When I taught at the elementary level it was easy to communicate with the parents of 25 students. Now that I’m teaching science at the middle school, I’m overwhelmed by the thought of trying to communicate personally with more than 150 parents. I’d like to go beyond quarterly progress reports or just posting grades online. —B., Massachusetts

Contacting and communicating with parents* is important in forming a positive relationship to benefit the students. With 150 students in five to six different classes and several subjects, even a goal of weekly contacts is challenging, given the other responsibilities of teaching science.

From my experience, it seems that secondary parents are not in the schools as much. They are not as involved in parent-teacher organizations or in participating in open house events or conferences as they might have been when their children were younger. And many parents cannot take phone calls during their work hours or take time off for school events. So at the secondary level you may have to rely more on other forms of communication.

It may be helpful to develop a plan for parent involvement. What information is necessary to distribute to everyone? What information is student-specific? How can you document both kinds of communications? How much time do you have to spend on this? What kinds of communication are available in your school?

At the beginning of the year, you can send a newsletter or syllabus with information about you, your expectations, and what students will learn during the year. At this time you could also include your Safety Acknowledgment Form for a parent’s review and signature. If your school does not provide parent contact information, this could be a way of getting e-mail addresses or phone numbers. Some teachers send an updated newsletter for the spring semester, too.

Share your school e-mail address (rather than a personal one) for a record of your communications with parents. You should carefully consider whether or not you want to give out your home phone or personal cell phone number to parents or students. (I know teachers who use a separate cell phone for school business. Their greetings provide the school phone number for emergencies and request that callers provide a reason for the call and a time when they are available for a callback.) Explain in your newsletter and phone greeting you can’t always return calls or respond to email or texts immediately during the day when classes are in session, but you will reply as promptly as possible.

Throughout the year, you could send a quick e-mail or text about television programs related to your subject or interesting events at local museums, libraries, or science centers.

Instead of waiting until there is a problem, take the initiative and contact parents with good news about their child through a quick e-mail or text. Share information about an activity the student is doing in class or a project he or she is working on. Some teachers forward photos of the student engaged in a classroom activity (I’d be cautious about having other students identifiable in the photo because of privacy issues). This may sound like a lot of work, but if you do a few messages each day, it becomes part of your routine.

My high school had a “Good News” project. Teachers were encouraged to send postcards (provided by the school and created by graphic arts students) to parents to share positive student events: participation in a class activity, successful projects, or interesting discussions. The school secretary would address and mail them. E-mail works, too, but getting something in the mail is special, and it’s helpful for parents who do not have e-mail or texting capabilities. It was worth a few minutes of effort on my part and a postage stamp: I had a call from a parent who said that her son was feeling down after not making a traveling soccer squad. When they got the postcard describing his outstanding project, she said her son was elated. Another parent called in tears—it was the first time she had heard anything positive about her daughter from a school.)

You’ll eventually find that you have several templates for these communications that can be customized for each student. And you’ve set the stage for additional communications, if or when there is a problem.

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*I’m using word “parents” here, but I’m aware that other adults may play important roles in students’ lives: guardians, step-parents, grandparents or other relatives, foster parents, and other caregivers. These ideas apply to all. The school should have information on the relationship and contact information.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spcummings/361167519/