Amanda Ferris, Trainer Middle School Teacher, Doesn't Give Up on Students

I feel so blessed by the experience of doing Parent Teacher Home Visits. One of the messages I give is that I am not going to give up on their child. Once I build that connection with the parent, they get it that I am there 200% for their child.

I found that at first the kids are scared because they don't know what to expect when I come to their home. But after it goes so well, they start asking me when am I coming back to their home?

During a home visit I create a relationship with the parent that proves powerful for the child, the parent and for me. Then I work to empower them to be their child's advocate. This results in the students' motivation growing and a jump in the parents' participation in school activities.

One child, Anna*, was so quiet and didn't try at all when I first met her. I did a home visit and found that the family was really struggling financially despite the dad working all the time. But, after the home visit, Anna opened up at school, began to do her work, tried harder, and her confidence grew. Then, her mom became very involved and attended the school events and activities. They both knew that I cared about Anna and her future. I am so happy to report that she got accepted into the International Baccalaureate Program at Wooster High School, which is very competitive, and a big honor and advantage to her successful future.

Over and over I see parents who want to help their child with school, but don't know how to ask or where to go. I know that I can be the bridge to help them be the best at helping their child at home. But to do this, it is essential that we build trust through the Parent Teacher Home Visits.

After a home visit, I go home knowing that my time has been well spent.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy of student 

Sarah Russell Helps Students Achieve Their Dreams

For the last three years, before I became a teaching coach with the school district in Washoe County, I did Parent Teacher Home Visits. What was so amazing to see was that the home visits not only impacted the students whose homes were visited, but every student in the classroom.

The home visits demonstrated to the students and their parents that I was seriously invested in their life and their future. They all felt it. The level of respect the visit demonstrated to them was profound. There is no other way I have found to say how much I care outside of the home visit.

Jesse* was getting D's before the home visits began. After that he started trying and his grades went to B's. Paul* was getting F's before the visits. After, not only did he get straight A's, but he started helping others in the class succeed.

The Parent Teacher Home Visit is a very intense relationship building tool. I find it essential to be a successful teacher and for my students to be successful in their learning. It makes all the difference in the motivation the students bring to their work.

When I did a Parent Teacher Home Visit with a student who I will call Sarah, and the family served me a light meal, their perspective of me as the authority figure up high was changed to a caring part of their community.

So many of the kids I teach are living in poverty. Their parents feel totally disenfranchised from everyone seen as in power, including the school. But, when you honor them through the home visit, honor their homes, honor their reality, I have seen firsthand how the Parent Teacher Home Visits change that. The parents start trusting me enough to come to school, to find out about the homework expectations, and to insist that their children do what is expected in school.

Before I did home visits, I knew I was responsible for the academic success of my students, and that their lives depended on it. Now, I know that I can help them have dreams that are real and can be achieved. Home visits can change their lives forever. And all I have to do is go to the home, shake the dad's hand, and listen. I owe my students and their families this.

Home visits made me stronger in my identity as a teacher, more passionate because of the way I touch their lives through this. We have so many different cultures represented in our students. Home visits teach me almost everything I need to know about their culture without being an anthropologist.

Before I started doing home visits, I felt like I was taking my Filipino students only so far, that I wasn't able to have them step into their potential. Maybe if I had been doing home visits, then I could have reached them better. I look back on this as my biggest failure, and it could have been remedied if only I had known then about home visits. 

*names changed to protect the privacy of students

For more info http://neapriorityschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Sacramento-California_Profiles.pdf