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Home visits1/28/2024 ![]() Address implicit bias and the impact it can have on what educators or families will perceive during the home visit.Remind teachers to leave assumptions behind and keep an open mind regarding each family, their culture and their values.Review logistics, such as how to make contact, how and when to schedule visits, whether and how to record discussions with families, and what to do with the documentation and data.Consider these pointers from the experts when designing professional development for your home-visit program. Training and preparing for a home visit can be as important as the visit itself. To learn more, read “ Meet the Family” and watch our on-demand webinar Equity Matters: Engaging Families Through Home Visits.Ĭritical Training Elements for Administrators Follow up with any resource needs that came up during the visit.Document the visit, and share takeaways with appropriate stakeholders.Invite the family to an upcoming event.Make a phone call or send a text or note thanking the parents or guardians for the meeting.Ask the family what they need from you, and make a plan to connect again in the future.If you need to share paperwork, wait 20-30 minutes before delivering it or plan to send it at a later date.Avoid taking notes or bringing paperwork, which can make families feel as if they are being evaluated and can cause nervousness and disengagement.Talk about the family’s hopes for their students and share yours.Find out if they have other children in school. The visit should be 20-30 minutes long.Before the visit, reflect on the reason you’re there in the first place: to build a relationship with the family and collaborate with them for the well-being of the child.Confirm the day before or the day of the home visit.The student should not serve as a translator. Call each student’s home, and explain the purpose of the visit.Also, do not ask about immigration status during the visit-or at any other time. Make it clear in advance that you are not from any government immigration agency, such as ICE, and that you will not talk with any such agency. Note to teachers: Take extra care when communicating with immigrant families about visiting their homes. Educators should talk about families’ hopes and aspirations for their students. The goal of the first home visit is to build relationships.It’s important that educators visit a cross-section of students-ideally all of them-rather than target any particular group.In some cases, teachers partner with other teachers, social workers or the school nurse to help address a student’s well-being in a more comprehensive manner. Educators should visit in teams of two.If possible, schools should compensate educators for their home-visit work and train them effectively.Some districts also follow up home visits with family dinners at the school to continue deepening school-family ties. It’s helpful for schools to decide if they want educators to visit families once or twice per year and whether that first visit will take place before the school year begins. Home visits should always be arranged in advance.Visits should be voluntary for educators and families, but administrators should seek at least 50 percent participation from a school’s staff.These are some best practices for teachers and administrators concerning home visits: ![]() How are you equipping teachers to build relationships with families through visits? Learn the benefits of home visits and best practices for how to prepare for and conduct them. When is the last time you visited or called a parent or guardian without bad news? Administrators
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