Building Strong Family Partnerships Through Communication
Why early, positive contact with families matters, plus eight scripts to help teachers start hard conversations about academics, behavior, and attendance.
Partnering with families should happen long before you bring up concerns about their students.
Throughout my years as a principal, I encouraged teachers to reach out early and often with the positives. Get to know your students. Learn their likes and dislikes. Share something specific you noticed, a success they had, or a special interaction you shared with the parent or guardian. Those small connections build trust with families and let them know that you know and care about their child.
Then, if a student begins to struggle academically, behaviorally, or with attendance, the first conversation is not the first connection.
Even when strong relationships are in place, finding the right words for a difficult conversation can still feel intimidating. We created scripts to help teachers navigate these conversations.
They are not meant to be read word for word or replace authentic conversation. Instead, they provide teachers with a starting point and language they can make their own.
We want teachers to be the first line of communication for their students. Early, positive, and honest communication helps build the family partnerships we need to identify concerns, provide support, and work together toward successful outcomes for every student.
Ladderly. Helping Teachers Help Students
MTSS Parent/Guardian Communication Scripts
You may consider using the example scripts below as a starting point for your own conversations with families.
Screening Results Show a Need for Additional Support
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to check in with you about [Student's Name].
We recently completed our universal screening assessments, and the results show that [Student's Name] is having some difficulty with [specific skill].
[Student's Name] will continue to receive regular classroom instruction, and we are also going to provide additional time and support in [skill area] for the next six weeks.
We will monitor progress along the way and then review the data to see how [Student's Name] is responding and what we need to do next.
I wanted to make sure you knew what we are seeing and what we are putting in place to help.
Is there anything you are noticing at home that would be helpful for us to know?
Do you have any questions for me?
Literacy Plan or Additional Support
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to visit with you about [Student's Name]'s recent literacy screening results.
The results show that [Student's Name] needs some additional support with [phonemic awareness/phonics/decoding/fluency/comprehension].
[Student's Name] will continue to receive regular literacy instruction in the classroom. We are also going to provide additional time and targeted support in [specific skill] for the next six weeks.
As part of that support, we will put a literacy plan in place that identifies what we are working on and how we will monitor progress.
We will check [Student's Name]'s progress regularly and review the results after six weeks to determine our next steps.
I wanted to make sure you knew about the plan and had an opportunity to ask questions.
Is there anything you are noticing about reading at home that would be helpful for us to know?
Building Connection and Classroom Success
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to check in about [Student's Name].
We are noticing that [Student's Name] is having some difficulty with [specific behavior or classroom expectation].
We want [Student's Name] to feel connected, safe, and successful in the classroom. At school, we are working to teach and reinforce our classroom expectations and help [him/her/them] build the skills needed to be successful.
We could use your help, too. Would you talk with [Student's Name] about [specific expectation] and help reinforce that same message at home?
Is there anything you are noticing at home or anything you think would help us better support [Student's Name]?
We really want to work together to help [Student's Name] be successful.
Adding Targeted Support
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to visit with you about [Student's Name].
We have been working with [Student's Name] on [specific behavior or expectation], but we are still seeing some difficulty.
We will continue the classroom supports already in place and add some additional support to help [Student's Name] be successful.
For the next [time period], we will focus specifically on [skill or behavior], provide additional teaching and encouragement, and monitor how things are going.
We would really appreciate your help reinforcing this goal at home as well.
We will review [Student's Name]'s progress and keep you updated.
What are you noticing at home, and is there anything you think would help us better support [Student's Name]?
Developing an Individualized Plan
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to talk with you about how we can provide some additional support for [Student's Name].
We have been providing support for [specific behavior or skill], but the information we are collecting shows that [Student's Name] needs more individualized support.
Our team would like to look more closely at when and why the behavior is happening so we can better understand what [Student's Name] needs to be successful.
We will continue the support already in place while our team develops a more individualized plan.
Your input is really important to us. We want to understand what you are seeing at home, what works well for [Student's Name], and anything else you think would help us.
We will work together, monitor progress, and keep you involved as we determine the best support for [Student's Name].
Adding Targeted Instruction
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to check in with you about [Student's Name] and how things are going in math.
We have been working on [specific math skill], and our data show that [Student's Name] needs some additional support in this area.
[Student's Name] will continue to receive regular math instruction with the class. In addition, we are going to provide some extra time and targeted instruction in [specific skill] for the next six weeks.
We will monitor [Student's Name]'s progress regularly to see how [he/she/they] is responding to the additional support. At the end of six weeks, we will review the progress and determine our next steps.
I wanted to make sure you knew about the additional support and had an opportunity to ask questions.
Is there anything you are noticing about math at home that would be helpful for us to know?
Increasing Individualized Support
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to visit with you about [Student's Name] and the support we have been providing in math.
We have been providing additional instruction in [specific math skill], and we have been monitoring [Student's Name]'s progress. The information we are collecting shows that [he/she/they] continues to need more intensive support.
[Student's Name] will continue to receive regular classroom math instruction. We are also going to increase the amount of targeted support and focus more specifically on [skill or area of need].
We may also complete some additional assessments to help us better understand where [Student's Name] is having difficulty and make sure our instruction matches what [he/she/they] needs.
We will continue to monitor progress closely and adjust the support based on how [Student's Name] responds.
Your input is important to us. What are you noticing about math at home, and is there anything you think would help us better support [Student's Name]?
Initial Teacher Reach Out
Hi, this is [Teacher Name]. I wanted to check in because we have missed having [Student's Name] in class.
I have noticed that [Student's Name] has missed [number of days/several days/some instructional time] recently, and I wanted to reach out to make sure everything is okay.
Being at school regularly really helps [Student's Name] stay connected to our classroom, keep up with learning, and feel like an important part of our class.
Is there anything getting in the way of [Student's Name] being at school regularly that we should know about or might be able to help with?
We really enjoy having [Student's Name] in our class and want to work with you to help [him/her/them] be here and be successful.
Thank you for talking with me. Please know that we are here to help.