Communication in a Crisis: How Administrators and Teachers Communicated With Families and Students

• In Event: Lessons From the Past, Present, and Future: The Evolving K–12 Responses to the COVID Crisis

Abstract

In the best of times, positive, proactive, home-school communication can be a challenge for schools, yet it is crucially important for family involvement and student achievement (Epstein, 2001; Grant & Ray, 2018). During the shift to remote learning for COVID-19, policies, expectations, and procedures were constantly changing as the local, state, and federal policies changed in response to the virus. Communication from administrators to teachers; schools to families; and teachers to students was not only essential, but also frequently changed and often employed methods and platforms underutilized in the past (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020; Reimers & Schleicher, 2020). Although some schools had plans for continuous learning for natural disasters, few had activated them before (Schwartz et al., 2020). Recognizing the range of access for families to technology, schools had to develop communication plans that engaged families and students through both off-line and on-line methods (McNeill, 2020; Reimers, & Schleicher, 2020).

This study was part of a larger mixed-methods study of educators’ experiences teaching remotely during COVID-19 in Spring 2020. Utilizing168 survey responses and 24 interviews, it used qualitative data to explore quantitative findings from the survey (Wisdom & Creswell, 2013). The educators who completed the survey and participated in the interviews represented a wide range of teaching experiences: classroom teacher to specialist; rural to urban; and private to public.

The findings focus on two areas of communication: 1) from administrators to educators and 2) from schools/educators to families. The sudden shift to remote learning was unprecedented and the communication from administration to educators was frequent and changing. Some educators felt that their administration and teams for developing remote learning plans articulated the plans well and handled the ambiguity and instability of the situation well. About half the educators felt that they were well supported by the administration with their remote learning plans. Others felt that they “were left on their own” to figure it out. When communicating the school’s remoting learning plans to families, over half the educators felt their administration clearly communicated with families. There was a variety of styles that schools adopted for remote learning, from paper packets sent home to fully virtual, synchronous classes. The amount of contact with families by each teacher also varied, depending on the guidelines from the district, the technology available, and the grade level of the students. Many elementary teachers mentioned school requirements of weekly, and sometimes daily contact with students. Educators typically used email and the Learning Management System, but also phone calls and some home visits. One of the complaints educators heard from parents was that their schools were using too many different platforms and teachers weren’t coordinating communication with families, which led to an overload for parents/guardians.

Although most schools have communication plans for both within school and home-school connections, these plans will need to be adjusted for the realities of remote learning. This study documents the variety of platforms and processes teachers experienced during emergency remote learning in an effort to highlight effective communication strategies and areas for improvement.

Authors

• Suzanne L. Porath, Kansas State University

• Cynthia Emery

• Lucas Shivers