Spring, 2002, No. 12 National Network of Partnership Schools
Use Technology to Increase Communications, But Ensure Equity in Family Involvement
Steven B. Sheldon
Associate Research ScientistSchools’ Action Teams for Partnerships encounter many challenges in communicating with all families; receiving input about school policies from diverse families; and helping families learn about educational activities they can do with their children at home. One resource that many educators are exploring to help meet these challenges is the Internet.
Creating New Opportunities
Internet technology helps schools address several obstacles to communicating with families. www.MySchoolOnline.com, http://teacher.scholastic.com, and www.schoolnotes.com help educators create web pages so that visitors can see school newsletters, lunch menus, and homework assignments, and gain ideas for learning activities to do at home. Parents and schools do not need to depend solely on students to bring home important information if it is also posted on a website. Districts also can develop websites to provide schools’ performances on state and standardized tests, school calendars, and other important information.
In addition to facilitating communication, Internet technology also can encourage greater participation by families in school decision-making. Teachers, administrators, the PTA, and other groups can send and receive e-mail. This means that families can ask questions, offer ideas, and vote on school initiatives. E-mail addresses of district administrators and committees can be provided in e-mail messages, allowing families to communicate with district leaders in an efficient, non-threatening way. These opportunities enable more families to voice their opinions without the constraints of time, location, or fear of speaking in a group.
Facing New Challenges
The new opportunities provided by the Internet and computers also raise new challenges for schools’ partnership programs. School and district leaders must be conscientious about maintaining channels of communication with families who do not have access to computers, do not have Internet service, or who have limited computer skills. That means that electronic newsletters and e-mail communications cannot be the only way families receive information from the school or are offered opportunities to participate in decisions. Instead, as Tropical Elementary School in Plantation, FL recognized, the new technologies must be used as one additional tool along with existing practices (e.g., phone, print materials, parent representatives) to communicate with all families. Schools and districts also must develop strategies to respond to and incorporate the information from the increasing number of e-mail messages they receive from families.
Schools can help families and the community by opening their computer labs for use after school and in the evening, as Ranch View Elementary School in Naperville, IL did by hosting Open Tech Lab Nights. Prairie Elementary School, also in Naperville, invited the local police department to co-host an Internet Safety Night. The program helped parents learn how to ensure that their children surf the net safely. The school also hosted an evening to teach family members some basic computer and word processing skills.Computers and Internet technology are rapidly changing our lives in many ways. As part of this evolution, schools are beginning to find new ways to communicate with families. With these changes come new challenges. Many families do not have access to computers or to the Internet. Schools, therefore, cannot abandon or diminish “traditional” ways of connecting with students’ families. Moreover, making computers available to family members, and helping them learn how to use computers and the Internet will increase the benefits of this new technology.
