Dive Brief:
- Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Michelle King's new "listen and learn" tour is leaving some parents feeling dissatisfied.
- At a recent stop at Nightingale Middle School, King ducked out 10 minutes early, leaving staffers to field parents' concerns, the Los Angeles Times reports.
- At each of the 20 stops King has made so far, she has explained her priorities and taken comments and questions from attendees via note card.
Dive Insight:
While the "listen and learn" tour could be a great way to foster better communication and understanding between communities and district officials, it's important for those involved to be engaged. Through these stops, King is certainly fostering some good will, yet attention must be paid to all parents with concerns so that no one feels left out or like their voice hasn't been heard.
Parent engagement is crucial to student performance, and can also alleviate or even prevent behavioral problems. School leaders can utilize the U.S. Department of Education's 2014 parental involvement framework as a blueprint for best practices, or experiment with innovative tactics with new digital models or videoconferencing, or academic parent-teacher teams. The latter model is gaining popularity for encouraging ongoing communication and clear academic goals that can be reinforced at home.