Suggestions for Keeping Parents/Guardians Informed

There are many ways a district can gain the support of parents/guardians and keep them informed about what is happening in their child's mathematics class. This section includes some suggestions school districts have found useful.

Form a community advisory group.
Present evidence about the effectiveness of the curriculum to the community.
Send an introductory letter.
Send a parent/guardian letter for each new unit.
Send home parent/guardian handbooks.
Send home newsletters.
Keep administrators informed.
Form mathematics labs.

Form a community advisory group.

After deciding to adopt Connected Mathematics, a district can form a committee of people that will be strong advocates for the program. The committee should consist of parents/guardians, teachers, university people (if there is a university in the district), business people (particularly those who appreciate the importance of critical-thinking skills), and administrators. The members of this group can be strong advocates for the program in the early stages of implementation.

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Present evidence about the effectiveness of the curriculum to the community.

One school district created a pamphlet for parents/guardians that included results from several evaluation studies, including studies showing how well other CMP schools did on their state tests.

Conduct parent/guardian workshops at the beginning of the school year and at different stages of implementation during the year. At the beginning of the school year, a district could hold introductory workshops to discuss the following topics:

• the overarching goal of CMP
• evidence of the effectiveness of Connected Mathematics
• implementation strategies
• the mathematics students will study
• the instructional model
• mathematical expectations for students by the end of the year and the end of the program
• the use of calculators and other technology
• the high school mathematics courses students will take after completing the program

In this introductory meeting, it is useful to engage parents/guardians in a problem from one of the student units. This will help demonstrate how understanding and skill are developed in the curriculum.

This meeting is a good time to discuss the use of graphing calculators and to give parents/guardians an opportunity to try out this impressive technology. When parents/guardians see the level of mathematics made accessible through the use of these tools, their discomfort usually is allayed. This would also be an ideal time to discuss ways to make calculators available to all students.

During the first part of the school year, teachers or support personnel can conduct parent/guardian workshops for each new unit. In each workshop, the teacher can present an overview of the goals of the unit and then engage parents/guardians in some of the problems their children will explore. After they have had time to work on the problems, the teacher can hold a discussion about the mathematics involved. If possible, the adults should be shown samples of student work that demonstrate understanding, reasoning, and skill. Each workshop should also include a question-and-answer period during which concerns can be addressed. As they become more comfortable with the curriculum, attendance and questions will decline.

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Send an introductory letter.

Because not all parents/guardians will attend the introductory workshop, it is helpful for the teacher or school to send a letter discussing many of the same issues addressed in the workshop. For a sample letter, go to the Materials To Send Home section.

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Send a parent/guardian letter for each new unit.

As students begin a unit, the teacher can send a letter to parents/guardians stating the goals of the unit and suggesting questions parents/guardians can ask their children. Each Teacher's Guide contains a sample parent/guardian letter for that unit.

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Send home parent/guardian handbooks.

A district can create and send handbooks addressing the mathematics in the units and suggesting ways parents/guardians can help their children. For a handout of the information on this web site about "Helping Parents Help Their Children", go to the Materials To Send Home section. Other ideas for such a handbook would be evidence of CMP's success in other school districts, how CMP matches the district's goals, and sample problems.

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Send home newsletters.

A newsletter is an excellent way to highlight the mathematics students are studying. A newsletter might include student work, stories about student insights or conjectures, a summary of a particularly rich class discussion, or other evidence of achievement. If your district already has a community newsletter, then it may be possible to include news from the mathematics classroom in the newsletter.

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Keep administrators informed.

Administrators and counselors need to be informed about all aspects of the curriculum so that they can address parent/guardian questions or concerns. They should be encouraged to attend the parent/guardian meetings and some of the professional development sessions for teachers. They should also be invited to visit classes and talk with teachers and students. And certainly they should be well versed in what the students are doing, including state and standardized tests and occasional examples of student work.

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Form mathematics labs.

Parents/guardians may have concerns about helping their children with homework or making up work after a student has been absent. Conducting tutoring labs is one way schools can provide additional help to students. In one CMP district, a mathematics lab is held two days a week after school. Students sign up with their mathematics teacher to attend. When students come to the lab, they must have something to do. They might do their homework, work on a past assignment which caused difficulty, organize their notebooks, work on their vocabulary lists, study for a test or quiz, or work on a project. One teacher is in charge of the lab, and high school students work as tutors. The room in which the lab is held should include copies of all the student units and Teacher's Guides and other materials and tools typically found in a mathematics classroom.

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These ideas were taken from the CMP Web site hosted by Michigan State University.