PARTNERING FROM WITHIN
Continued from page 13
on a timely and developmentally relevant topic that fosters dialogue between children and parents. Require attendance and create small conversation groups among parents and other people’ s children. Facilitate by providing discussion questions, alternating students, then parents. Pro tip: Thoughtfully arrange students, guaranteeing some extroverted talkers at each table; then have parents fill in the open seats at any table other than their own child’ s. Offering a meal together, or at least dessert, is a plus!
• Echo discussions at home that start in the classroom: Our lower school science teacher has masterfully called parents into her unit on human reproduction. She offers a preliminary Zoom meeting to review the lessons. Then, on the day of each lesson, she emails parents a short summary of how the lesson unfolded, along with resources for families to learn more about the topic, and most importantly, follow-up questions for families to ask children at home, enabling further processing in the context of each family and signaling that the door is open for future questions on the topic.
• Use data to better understand the community: Be upfront with families
“... consider polling families within a grade to help parents better understand class norms around curfews, access to technology, and substance-use expectations.”
about the unfortunate reality that independent school students exhibit elevated risks when it comes to rates of anxiety, depression, and substance use compared to most cohorts of young people across the population. 3 When possible, share and discuss existing school-specific climate survey findings. Homing in even further, consider polling families within a grade to help parents better understand class norms around curfews, access to technology, and substance-use expectations.
• Assign parent interviews: Knowing that parent conversations are highly protective, especially when it comes to teen decisions about alcohol and
3. Luthar, S. S., Kumar, N. L., & Zillmer, N.( 2020).“ High-achieving schools connote risks for adolescents: Problems documented, processes implicated, and directions for interventions.” American Psychologist, 75( 7), 983 – 995. https:// doi. org / 10.1037 / amp0000556
Page 14 Fall 2025 CSEE Connections