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What self-reports of parent and teacher efforts reveal for reform

October 9, 2024

  • Nearly half (49%) of parents only communicated with teachers once a month or less, and a majority (53%) of parents check this platform once a month or less.
  • When it comes to sharing each week’s topics of instruction to parents before the material is taught, 67% do it sometimes or even less.
  • There is opportunity to expand the capacity of parents and teachers to do a little more.

While self-reporting doesn’t always capture a situation perfectly, it’s useful insight into what reality might be.

For instance, a recent Sutherland Institute poll conducted by Y2 Analytics shows that a higher percentage of parents perceive themselves as very involved in their child’s education than the percentage of teachers that feel parents are very involved.

Likewise, a higher percentage of teachers feel they are making curriculum accessible to parents than the percentage of parents that feel like curriculum is easily accessible.

To understand better what both groups might actually be doing in each of these categories, we reviewed the self-reported actions of each group from our poll with regard to specific parent involvement and certain efforts to share information on curriculum. Here’s what we found.

Parents self-reported involvement

When asked about how involved parents were, 58% of Utah parents surveyed said they are “very involved” in their child’s education. Going deeper, we asked parents about a list of specific ways that they might engage in their child’s education.

When asked how frequently in the past 12 months they made sure their children were not absent from school, 76% of parents said that they did so five or more times a week. Another 11% said they did so 2-4 times per week. Only 8% of parents said that they never did this. In light of a concerningly high percentage of students considered chronically absent in the state, this type of parent involvement seems to be good news, but we should seek how to further assist parents in ensuring kids are attending school.

When it came to making sure their children completed their homework, 45% of parents reported doing this five or more times a week. Another 33% checked 2-4 times a week, meaning a full 78% of parents say they are checking on homework completion multiple times a week.

Some parents go further with homework though. According to the survey, 35% of parents reported checking five or more times per week that their child’s homework had been completed correctly, while another 25% checked 2-4 times a week. So, we can say 60% of parents report also checking the content and quality of homework.

On the flip side, we learn that nearly half (49%) of parents reported only communicating with teachers once a month or less, including never. Perhaps parents often don’t feel they need to when things seem to be going smoothly, but it’s interesting to consider whether communication is primarily going one way, which is communication from teachers to parents.

When it comes to parents accessing what their child[ren] are learning through their school’s learning management system (this is likely Canvas in most cases), a full 27% of parents said they never do this. Another 26% reported checking the learning management system (LMS) once a month or less than once a month to see what they’re learning.

That means altogether, a majority (53%) of parents check this platform once a month or less. This is significant. If teachers are making curriculum information accessible on an LMS, it may not be reaching parents eyes and ears. It’s important to ask what about the current approach to LMS use for sharing what’s being taught is not reaching parents.

Is it a lack of awareness, motivation, interest, or understanding of how to use it? If it’s lack awareness or understanding, then building parents’ capacity to use such tools could mean that when teachers spend time updating these platforms, their time is not wasted and leads to meaningful collaboration with parents as well as students.

Teachers’ self-reported efforts to share curriculum in further detail

Looking at how teachers report their own efforts to communicate information about curriculum to parents is also useful insight into the parent-teacher partnership. When asked how accessible they make their curriculum used inside the classroom, a majority (55%) of teachers say they make it “very accessible.”

Notably, 61% of teachers say they always or most of the time post instructional materials on a program such as Canvas that parents can access to view what curriculum is being taught. Another 14% said they do so sometimes. However, 26% say they rarely or never do.

Basically, while a majority of educators post curriculum to Canvas always or most of the time, there is significant inconsistency with 1 in 4 failing to do so regularly. Policies that help boost teacher capacity to use Canvas (or other LMS) to its highest potential could help these tools become the vehicles of collaboration they are often advertised as being.

There’s no state requirement for teachers to share a full list of topics before or at the beginning of the school year, but 52% say they share this with parents always or most of the time, 16% say they do this sometimes, and 31% say they rarely or never do. This is encouraging on some level. While there has been significant pushback to requiring this of teachers at the state level, it seems possible that teachers could choose to provide this yearly overview if it makes sense for their workload, and perhaps this could be further incentivized. But again, the inconsistency among educators is concerning.

And when it comes to offering each week’s topics of instruction to parents before the material is taught, only 33% say they do this always or most of the time. This leaves 67% that do it sometimes or even less. A weekly communication about what is going to be taught could be a useful tool to parents, especially among those who don’t plan to check daily nor remember curriculum from a yearly view.

It’s clear that while a majority of teachers feel they are providing access, self-reported inconsistency represents a problem that can and ought to be addressed by public policy. There is work to be done in some key areas that we identify as helpful to parents.

Recommendations

What does all of this mean? At the very least these self-reports suggest that teachers and parents are trying to do their part, which is encouraging. It also suggests there is an opportunity to expand the capacity of parents and teachers to do a little more, and policy reform can play an impactful role in closing the gaps.

When it comes to parents, we should make information as easily accessible to them as possible and communicate clearly how we’d like them to be involved. In our recent publication, we argue that this could be accomplished by updating district or school websites or incentivizing teachers to have a clearer communication plan with parents of kids in their classes.

For teachers, we should consider how to reduce any administrative burdens placed on them that impede their ability or natural impulse to collaborate directly with parents. Part of this could be an ongoing commitment to reduce needless mandates and instead offer rewards for voluntarily doing things we hope they do, like partnering with parents by sharing more information.

Such efforts could specifically address the building blocks of a healthy parent-teacher relationship.

Y2 Analytics conducted the survey highlighted in this report.

Methodology Details
n = 560 likely Utah voters and 610 Utah school teachers
Online interviews fielded Aug. 10 – Sept. 5, 2024
Margin of error +- 4.1

Insights: analysis, research, and informed commentary from Sutherland experts. For elected officials and public policy professionals.

  • Nearly half (49%) of parents only communicated with teachers once a month or less, and a majority (53%) of parents check this platform once a month or less.
  • When it comes to sharing each week’s topics of instruction to parents before the material is taught, 67% do it sometimes or even less.
  • There is opportunity to expand the capacity of parents and teachers to do a little more.
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