7.1 Introduction

Early childhood professionals know that family engagement is instrumental in helping children achieve goals in their development. However, many educators feel anxious about meeting with families. These feelings may stem from discomfort in talking about challenging behaviors, explaining their child may be behind in development, or simply a lack of experience. Meetings with families can have many purposes and can occur in different settings. This chapter will outline formats for meeting with families in different contexts and will describe strategies for meetings with families informally or formally.

As you have read in previous chapters, families are children’s first and best teachers and advocates. According to the Office of Early Childhood Development, strong family engagement promotes children’s healthy development and wellness in areas of social and emotional development, preparing children for school, transitioning to kindergarten, and supporting academic success as they go through elementary school (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2020).

Meetings have shifted over the years from families being involved to families becoming engaged. Previously, family involvement meant passive participation by sending a newsletter home; inviting parents, family members, or guardians to school events; or asking families to volunteer time or materials. Some families were eager to participate in these kinds of opportunities, but these activities still showed a disconnect between families and educators because the unique needs of families were not a consideration. By promoting family engagement, early childhood professionals can work together as partners with families to achieve goals and increase child development and achievement. The path to family engagement starts with building trusting relationships with families and sharing information or resources. Administrators, directors, and leadership must be sure to offer staff development of skills and strategies for successful meetings and be available to collaborate with teachers, so everyone feels prepared (Schomberg, 2023).

7.2 Family Meetings

Where do early childhood educators start? There are many different parts to think about when meeting with a family. The purpose, type of meeting, setting, and how/what to communicate are important to plan for and understand. In the subsections below, these parts will be broken down and defined.

Common Types of Communication and Meetings

As you get to know and interact with children and their families, you will begin to notice mannerisms, comfort, communication, and rapport you have with the family. Informal and formal communication and meetings both have their place in building trusting relationships (Schomberg, 2023).

Table 7a presents different types of informal communication and meetings with descriptions.

As you can see in Table 7a, there is a lot of information teachers and families share about their child every day. Not only are educators communicating about health, safety and caregiving routines, but also child development, goals, and pedagogy. Much of this happens in face-to-face conversations during pick up and/or drop off, in messaging apps, or email. Newsletters, websites, and family information boards are quick ways to get the same information out to all families but only provide for one-way communication.

Different types of formal communication and meetings with descriptions are identified below in Table 7b.

The formal communication and meetings in Table 7b share strategies of intentional planning and format of formal meetings with families. Documentation should be used in some form whether it be a sign-in sheet, conference review sheet, or email. During the meeting or conference, notes should be taken. The documentation should be objective and state the facts of what was discussed in case someone wants to reference the notes at a later time. This keeps the educators and families accountable. There are other ways to formally meet with families such as a facility tour or enrollment meeting. These kinds of formal meetings provide a balance of policy and professionalism.

Strategies to Facilitate Informal and Formal Meetings

When meeting with families informally or formally, early childhood educators need to know the purpose of the interactions. Daily greetings during arrival and departure can provide time for the teacher and/or family member to share information about the child’s routine and schedule during the day. It is used for sharing celebrations, as well as sharing concerns. Formal meetings can bring to light priorities for the families. Either way, early childhood educators need to be prepared and understand how to communicate effectively.

The informal meeting strategies above in Table 7c will make communication effective and collaborative. The families who are hardest to communicate with may need the most attention. Keep practicing, trying, and offering informal meetings with families. The work will pay off!

When conducting a formal meeting, follow these tips outlined in Table 7d.

Formal meetings are effective ways to share information with families, gain insight, and establish more personal connections. Be prepared and try to anticipate what the family is expecting and any questions they may ask. With these strategies, early childhood educators can use formal meetings to create bonds and show you care about the family as whole.

Settings

Informal and formal meetings take place in a variety of settings. Informal meetings are in casual environments where general information is being delivered.  Formal settings may require a space for confidential conversations. Both environments should feel safe and welcoming. For formal settings, ensure there is enough space and offer adult-size seating. Arrange and organize the materials for the meeting in easy-to-reach areas. This way, the meeting can run efficiently with families and the teacher both focused on the conversation at hand. If possible, sit next to the family, not across from them. Sometimes when educators sit across the table from parents, they may feel intimidating.

Communication

The way early childhood educators communicate with families is important. According to the Building Partnership Series for Early Childhood Professionals: Strategies for Family Engagement: Attitudes and Practices, effective and engaging two-way communication should be clear, consistent, and frequent. Educators should be collaborative, responsive to the family, focused on the family, and help the family connect to community resources. Communication should be strength-based and relationship-based as described in Table 7e below. This information was adapted from the Building Partnerships Series for Early Childhood Professionals.

These strengths and relationships should guide the conversations and interactions with the family. These strategies can help educators tackle hard conversations because the foundational relationship is already established. Uncomfortable or challenging meetings may happen for many different reasons. The anxiety many feel stems from not knowing what will happen or what the reaction of the family will be. Without the strength-based and relationship-based approaches, there is more room for misunderstandings or conflicts to arise. Being proactive and responsive are much easier than having a falling out and working to regain and rebuild trust and respect.

Goal Setting

Effective goal setting in early childhood education begins with a collaborative approach that acknowledges the dynamic nature of a child’s development. Goal setting is the process of identifying specific, measurable objectives to support a child’s or family’s growth and development. Goal setting is an ongoing process because children are constantly developing and changing. Goals may be focused on the child or the family. Goal setting with families should be collaborative, and goals for home should overlap with educational goals (National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement, 2024). This overlap indicates there is buy-in from the school or program and the family. Goals should be based on something specific to the child/family and measurable by the educator and the family. Once an area of growth is identified, the educator and family start to brainstorm by using questions such as those outlined in Table 7f.

7.3 Family-Teacher Conferences

Family-teacher conferences are formal meetings where the conversation revolves around the child. Regularly scheduled conferences are important to bridge the gap between the child’s school day and home. Early childhood educators need to recognize that families may have different feelings about meeting with a teacher, depending on their past experiences in school, word of mouth, or lack of communication. This section will highlight the important elements of an engaging, collaborative family-teacher conference.

Wisconsin Administrative Code DCF 251 shares regulations for conferences as a means to communicate with parents in early childhood programs. DCF 251.04 4(c) states on page 11, (c) “The center shall offer conferences at least twice each year for parent and staff communication regarding the child’s adjustment to the program and the child’s growth and development.” View or download the Wisconsin Administrative Code DCF 251 PDF.

Define the Purpose

Conferences provide an uninterrupted time set aside for families and educators to allow an exchange of ideas and gain insight from each other. They provide a framework for formulating future goals and working plans. Use the outline in below as a starting point for planning for a formal conference or meeting (Keyser, 2017).

Prior to the Conference:

• Communicate conferences are coming up and send information for families to save the dates in their calendar. You want to do this 2-4 weeks ahead of time. Send the information home in multiple ways to ensure families receive it and can set aside the time. Be sure to also put in reminders to save the date.
  • Describe what the conference is for.
    • Conferences are usually centered on the whole child’s growth in the domains of Health and Physical Development, Social Emotional Development, Language and Communication Development, Approaches to Learning and Cognition, and General Knowledge.
  • Share the agenda of the meeting.
  • Prepare observations and assessments and how you will explain them to families.
  • The child’s current abilities are shared with the family and information is exchanged to compare between the different settings the child is in.
  • Questions or prompts are given to the families to start a conversation about priorities for their child and for the family.
• Be sure to do the following:
  • Use multiple modes of communication.
  • Allow families an opportunity to think about questions before the conference.
  • Send reminders.
  • Use a shared document like Google docs to have families sign up on their own time.
  • Set meeting dates but offer flexibility if needed.
• Avoid the following:
  • Limiting scheduling for daytime conferences only
  • Providing last minute announcements of conferences
  • Scheduling all your conferences in a row to give yourself a break and be able to document in between if needed

During the Conference

• Greet the family, ask if they have any questions right away.
• Ask open-ended questions about any of the family’s observations and/or updates and have a conversation summarizing what was shared with you.
• Share the child’s assessment information (portfolio, work samples, pictures, screener/assessment scoring sheet, observations, development information).
  • Allow time for the family to ask questions or make comments or connections.
  • Discuss which information from the family’s perspective can be added. This will give more authentic data.
  • Discuss goals for the child and make plans on how to support the child at home and at school.
• Thank the family for their involvement and invite families to participate in the classroom.
• Be sure to do the following:
  • Help families feel at ease.
  • Begin with a positive attitude and state phrases positively. (For example, instead of saying “He can’t,” say, “He is still working on.”)
  • Ask open-ended questions to encourage family participation.
  • Be aware of body language and nonverbal communication.
  • Be as objective as you can and do not judge or make assumptions. Be neutral.
• Avoid the following:
  • Speaking at the families as the “expert”
  • Using acronyms like DAP (developmentally appropriate practice) that families aren’t aware of
  • Rushing to give solutions
  • Using negative language or evaluations
  • Throwing too much information at the family without asking if they have questions
  • Using subjective language and placing value based on bias
  • Taking sides between split families

After the Conference:

• Organize and finish notes while the conversation and ideas are fresh in your memory.
• Document the goals you talked about with families
• Write down any “to-dos” on an ongoing list with specific names if needed. (For example, “Be sure to send home another newsletter for Perry’s mom.”)
• Thank families for participating in conferences and spending time to talk.
• Be sure to do the following:
  • Use your notes and goals for individual and group planning.
  • Reassess, follow-up, and monitor progress of the goals.
  • Send updates to the family.
• Avoid the following:
  • Not looking at the information or not using it for planning
  • Throwing everything into a file and saying you will get to organizing “later”
  • Not being specific in notes written down after the conference because it is easy to get the information mixed up with multiple children

Different Kinds of Conferences

Remember, there are various types of conferences held for different purposes, each requiring a specific approach from early childhood educators. These may include formal meetings arranged by outside service professionals such as birth to three or school district personnel and include meetings such as Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) conferences. Meetings such as these focus on creating and reviewing specific developmental or educational goals for children with unique needs. Educators may also participate in meetings with administrators or directors to discuss broader concerns, such as classroom strategies, program improvements, or compliance with regulations. Additionally, conferences may be arranged to address specific concerns, such as a child’s behavior or developmental progress, requiring sensitivity and effective communication to ensure a productive outcome. The outline provided in above serves as a valuable resource, offering strategies to help you prepare for these interactions, build positive relationships with families, and foster a collaborative environment focused on supporting the child’s development.

Tips for Difficult Conversations

There are complex issues that will come up in every classroom. Effective early childhood educators are able to remain calm, listen actively, and help the family move forward. There are two different kinds of problems that may come up according to Kaiser (pp. 86-99): parent-owned problems and teacher-owned problems. Parent-owned problems deal with challenges families face that are happening with their child at home or issues that are stressful to them personally.

Here are some suggested steps to help navigate conversations around parent owned problems:

• Listen and be open-minded and empathetic. What might be a concern for families, may not be something the teacher is worried about. View the problem through the family’s eyes.
• Restate and reaffirm. Provide encouragement and validation to the families so they feel heard.
• Ask what the parent would like to happen. Hopefully, this gets them on a track of starting to solve the problem.
• Offer information about child development if appropriate and share resources that apply, such as online, parent groups, advocacy groups, etc.
• Make a plan to check back in with the parent.

Teacher-owned problems are challenges when an educator must share difficult news with them about their child at school. These conversations can be confusing if the educator has not thought through what they will say. Educators must be clear with the issues at hand and leave out judgment. Ideally, the relationship with the family will help the educator get information and insight to what is going on with the child in the family or at the home.

Here are some suggested steps to help navigate conversations around teacher-owned problems:

• Greet families and allow adequate time to talk and for you to share what you are observing. If there isn’t time, see what times could be available for a conversation.
• Listen to their feelings and questions and ask for their input and ideas. Families may have special routines, rituals, or safe places their child goes to when they have an issue at home.
• Use your observations to suggest the function of the behavior being shown. What is the child communicating and what are the triggers?
• Explain how you are handling the behavior and the effect it is having. Are things getting better, worse, or staying the same?
• Clarify why you are sharing the information and ask them if they have any questions. Encourage them to contact you if they have any other ideas but try to land on a plan and check back.

For any conversation with families, whether it is sharing developmental issues/updates or discussing concerns, remember to 1. offer support, 2. discuss the issue objectively, and 3. end by identifying resolution on both parts. Whenever possible, utilize the agency resources you have compiled to offer additional support where and when needed.

7.4 Home Visits

Home visits are just as they sound: days and times set aside where an early childhood professional meets with the family in their home environment. The home visiting model is effective because the early childhood professionals begin to know the family in a more intimate way. Through home visits, early childhood educators support families to be responsive to their child, create safe and healthy learning environments, and create learning opportunities that are embedded in the routines at home and with the materials at home (Head Start, 2019).

Home Visiting Models

Home visiting programs provide services to meet the needs of individual families by offering support, information, and guidance in their home environment, where families are most comfortable. Home visiting supports pregnant women, families with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to establish and build on collaborative relationships with parents and guardians. Home visits initially began to offer families who were experiencing challenges or struggling to learn how to support their child’s development and keep them safe (Peterson, Carla A., et al. 2018). Many programs utilize home visiting as a central tool to promote healthy development of the child, school readiness, positive parent-child relationships, parent and family well-being, family economic self-sufficiency, and family functioning (National Home Visiting Resource Center, 2019). Home visits are almost always a routine, or mandatory part of enrollment in programs such as Head Start, Early Head Start, Title 1, Birth to 3 Early Intervention, and Public Health programs.

The National Home Visiting Resource Center (NHVRC) used data from 17 models recognized as evidence based by the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) project to create a national profile of home visiting in 2023 (National Profile 2024). Visit the National Home Visiting Resource Center’s Models webpage to dig deeper into the models and services they provide. Home visits can be helpful in getting to know the child and family as seen in Figure 7b below.

Planning Home Visits

When educators work in programs that utilize home visits, they are trained and skilled in effective communication techniques. In programs like Head Start, they are often done at the beginning of the school year or when a new child enters a program. When educators invite themselves into families’ homes, they are prepared and polite. Families will have a variety of feelings when a stranger of authority (real or perceived) enters the home. Many families will be wary and need to be reassured for the purpose of the visits. Some families will clean every inch of the house, some will leave the TV on, some will have pets, some will not care or clean, and some may have an interesting smell. The early childhood educator must be able to juggle many different types of environments while maintaining professionalism and building rapport. When planning a home visit, use these tips from the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) article from Teaching Young Children:

• Call families first
  • Phone calls are more personal than text messages or emails.  Writing a script of what to say helps to keep your introduction clear and concise. Be sure to get the correct pronunciation of names.
    • “Hi, this is Katie from Head Start. How are you? I am calling to introduce myself. I will be having your child in my classroom this year. We are so excited to start! How are they feeling? One of the things we do in Head Start is visit the home. We do this to introduce ourselves to your child and we can have time set aside for answering questions and getting to know your child and you! The visits will last about 20-30 minutes. Is there a day or time that works best for you?
• Look up the addresses beforehand.
• Be on time.
• Bring supplies or whatever is needed (e.g., notebook, paperwork if needed, engaging classroom materials, camera, calendar, introduction letter, etc.). It is important to not overwhelm the family with information and paperwork, so bring only the necessities. Use the cues they give you and listen.
• Greet the family by name and introduce yourself. Behave as a guest.
• Actively listen and be culturally responsive to the unique needs of the family.
  • If there are translators in the home with you, be sure to look at the parent when speaking, not the interpreter.
  • Tailor your interactions that are appropriate for adults and engaging for children. Share the attention between both.
• Take detailed notes and ask questions about the family and the child.
• Wrap up the visit within the agreed upon time limit. Review what you talked about and give any reminders. Finally, leave on a positive note and thank the family for their time and allowing you to visit their home.

NOTE: It is recommended to go on home visits with another person like an assistant teacher for safety.

Early childhood educators who have done regular home visits find them to be particularly helpful and meaningful in understanding and getting to know the child and family. The amount of time and planning is well worth the investment and, if done well, can jump start a child’s journey in the program.

7.5 Conclusion

In this chapter, key strategies and approaches for conducting successful family-teacher meetings, both formal and informal, have been explored. By recognizing the purpose and goals of family-teacher conferences, educators can foster more meaningful partnerships with families, ultimately benefiting student learning and development. The role of home visits was also examined and how they are used by various community agencies to strengthen relationships between educators and families, providing valuable insights into the home environment and supporting personalized approaches to student success.

Ultimately, the success of family-teacher collaboration hinges on clear communication, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to the student’s well-being. As educators, cultivating these relationships is not only about meeting academic needs but also about supporting the whole child and their family within the broader community context. By utilizing the strategies and practices outlined in this chapter, teachers can create a supportive, inclusive learning environment where both students and families feel valued and engaged.

Learning Activities

7.6 References

Head Start. (2019). What makes home visiting so effective? http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/family-engagement/home-visitors-online-handbook/what-makes-home-visiting-so-effective

Keyser, J. (2017). From parents to partners: Building a family-centered early childhood program. Redleaf Press.

Lampe, J. K. (2019a). Knock, knock…Who’s there? The benefits of home visits in the early years. Teaching Young Children, 12(5). https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/aug2019/benefits-of-home-visits

National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement. (2021). Building partnership series for early childhood professionals: Strategies for family engagement: Attitudes and practices [PDF]. First Up. https://www.firstup.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Family-Engagement.pdf

National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement. (2024). The family partnership process: Engaging and goal-setting with families [PDF]. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/publication/family-partnership-process-engaging-goal-setting-families

National Home Visiting Resource Center. (2019). Home visiting primer. James Bell Associates and the Urban Institute. https://www.jbassoc.com/resource/home-visiting-primer/

National Profile 2024. (2024). Who is being served? National Home Visiting Resource Center. http://nhvrc.org/state_profile/national-profile-2024/

Peterson, C. A., Dooley, L. J., & Fan, L. (2018). Home visiting programs: Supporting relationships and healthy development. Young Children, 73(4), 36–41. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26783658

Schomberg, C. (2023). Engaging with families. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. http://dpi.wi.gov/engaging-families

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2020). Family engagement. The Administration for Children and Families. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/family-engagement

Virtual Lab School. (2023). Promoting family engagement: Communicating with families. http://www.virtuallabschool.org/fcc/family-engagement/lesson-3

Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. (2023). Wisconsin administrative code DCF 251: Licensing rules for group child care centers and child care programs established or contracted for by school boards [PDF]. https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/files/publications/pdf/205.pdf

Images:

Figure 7a: Aitubo. (2024). Flux (v1.0). [AI image generator]. https://creator.aitubo.ai/

Figure 7b: Aitubo. (2024). Flux (v1.0). [AI image generator]. https://creator.aitubo.ai/