Expert Tips for Welcoming Families Back to School This Fall

To all of you who work in education, we know you are working day and night right now to figure out how to help our kids feel a sense of security, connectedness, and stability so they are ready to learn this fall.

No matter where you are in the world, this fall will be unusual. Many of the rituals of fall that provide families, students, teachers and school staff an important touchpoint during the start of the school year are going to have to be reimagined. “Back to School Nights,” welcome events, and home visits are being adapted as I type this to limit the spread of COVID-19 and to heal from trauma together, while forging the important new bonds needed between teachers, students, and parents.
​

Back-to-School 2020

​We have heard from many families eager to redefine relationships between school and home during the upcoming school year. To support a strong start this fall, we are curating relevant family engagement research and emerging best practices to help school leaders and educators welcome families into a new school year in a living report “Back-to-School 2020: Expert Tips to Support School-Family Partnership in Flexible Learning Environments.” We will continue to add new tips that promote parent-teacher collaboration to support student learning. 

We are adding new resources and innovative practices to this document regularly. To contribute to this resource, complete this brief survey.

Through this survey, you can recognize a teacher or administrator who is doing something extraordinary this fall to connect with families. Share their story with us, and we will send them a $10 gift card for the first 20 we receive.