ABSTRACT
Communicating with parents has become an increasingly important teacher role. Effective family–community–school connections require expanded communication skills among teachers and other school personnel. This chapter focuses on three aspects of communication important to this connection, beginning with the value and status of traditional modes of school–family communications. Cross-cultural communication modes are addressed as means to facilitate educators' ability to engage in sensitive and responsive communication with individuals from numerous backgrounds. Teachers communicate with parents in multiple venues and for multiple reasons. While traditional school-family communication practices continue to exist, some have been altered, and new communication practices have emerged to address family change. Written communication to parents in the form of notes and newsletters is a common practice among individual teachers and schools. Schools or teachers who use newsletters as means for communicating with parents must take into consideration literacy and language issues when deciding on the value of the newsletter as a communication tool.
