Teacher Communications

Parent Teacher Communication Parent-teacher letters provide a formal mechanism for regular communication from the teacher to the parent about the progress the child is or is not making in school. There are a couple of purposes for these letters. This first is simply to inform the parents about the status of the child in the educational setting. The second is to elicit a dialogue and relationship between the parent and teacher.

Parent-teacher relationships have been demonstrated to be an important component of student success (Chan, 2013) so fostering a stronger parent-teacher relationship should be expected to have positive outcomes for students. The audience for this type of communication are the parents. The student should receive feedback through separate channels, and these letters should specifically provide information with the parents in mind. Most frequently, such letters take a couple of different forms. The first is as a complement to a report card, wherein the letter provides some context to grades.

The second is when the letter is on its own, providing information about specific incidents that might have occurred. Such letters may not be regular but extraordinary based on specific circumstances, and may have a disciplinary element to them. The purpose is still usually informative in nature. There are a number of strengths and weaknesses to this form of communication. Letters are clear and precise, because their written form allows for the right words to be chosen specifically.

Letters also provide a permanent written record, so there is much less room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation. Where the letters are regular, the regularity also provides the communication with a sense of evenhandedness. The weaknesses, however, lie in the fact that letters are inherently a one-way form of communication. There is no real opportunity for dialogue, and any dialogue based on the letter will need to be subsequently arranged.

Letters thus also provide an opportunity for misunderstanding in that if they are poorly written, the parent has little or no opportunity to clarify specific wording. Another downside to these letters is that they are less effective where there are language and cultural barriers, and parents who struggle with English tend to receive very few of the benefits of these letters, and thus so do their children (Mendez, 2010). Overall, letters from teachers to parents can be an effective form of communication.

They open up a venue for communication when communication with parents is otherwise not easy, for example when parents have challenging schedules that limit their ability to meet regularly with teachers. The letter also provides an opportunity to build the parent-teacher relationship, and to provide performance feedback to the parents, both of which can be used to enhance the child's learning. These letters are especially effective in non-routine situations, such as for special needs students. I believe that this written form of communication would be effective in my classroom.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I feel that it is an effective means of engaging with parents and providing them with regular feedback. It is important to build relationships with parents, but setting up individual meetings is not always necessary -- for most students.