On NPR, Elissa Nadworny looks at how “home visits” by preschool teachers to meet with the parents of their students are being used to raise attendance.

She talks with Michael Katz, a researcher from the Urban Institute who studied pre-K programs in Washington, D.C. and found that prechools with high attendance have one important thing in common: “connection with families.”

June Kronholz’s article, “Teacher Home Visits,” in the Summer 2016 issue of Education Next, explores the development of home visit programs, describes how the visits work, and talks with teachers and administrators about their views of the program.

Kronholz writes

The concept of having teachers visit their students’ homes isn’t particularly new. Montessori pioneered the idea to smooth first-day-of-school jitters for toddlers, and Head Start has long used home visits to teach parenting skills to young mothers. 

The visits made by teachers to the homes of their K-12 students that are described in Kronholz’s article have the goal of engaging parents in their child’s learning by improving trust and communication and clarifying goals.

— Education Next