Building Parent-Teacher Relationships

Relationship building is one of many aspects of a busy educator’s life. Whether you’re aware of it or not, your success as a teacher grows from your ability to connect with and relate to your students. Developing cordial professional relationships with colleagues and administrators is also vital, because you’re all working towards the same goal: providing all students with a high-quality education.

Learning doesn’t end in the classroom, yet most parents are at a loss when it comes to supporting their children’s intellectual development. Many try to do too well and hover around them when they do homework, which can stifle creativity and self-development. Others let them roam free and hardly monitor their progress.

Yet, studies are unanimous: children are more successful at school when parents are involved. Better yet, teachers, too, are positively affected when parents take interest.

That’s because involved parents promote positive classroom behavior, make sure children do their homework, help them be more organized, enforce disciplinary measures, and validate their effort.

When Parenting magazine and the National Education Association conducted a 2012 survey on parent-teacher communication, 68 percent of teachers reported “difficulty in dealing with parents” — but strangely, 63 percent of parents reported never having difficulties with teachers.

If that weren’t enough of a disconnect, the study also found that more than a third of the parents surveyed “stated their biggest challenge has been teachers’ perceived lack of understanding for their concerns,” while teachers cited “parents’ lack of understanding of their child’s issues” as their biggest challenge.

Other areas of disconnect:

• Conferences: 71 percent of teachers felt that they hold enough pare…