30 Days of Google Classroom: A Guide for Future Educators

Day 19: Communicating with Parents & Guardians – Using Summaries and Reports

Introduction

Effective communication with parents and guardians helps create a supportive learning environment for students. Google Classroom offers features like Guardian Email Summaries and progress tracking to keep families informed about student performance, upcoming assignments, and classroom activities.

This guide will walk you through how to enable guardian summaries, share student progress reports, and best practices for engaging with parents.

Enabling Guardian Email Summaries

Google Classroom allows teachers to send weekly or daily email summaries to guardians, providing insights into their child’s academic progress.

How to Enable Guardian Summaries:

Open Google Classroom and go to the People tab.
In the Students section, click Invite Guardians next to a student’s name.
Enter the guardian’s email address and click Invite.
Once the guardian accepts the invitation, they will receive automated email updates.

💡 Tip: Guardians can receive summaries but cannot directly access the classroom or student work.

What’s Included in Guardian Summaries?

Guardian summaries provide an overview of: ✔ Missing assignments – Work that wasn’t submitted.
✔ Upcoming assignments – Deadlines and upcoming tasks.
✔ Class announcements – Important updates from the teacher.
✔ Grades (if enabled) – Student performance on assignments.

💡 Tip: Guardians can choose daily or weekly updates based on their preference.

Sharing Student Progress Reports

For detailed performance tracking, teachers can manually share progress reports.

How to Generate Student Reports:

Go to Google Classroom > Grades.
Click on a student’s name to see their assignment history.
Click Export Grades to Google Sheets.
Share the file with the student and guardian via email.

💡 Tip: Use Google Docs to create personalized progress reports with teacher comments.

Best Practices for Engaging with Parents & Guardians

✔ Encourage guardian participation – Invite them to sign up for summaries early in the semester.
✔ Be proactive – Contact parents if a student struggles with assignments.
✔ Use positive reinforcement – Highlight student achievements along with areas of improvement.
✔ Host virtual parent meetings – Use Google Meet to discuss progress when needed.
✔ Maintain clear and professional communication – Keep updates concise and focused.

What’s Next?

Now that you know how to communicate with parents and guardians, in Day 20, we’ll explore using Google Classroom’s mobile app to manage classes on the go.

How do you engage with parents in your classroom? Share your strategies in the comments!