For most of my career, I have had the opportunity to work in and around schools, developing programs that boost family engagement and student success. I've seen several generations of parents and students rise through the K-12 education system. I oversaw family and volunteer engagement for Scholastic Book Fairs for a decade. Scholastic relies on over 2.5 million, primarily Gen Z and Millennial parent volunteers, to run literacy access programs in their schools. In that role, I noticed some real challenges in how schools communicated with today's younger, busier, tech-savvy parents. I began to study and research Gen Z / Millennial parents and their Gen Z / Alpha Gen kids and noticed some fundamental differences in the schools compared to the mid-'90s.
A Gallup study of superintendents found that less than six percent feel they understand how to engage their Gen Z and Millennial staff and parents. In my family engagement and communications consulting travels, I quickly discovered that multigenerational communications and family engagement were hot topics with k-12 educators. I authored GENERATION EVERYONE! A Guide to Generational Harmony at Work, School, and Home and now manage strategic partnerships at Givebacks. Before Givebacks, I conducted generational communication strategies for districts, educators, and parent groups to build effective communications and increase generational family engagement.
The Challenge:
Five generations are active in the economy for the first time in history. In 1910, the life expectancy was just under 50 years. There were young people and older adults, so communication was reasonably straightforward. Today, we are living well into our 70s and working much later in our careers, creating "age diversity" issues in the workplace. Most PK-5 schools today have parents and caretakers from at least four generations. Most are Millennials (born 1978-1994) and Gen X (born 1965-1978). A small but growing percentage of Gen Z parents are just leaving college and entering the workforce. The most interesting is the rise in the number of Baby Boomer parents (born 1949-1964). Principals welcome grandparents back to school for the first time in decades as grandparent caretakers due to various life and family circumstances. An example is the more than 2.5 million grandparents raising grandchildren due to the nation's opioid crisis. Their grandkid's parents are either addicted, incarcerated, or dead from an opioid overdose.
Parent Communications:
My son is 28 and an elementary school ESE teacher. When he was in elementary school, we knew we had to check his backpack every Tuesday and the folder for important things parents needed to know. If you want to increase family engagement and have effective communications today, a one-size-fits-all communications strategy no longer works. You have to use multiple communication tools to engage today's multigenerational families.
Parent communications start on day one by asking parents how they prefer to receive school communications. You will be surprised by the variety of responses. As a rule, Boomer caretakers prefer phone calls and face-to-face conversations. They may be uncomfortable with your school management software. Gen X parents were the first generation to hear AOL's "You've Got Mail." They are masters at managing vast amounts of emails and most likely have an electronic folder for every aspect of their career and parenting. While they prefer email, they also like texting and visiting school or PTA websites. Older Millennial parents in their upper 30s or early 40s are the heaviest users of Facebook and Instagram. They are the sharing generation, so providing "sharable moments" from your family engagement activities works very well to promote your positive school culture and attract more families. Younger Millennials and your Gen Z students prefer TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facetime, and texting and rarely use their mobile phones as a "phone." Only 14 percent actively participate on Facebook, but they use it to see what's happening with their older relatives, friends, and favorite brands, including your school's PTA.
Communicating your family engagement communications across all mediums would be best to reach everyone. You must also keep them short and to the point. Millennial parents have an 8-second attention span—one second less than that of a goldfish. Ensure you outline the key points you want to get across in the first eight seconds of your webpage, social media posts, or printed letters.
Is Your School Culture Millennial-Friendly?
Millennials are not the passive parents Gen X'ers experienced. "The teacher is always right" is a Boomer parent mindset. Today's younger parents want to be part of their child's education process. Teachers need to ask parents for regular input and keep them informed on "why" they are assigning specific projects and homework. Today's parents will question everything and have hundreds of parent and education “experts" at the swipe of their finger. If you don't answer their questions successfully, they will find the answer elsewhere.
PTA memberships have been declining consistently over the past decade. So have churches and service organizations. Millennial parents question the value of dues-based memberships when they feel they can get the same benefits online for free. It is essential to understand that Millennials don't JOIN things; they START things. Don't expect new parents to come to school ready to jump on the moving train. They want you to stop the train and ask them what new cars they want to add. It's not just schools; look at the Millennial freshman US representatives. They did not go to Washington to join in; they went there to start something new. Your young parents are the same way. Engage them early and often.
Effective communications are the foundation of a great school culture. It is critical to engage with and embrace your school's "age diversity" internally and externally to ensure that everyone who wants to contribute is given the opportunity to do so.