Literacy Matters - Winter 2020

Both kindergarten teachers described classroom newsletters as an ongoing form of communication with children’s families and caregivers. One kindergarten teacher explained how children contributed to the newsletter by sharing events as “News of the Day.”This teacher also recommended having the newsletter translated into family’s languages other than English when possible. Discussion and Implications As described above, this study included a rubric designed by the authors of this study for examining teacher-maintained webpages according to criteria based on dynamic, informative, and usable school-home communication. Our criteria looked for teacher- maintained websites that included up-to-date information laid out for students and caregivers. These websites consisted of classroom schedules, extra resources for students and caregivers, and contact information for caregivers to get in touch and provide feedback to teachers. The communication between caregivers and teachers can also be described within the website through email or applications that the teacher uses to report and update caregivers. The rubric entry for a highly rated teacher website is included in Table 2. Another example of a highly rated teacher-maintained website is described in the implications and “how-to” section of this article. Although findings from the webpage study showed that teacher made websites varied in quality and content across the state and within schools, the presence of websites was consistent. A description of additional forms of communication follows. These are organized by Traditional and Alternative Communication methods. Traditional communication methods are those that existed before the use of electronic communication with caregivers but continue to be used by teachers today. Alternative communication methods follow, where examples of teacher apps and practices rely on technology to provide timely and informative messages on curriculum, behaviors, events, etc. To close, three methods

Average websites received between 3-5 points from our checklist. Of the 292 teacher websites that we analyzed, 26% of teacher websites were in this category. They met less than half of all the criteria that we considered but served as a website that gave caregivers access to different forms of information. Most of the websites in this category included the ability to communicate in a variety of different languages and open communication between the teacher and the caregiver. In addition, they gave caregivers open access to grading sites. Websites that were rated on the rubric as Below Average received between 0-2 points from our checklist and were grouped with teachers who had no websites as well. Of the 292 teacher websites that we analyzed, 66% of the sites were in this category. Typically, these websites were lacking nearly all (if not all) the criteria that were considered in the study. As so, these websites lacked open communication between caregivers and teachers, opportunities for feedback, extra resources, and games for children to play at home and did not serve to share school events with caregivers. For examples of comparative school results, see Table 1. Anecdotal Evidence of Teachers’ Communication Methods other than Teacher Websites All five classroom teachers gave evidence of electronic communication with apps in use with families and caregivers. The immediacy of the communication being able to occur as the classroom event was reported as a benefit of the apps. The accessibility of the apps for use with cell phones compared to webpages and other electronic devices that might require a different type of technology (i.e., computer) were positive attributes mentioned. Not all teachers at any one school used the same app. Although this was not noted as a concern with the teachers, it could mean that families and caregivers were responsible for having the technological knowledge for different apps for different children’s classrooms.

Reading Matters Reserch Matters

Criteria

School

K-1 2-3 4-5

Parent Teacher Association (PTA/PTO) Access to Homework Assignments

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Opportunities for Volunteers - Classroom Help Opportunities for Volunteers - School Help Schedule of School Events (Report Cards, Progress Reports, Ceremonies/Events) School Newsletter Open Visitation (Can we eat lunch with our children? Can I visit during activities?) Knowledge of Classroom Schedule Frequency of Volunteer Opportunities (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Semester, Year) Availability of Communication in Multiple Languages Announcement Communication through Text Messaging Announcement Communication through Phone Calls Announcement Communication through E-Mail Social Media Accounts Extra Resources for Children Classroom Newsletter Opportunities for Feedback Open Communication (Can I always talk to the principal or my child’s teacher?) Open Access to Powerschool/Grading sites

✔

✔

✔ ✔

✔

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

✔

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✔ ✔ ✔ Table 2: Exemplary teacher webpage showing individual teacher ratings

Literacy Matters | Volume 20 • Winter 2020 | scira.org | 37

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