Insights from Former Boston Public School Superintendent, Tommy Chang
As the back-to-school season approaches, parents and educators alike are gearing up for a successful academic year. Tommy Chang, a seasoned educator, CEO at New Teacher Center, Board of Directors Chair of Member of Families in Action, former Boston Public Schools Superintendent, understands the importance of effective community engagement, nurturing equity, and building excitement for learning. Dancing Panda interviewed Tommy so he could draw from his experiences as a teacher, principal, and superintendent to offer recommendations and valuable insights into preparing for the upcoming school year to families. In this blog post, we'll delve into Chang's perspectives on fostering positive engagement, addressing equity, and generating enthusiasm in schools.
1) Fostering Positive Engagement
For Tommy, it’s essential that schools and teachers foster positive relationships with parents and families. He shares, "Engagement with families is crucial; when families and schools partner, student benefit.." Drawing from his experiences as a principal and teacher, Tommy highlights the significance of parents becoming involved from the start. He encouraged families to dialogue with their children’s teachers and schools, asking how they can support their child’s learning this school year. Educators, in turn, should be asking about the strengths of each child and what parents hope for their children. The responsibility of building the relationship between schools and families is everyone’s responsibility, not just the schools, not just the families.
2) Prioritizing Equity and Inclusion
Addressing equity and inclusion is a central theme in Tommy’s educational philosophy. In schools, he emphasizes the importance of affirming families' cultures and native languages. He recommends that parents look for signs of their child's identity being appreciated and respected within the school environment.
This is because educators should be utilizing the cultural assets of students, families, and communities to adapt their practices, materials and environments so students feel connected to schools, trust the adults, and are even more motivated to learn. Such practices affirm and sustain cultural and linguistic identities. An example of such practices in action is the Toussaint L’Ouverture Academy in Boston Public Schools. During his tenure as superintendent, he brought community, families, higher education, and the school system together to build a dual language Haitian Creole program that emphasizes bi-literacy and bi-culturalism.
3) Generating Excitement for Learning
Tommy Chang believes in generating excitement at the start of the school year. He acknowledges the importance of setting expectations and generating excitement for learning at the beginning of each school year. He spoke about bringing students, families and teachers together at the beginning of the school year to share goals, hopes, and responsibilities of the entire school community. Chang advocates for making learning can occur any place and any time. For most of us, some of our most profound learning occurs outside the classroom. Activities like service projects and community involvement should be part of the curriculum. He emphasizes the families and schools should work together to mitigate learning loss during the summer by ensuring students are provided opportunities for learning throughout the year. The headline here is families, schools and communities are all part of learning and when there is partnership, learning is fun, engaging and rigorous.
4) Effective Communication
Chang's insights into effective communication between parents and educators are invaluable. He suggests that parents take the initiative to establish a partnership by writing a letter to teachers. This letter should include the child's interests and habits, signaling to teachers that parents are supportive partners in their child's education. Chang underscores the importance of reducing stress for both teachers and parents,
As the back-to-school season approaches, Tommy’s insights offer a comprehensive guide for parents and educators. From nurturing engagement between parents and schools to promoting equity and generating excitement for learning, Tommy’s recommendations reflect his dedication to holistic education. By embracing these strategies, parents can play an active role in their child's education, and educators can create a more inclusive and dynamic learning environment. Tommy’s suggestions reminds us that education is a collaborative effort that shapes the future of our children and communities.
