I am an assistant principal at Superior Middle School in Superior, Wisconsin. I learned about and started doing home visits at Lincoln Park Middle School in Duluth, Minnesota. We started doing home visits after we read an article in late 2015 about what Saint Paul Public Schools was doing with Parent Teacher Home Visits, and we thought the model looked great. A few St. Paul teachers came up and trained us on how to do home visits, made us understand the importance of those visits, and shared their wonderful stories and experiences. The first thing that sold me on home visits was they sounded fun, and I felt motivated to jump in on it.

For me, this model of home visits was compelling because they are about hearing other people’s stories. I grew up with a parent who was a teacher, so I was used to having teachers come over to my house all the time and having them be a bit more involved in my life than many of my colleagues. So when I understood how the home visits worked, it sounded great. Plus, in training, we discussed all the different worries teachers typically have about doing home visits, which made me feel all the more comfortable. I also liked the idea of going with a colleague. I didn’t realize before then how much I would learn about my colleagues. I became very good friends with another teacher with whom I have done many home visits. All of us got to know each other better by getting to know our families together.

A Couple Memorable Visits 

One home visit that stands out to me was when I was teaching eighth grade. It turned out that the student lived right around the corner from where I was living at the time, and she and her family agreed to the visit and allowed us to record the home visit for a feature piece by AFT. What I remember was just how many people were there—different family members—coming in and out of the room. They were all interested in what was happening, and as we talked, we got to know each of them on a more personal level. It was easy to see how much work everyone in the family was putting in for the student. Everyone had different hopes, dreams, and goals for her. She would be going to high school the next year, and she could clearly express all the things she needed to do to achieve her goals to be successful in high school.

COVID also created some great memories for me. I was grateful for the opportunity to continue home visits virtually. That was a very powerful experience to be able to meet families in a safe way. It was such a special way to spend time with students in ways that we couldn’t in person. And to be honest, during some of those home visits, that was the first time I got to see some of those students.

I was a sixth-grade teacher during most of my home visits. One thing that struck me—especially since COVID—is the number of families that hope their kids will make new friends and try new things. It’s funny because the kids always seemed surprised when their parents expressed that as their hope and dream. They expect to hear things about grades and doing well in school. So just like I got to see my colleagues in a new light doing home visits, some of my students saw their parents in a new light.

Home Visit Outcomes

The biggest impact I’ve seen from home visits is in me. I’ve learned that all parents want great things for their kids. I’ve learned so much from seeing them talk about similar things and have similar dreams. Regardless of what we see in the classroom, every parent has things they want for their kids. Home visits have been the best thing in helping me understand equity personally because seeing how different these families might be, yet want similar things for their kids, has helped me on that journey.

When it comes to students, I know that it has made them feel more comfortable in my classrooms and my colleagues’ classrooms. I’ve seen them and myself change based on what we know about students and try to include even those little things we know about them now. It all makes a big difference, and I appreciate this. We take what we learn on home visits back to our teams, and they all use this information. Everyone knows better how to connect with kids, and this makes a huge difference in their willingness to try and work together in their classrooms.

My Hope and Dream for the Future of Parent Teacher Home Visits

I also hope that Parent Teacher Home Visits continues to expand because when I think about the home visits we’ve done over the past five years, the number of sites that have been trained, and the number of educators that have been trained, I can see so much growth. I wish for a day when home visits are commonplace. I envision a time when people already see the importance of them and why they are so valuable, and it’ll be such a widespread practice everywhere in education.