can do.

Rena Clark 6:14 And to elaborate on that a little bit — how would you define a true partnership between parents and schools? I feel like after elementary school it gets a little fuzzier. I’d love to hear what that looks like at the secondary level compared to elementary.

Laura Rounds 6:33 Absolutely. A true partnership goes beyond just the communication that might come home in a planner in elementary school or in weekly newsletters. It’s about shared responsibility among school, families, and the community. It’s when families are seen as — I call it co-educators — not just recipients of information. We have to align our work so that both sides can bring value to the role in which education supports our kids. Schools provide that academic expertise, and families provide the insight and context of what’s going on and how they are supporting their students at home.

Having that partnership — we can call it co-educators from school and home — means communication is present, but it goes beyond communication. It’s walking hand in hand with each other and really finding how schools, parents, families, and community can align the work they’re doing so that it’s much easier for the entire village.

Paul Beckermann 7:42 So let’s say we’re successful in building this partnership between school and home. How do those strong partnerships actually impact students?

Laura Rounds 7:54 That’s a great question. When students feel supported both at home and at school, it builds confidence. It increases their curiosity and desire to learn. Confidence building is something we see a lot of kids struggling with today, so it’s important for us to share with them that it’s okay to take risks, it’s okay to ask questions, and that sometimes you’re going to fail — and you just have to pick yourself up and work toward your goal. It’s the sense of having people in your corner that empowers our students so they can achieve in school, but also develop resiliency. I think that is the real impact when all the pieces come together.

Paul Beckermann 8:47 I’m wondering if you see differences between families with strong relationships with schools and those with weaker relationships, in terms of students’ attitudes about school. Does that shape their beliefs about education?

Laura Rounds 9:06 I want to say yes and no. It can be very beneficial when parents are involved, but it can also look very different. It doesn’t mean that a parent or guardian has to be at the school volunteering and doing work there. It’s all about how you’re setting expectations and that mindset at home so that it aligns with what the school is doing. I know many families who, in some cases, are working two and three jobs, but they’re taking the advice from our educators and ensuring that their students are doing what they need to do at home and setting that expectation for them there.

When the expectations are the same at both home and school, that is when our kids thrive the most. I tell parents this all the time: when your kids are happy, you’re happy. You’re not in that constant battle of “do your homework, get this done.” Everything seems to come together and be aligned, and that’s how it should be. Success happens when it’s all coming together. It does take time — I’m not going to say you do it once and it’s going to be perfect. It’s an obstacle you have to navigate as a family, but once you set those high expectations for your children and for school, it’s just a great outcome for kids.

Rena Clark 10:40 So I’m curious — we want to reframe families as partners, we want to make sure they’re aligning things at home, but what are some best practices for communicating and getting families involved so that we are on the same page?

Laura Rounds 10:58 It’s important to attend events, especially when our kids have some type of involvement in them. We talked a little bit about building confidence — when our kids know that we show up for them and they see their parents and their teachers there, it encourages them to do even more. I encourage parents, parent leaders, and community members to take advantage of opportunities where community and parents are invited, whether it’s a fall festival, a spring festival, or a small fundraiser. It truly can be impactful when parents participate in activities like that. It means you’re building not just the foundation of your family and the expectations I talked about earlier, but you’re also contributing to the success of the school.

Education is in a financial crisis right now, and so are our families — we know that. It’s important that we continue to value the needs of our schools and help in any way we can, whether it’s a quarter, a dollar, or just showing up. That’s what we need to do to ensure that our schools have what they need so our kids can be successful.

Rena Clark 12:23 Absolutely.

Paul Beckermann 12:24 Beyond showing up at school events, what are some simple ways that families can support learning at home?

Laura Rounds 12:34 We’re not asking parents to be experts in algebra, geometry, or fine literature. What we’re asking is for them to simply ask students: What have you learned? What curiosities have come up through your learning? Is there a way I can help you with something you might be struggling with? And then celebrate the successes.

For my own child, this past year was a struggle in math, and even the little successes are worth celebrating. Sometimes the failures need to be celebrated too, because I think that is the biggest learning piece for our kids today — you’re not going to always excel at everything you do, but it’s okay to fail, and it’s okay to do it with grace and ask your parents for help and ask your community for help. It’s about building that growth mindset so everyone knows that even when you’re not good at something, you’re still going to rise to the occasion and get to that next step. We’re all here to support them in building that confidence. It always comes back to confidence.

Rena Clark 13:57 It’s really about modeling that productive struggle, which we know so many students are having a hard time with today. As families, being able to model that — and say it out loud — can be so helpful for students, as you mentioned.

Laura Rounds 14:18 Yes, and there are other small things families can do as well. Consistency in setting times to do homework, checking in on whether all assignments are done, and creating a quiet space so that the student can read or do their homework. I think we often take that for granted, especially if you have more than one child and the house has its normal chaos. Just creating that consistency and that quiet space so that everyone can get done what they need to — that’s another small but meaningful piece we can do as parents.

Rena Clark 15:03 So maybe we can think about what are some key skills families might reinforce. I heard organization, productive struggle — what are some other key skills we could really reinforce that would align with what schools are doing to support our students?

Laura Rounds 15:20 One of the essential skills we build in AVID is self-advocacy. When students can communicate with their parents and have a voice at home, it can be really powerful. There’s also the time management piece. How do we help everyone understand how to manage time — whether it’s things at home like when to do laundry, homework, dinner, or practice? Being able to manage life activities, not just what’s happening at school, really contributes to understanding why time management is an essential life skill.

We also talked about organization, and it’s a great tool for parents to take away as well. Kids can come home and share skills they’re learning at school — how to use a planner, how to make sure something is documented so you arrive on time, how to take notes. These are life skills, and they shouldn’t be isolated. They should be built upon because they’ll be used throughout our kids’ lives.

Rena Clark 16:48 Absolutely.

Paul Beckermann 16:50 You talked about some of the skills AVID values. Another one is relational capacity and trust. We talk about that in the context of the classroom, but it’s also important in the context of the family-school relationship. Can you talk a little bit about what relational capacity looks like between parents and schools?

Laura Rounds 17:13 Sure. Relational capacity is about building relationships, and when you can build relationships, it’s built on trust. What does that look like for schools, families, and communities? It’s about building strength between them. Those relationships look different for every family, but it’s important that we trust our educators and the work they do with our children — and at the same time, that trust also has to be extended to parents. It works both ways. Everyone has that shared responsibility we have to have for student success.

When we have that shared sense of what we want our kids to be successful at, it creates a supportive network. When our kids see that school and parents have those trusted relationships, they’re likely to trust their teachers and trust the process. It really is important to start with that foundation of trusting each other and building relationships.

Rena Clark 18:31 I’m a parent with three teenagers right now — they’re all in middle school, but my oldest is going to high school. I already feel so disconnected, and I’m an educator, my husband’s an educator, and I know we’re struggling with how to stay connected, especially at the high school level. Where’s a good place to start — for myself or for parents out there who want to feel that connection?

Laura Rounds 19:04 I have three boys — two are in their 20s, and then my 11-year-old. I had the benefit of working at my older boys’ school, but when I told them I was going to be there and they’d see me every day, they quickly said, “No, you can’t work at our school.” But I started simply by showing up — sitting in the parent section at football games, showing up to a volleyball game, attending any sport event, or showing up to a PTO or PTA event. Them seeing me and their dad there was really important to them.

Now that my two oldest are adults, I can say those are the fondest memories they have. I think the one they loved most is that their dad and I played in the parent versus senior volleyball tournament — and we won. I’ll just put it out there: we won. It was a great memory we cultivated with our kids, and even though they kept telling us they didn’t want us there, they truly did.

And I’ll say this as both a parent and a school counselor: sixth through twelfth grade is the time when students need us the most, but as parents, this is also when we think we can let go a little. That’s not the case. Our kids need us the most during these years so we can continue to provide those structures for them, because they thrive in structure. My expert and parental advice is to stay connected, be involved in their lives, and let their teachers know you’re there to support them and that you trust them to communicate when communication is needed. I have two amazing older boys, and Gunner’s still making his way through middle school — but staying connected really works.

Rena Clark 21:43 Absolutely.

Paul Beckermann 21:45 You’ve given us a little bit of advice already, but if you could boil it down to action steps for two different groups — a parent who’s listening and a teacher who’s listening — what might be a first step for each?

Laura Rounds 22:07 I’ll start with our educators. My first next step would be to simply embrace your parents. Let them help you engage their kids in your class and help you build curiosity for learning. When you allow that to happen, it will really shift what and how students learn in your classroom.

For parents, I think it’s important to truly trust your teachers and give them the benefit of the doubt. Allow that relationship and communication to happen between you and the teacher, and you’re going to see that when parents have those kinds of conversations with teachers, it will change everything for the positive.

Rena Clark 23:04 Well, that was some pretty good advice, which brings us into our next section — the toolkit.

Transition Music with Rena’s Children 23:11 Check it out, check it out, check it out, check it out. What’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Rena Clark 23:22 So we’re going to talk about a few more tools. Paul, what’s in your toolkit today?

Paul Beckermann 23:27 Laura alluded to it at the beginning — that this shouldn’t be the only thing, and we need to go beyond it — but I do think it’s an important starting point, and that’s the initial communication we send between school and home. If no communication is begun, there’s probably no relationship that’s going to develop after that. At the secondary level, that probably means at the start of every term; at the elementary level, maybe only at the beginning of the year. But it’s a great chance to introduce yourself — whether it’s an email or a physical letter. Introduce yourself, share your classroom expectations, talk about what kinds of learning will happen, what your philosophy is, how parents can help, your routines, your preferred mode of contact. Anything you can do to start that initial relationship and that initial contact — that’s my toolkit advice.

Rena Clark 24:32 I love that. Mine is: make the call. Especially some of my younger colleagues — we’ve had this conversation. I think there’s some fear around making phone calls, and I will say that parents are much more scared of you than you should be of them. Just picking up the phone and calling can make such a huge difference. I always make positive phone calls the first few weeks of school, and that really changes the environment. Also, when you are having a problem, sending a text message or email is very different than making a phone call. Don’t be scared — make the call, and it will be worth it. If you need help, AI can help you write a nice script, and you can practice if you’re nervous. Parents are much more nervous than you are, so make the call. It makes a huge difference, builds the relationship, and opens up far more positive outcomes than anything negative. All right, Laura, you have something to add to our toolkit.

Laura Rounds 25:43 I love both of those additions. For the toolkit — you talked about communication, you talked about making the call — I’ll say simply: love what you do. Sometimes the work is so heavy on us as educators, so give yourself some grace to love your profession and add that to your toolbox. And then again, building relationships and relational capacity with your parents will really change your outlook on education overall.

Paul Beckermann 26:26 That’s awesome. All right. Well, let’s jump into our one thing.

Rena Clark 26:30 It’s time for that one thing.

Paul Beckermann 26:40 All right — time for our final takeaways for the day. Rena, why don’t you go first?

Rena Clark 26:49 I love this idea that we are co-educators — both from a parent perspective with our children and as an educator valuing students’ culture and community and bringing that in. And the kids who are trying to push us away — I know mine are teenagers — they actually need us the most. As a middle school teacher, I see that too: when kids are trying to figure life out, that’s when they need to be loved, to be cherished, to have a champion. That’s when they really need it the most. I love that.

Paul Beckermann 27:26 Well, once again, Rena, you stole mine.

Rena Clark 27:33 That’s true.

Paul Beckermann 27:35 The co-educator idea really resonated with me too. I think a lot of times parents don’t see themselves that way — they see themselves as maybe separate from the school, supporting it but a little disconnected. But if you think of yourself as a co-educator, it really values what parents bring to that equation. They are educators right alongside the teachers. We’re both equally important in different ways, and sometimes in overlapping ways. It’s just a great perspective check for us as parents. All right, Laura, you get the final say today. What would you like to leave our listeners with?

Laura Rounds 28:20 This is for parents who really want to step in and be part of the school community: go look at your parent organizations and see how you can contribute. It can be something as simple as typing at home for them, sorting something at home, or coming to the school and helping a teacher make a bulletin board. Just take that first step and have fun with it. It may be a great way to build relationships not just with teachers, but with other parents as well.

Rena Clark 28:59 Well, Laura, we really appreciate you being on the show with us and for everything you’re doing with both educators and families. This is a topic we haven’t talked about much, so we really appreciated the conversation today.

Laura Rounds 29:17 Thank you for having me. This was fun.

Paul Beckermann 29:20 Great, thanks for being here.

Rena Clark 29:22 Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin 29:25 We invite you to visit us at AVIDopenaccess.org, where you can discover resources to support student agency and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Rena Clark 29:38 And remember, go forth and be awesome.

Winston Benjamin 29:42 Thank you for all you do.

Paul Beckermann 29:44 You make a difference.