Ways to Involve Parents in Student Relationships

Parental involvement plays a critical role in academic outcomes during adolescence—but not all forms of involvement have the same effect. Based on research by Hill and Tyson (2009), here are three key strategies parents use to support learning during the middle school years. - Academic Framing - Parents set high educational expectations, encourage positive attitudes toward learning, discuss the value of education, and connect schoolwork to future goals. These behaviors showed the strongest positive effect on academic achievement by supporting motivation, independence, and long-term thinking. Academic framing encourages internal motivation rather than external control. - Helping at Home - Parents monitor assignments, discuss schoolwork, assist with projects, or set routines for studying. These behaviors can support academic success when they are responsive to students’ growing independence. While effects on achievement were mixed, home involvement that encourages open communication and avoids pressure or control can help promote positive learning habits. - School-Based Involvement - Parents volunteer at school, participate in parent organizations, or communicate with teachers. These behaviors had a marginal positive effect on student achievement by strengthening the connection between home and school. When parents are engaged with the school community, it reinforces the importance of education and increases awareness of academic expectations. Citation: Hill, N.E., & Tyson, D.F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 740–763. https://lnkd.in/gwukgV7H

What Family Engagement Really Looks Like in the Age of AI AI is no longer a future concern — it’s a present reality for schools, families, and the workforce. As educators, we face a dual imperative: • Ensure students use AI ethically and responsibly • Equip them with the skills to thrive in an AI-powered world But we often overlook one of our most powerful allies in this work: families. In a recent Minecraft Education program in partnership with Jordan’s Ministry of Digital Economy & Entrepreneurship & Maysalward, we saw what happens when parents and children learn together - not in parallel - but in partnership. 🔹 An after-school model (2 hours/day) made participation manageable (this was a POC) 🔹 Sessions began separately to reduce tech anxiety (caregivers in one room; kids in another!) 🔹 Minecraft served as a low-barrier, high-interest tool (highest engagement factor ever!) 🔹 The program culminated in side-by-side co-creation between parents and children (so cool!) The result? “Parents transitioned from observers to creators. Kids collaborated, competed, and developed new skills. This program fostered connection within families—not just learning.” This approach speaks to broader goals many systems already hold: • Building trust with families • Addressing digital equity • Supporting future-ready, interdisciplinary learning Emerging UNESCO and OECD research underscores this need. AI literacy gaps are widening — especially in underserved communities. If we focus only on prevention (e.g., AI misuse and plagiarism), we miss the opportunity to cultivate confidence, curiosity, and critical thinking across generations. Here’s what we learned (and previous research indicated): When students teach their parents, they gain confidence. When parents feel empowered, they ask deeper questions about school innovation. And when we design experiences that center co-learning, we expand the definition of student success. You don’t need to overhaul your entire system to begin. A single workshop. One trusted tool. One shared conversation. That’s why we’ve developed Minecraft Education Family Toolkits — designed to help communities spark learning across generations in a safe, engaging, and culturally relevant way. Download here: Aka.ms/minecraftai Watch the video below and see what inclusive, forward-thinking AI skilling can look like.

99% of career services leaders overlook one crucial audience: parents A career services leader came to me with a challenge. Parents weren’t engaging during orientation sessions. Her presentations, filled with valuable information, just weren’t connecting. 😒 No questions, no discussion. 🚨Huge missed opportunity!🚨 Here’s how we turned it around: 🛣 Simplify the message We identified three key takeaways for parents: - Confidence in the institution’s #careerdevelopment support - Clear access to parent resources - Participation in an upcoming parent career event 💻 Create a parent-focused resource Instead of overwhelming parents with details and processes, we created a special webpage just for them. This allowed parents to access the information they can use at their own pace. 💞 Connect emotionally Remember parents show up at these events with a lot of emotions - excitement, sadness, worry, grief. Our messages focused on the fact that students and parents had the career support they would need throughout college. Parents left feeling informed and confident, knowing they had made the right choice for their children’s future. 🚀 😊 When communicating with parents: ✔ Focus on a few key messages and one call to action ✔ Provide a dedicated resource they can refer to later ✔ Build an emotional connection to foster trust and confidence ⏰ If you have not yet been invited to present at first-year orientation, it's time to change that! If you found this helpful, please repost for others! ♻️ ------------ P.S. How have you been successful at engaging parents? P.P.S. Here's me having some mom-daughter time with my college student! #careerservicestransformation #highered #careerservices

☎️ Make the call. I used to coach teachers on communication strategies with parents/guardians and it has been one of the most transferable experiences I’ve taken with me into a career in logistics sales. Back then, I used to think: • Why is it so difficult for teachers to pick up the phone and call a parent/guardian? • Why do teachers resort to behind-the-screen messaging (i.e. classroom app messages or email)? • Why are teachers worried about negative results from parental/guardian outreach? What I learned: ▪️Teachers were communicating with a reactive strategy and not being proactive. ▪️Teachers were only communicating with parents/guardians when their child was underperforming or in trouble. ▪️Teachers were only communicating when they needed something. This behavior created a cloud of negative energy and anxiety amongst many teachers due to the nature of the messages they were sending or responding to. So, how did I propose we shift this negative energy into something positive? ⭐️ Call parents/guardians just to make a brief introduction and inquire about their child’s interests - no strings attached. ⭐️ Call parents/guardians just to express how much you enjoy their child being in their class and share something specific they did or said that was positive that day. ⭐️ Call parents/guardians to share information about upcoming activities, lessons, or events that their child will be asked to participate in. By being proactive in making genuine positive engagement on the front end, teachers build authentic relationships with parents/guardians leading to less anxiety and negative outcomes when they have to make future calls that carry the weight of negative news, concerns, or an ask. The same goes for how we choose to communicate with our clients. #communicationstrategies #coldcall #relationshipbuilding #womeninlogistics #womeninsupplychain