How important is communication between parents and teachers?

As a parent, have you ever wondered if you are bugging your child's teacher too much or not enough? How about when conferences come around, what should you ask?

I wanted to know more about the importance of relationships between parents and teachers so I met up with some.

Charles Sowders has been teaching at Discovery Middle School for 21 years. He says communication between parents and teachers is important and has changed, in a good way, thanks to technology.

“We have an online grade book. On the student side they call it HAC, Home Access Center. We call it TAC, teacher access center. It is basically a teacher's grade book online,” explains Sowders.

This means no more surprises for parents. They also have a website called Canvas. It's a daily blog about what is taking place in class and helps students who are absent.

“When we first got the online grade book several years ago, I think we thought we might be bombarded with parent phone calls but it was just the opposite,” says Sowders. “I would love to hear from each parent at least once throughout the school year. That doesn't happen.”

Janee Carlile has a 3rd grader at North Point Elementary. Since they don't have anything like an online grade book, she says more communication during the school year would be beneficial.

“I hear from the teacher every single day from a group perspective, however, on the individual basis, not so much. Like I said, if I am not hearing anything I am assuming that my child is doing okay,” says Carlile.

Carlile says she would like to get updates on how her child is doing and what is she struggling with. “Hey, if they are seeing a gift in our child, we need to pursue that a little bit more,” she added.

A lot of parent/teacher communication happens during conferences. Sowders says they have an open house as well as student lead conferences.

“The student lead conferences are what take place instead of what we used to call parent teacher conferences and it is better because it is not just students taking parents through their work, all the teachers are here,” says Sowders.

At these conferences Sowders says he would like to hear questions from parents like…

-Why is writing important?

-How are you teaching it?

-How can I help my kid?

-How can I get involved?

-And how have you seen my child improve?

“Teachers look forward to the parent contacts. They look forward to them. I want a parent to be able to email me knowing I will be very receptive to a concern, problem or something congratulatory,” he continues.

Carlile says she only has one parent/teacher conference a year. So, right off the bat, you know that time is important.

“They give 10 or 15 minutes and of course it is like a doctor's office, you go in and they are running late so you get in there and you've got 5 minutes,” Carlile explains.

That's why she would like teachers to let parents know what to expect. That way they can be prepared, get questions together and take full advantage of that time. Again, she says she would like to know…

-What is my child struggling with?

-How can I help at home?

-What is my child good at?

-And when is the best time to contact you if that conference time isn't enough?

“Just to know that they have open hours between a certain time just to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, I was concerned about the test last week let me know what we need to work on,’” continues Carlile.

Remember, every situation is different. Make sure you talk to your child’s teacher to see when they like to be contacted and how.

You can join our conversation on Facebook,

.