Partnering With Parents in Elementary School Math: A Guide for Teachers and Leaders

I wasn't taught this way. I can't help my child! These are common refrains from today's parents and guardians, who are often overwhelmed, confused, worried, and frustrated about how to best support their children with what they see as the "new math". The problem has been compounded by the shift to more distance learning in response to a global pandemic. Partnering With Parents in Elementary School Math provides educators with long overdue guidance on how to productively partner and communicate with families about their children's mathematics learning. it includes reproducible surveys, letters, and planning documents that can be used to improve the home-school relationship, which in turn helps students, parents, teachers, and education leaders alike. Readers will find guidance on how to:

Understand and empathize with what fuels parents' anxieties and concerns

Align as a school and set parents' expectations about what math instruction their children will experience and how it will help them

Communicate early and productively with parents about their students' progress, strengths, and needs in math

Run informative and fun family events

Support homework

Coach parents to portray a productive disposition about math in front of their children

Educators, families, and students are best served when proactive, productive, and healthy relationships have been developed with each other and the realities of today's math education. This guide shows how these relationships can be built.