Engaged Families

"By age 18, children have typically spent only 13% of their waking lives at school; families have a role in shaping the remaining 87%."
- Education Policy Studies Laboratory—School Reform Proposals: The Research Evidence, as cited by NASA's NES Family Involvement Handbook

Introduction

Due to previous understandings of family engagement and the widespread use of similar terms like family involvement and family education, it is recommended that you start your work on this bucket by developing common definitions and understandings (this problem was recently addressed in a National PTA article, and in this issue of Educational Leadership).
In Minnesota, Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) programs should play a vital role in your PreK-3rd Grade work, especially if you decide that parent education is going to be a component of your family and community engagement plan. Boston (i.e. Thrive in 5) and Washington state are examples of places where parent education has been incorporated. "'Parenting engagement is a core component of our state's quality early learning programs,' said Dr. Bette Hyde, Washington State Department of Early Learning director. 'Children are born learning, so it's critical to help parents to access parenting education and information.'" ²

Goal & Strategies¹

Families are actively and systemically involved with PreK-3rd teachers and administrators as full partners in helping their children develop, learn, and achieve.

Core Priority

Core Priority

Teachers, administrators, and all staff in schools and programs understand the importance of, and employ strategies for, engaging families.

Example Implementation Indicators

District Administrators/Community Leaders

• Incorporate family engagement into strategic plans.
• Incorporate family engagement into evaluations of principals and site adminstrators.
• Support the development and use of professional development, tool kits, materials, and other resources that reflect family engagement research and best practices, including differentiation for families’ diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Designate a senior-level officer responsible for family engagement.

Principals/Site Administrators

• Incorporate family engagement into evaluations of teachers and other staff.
• Provide ongoing professional development and technical assistance focused on family engagement to all school and program staff.
• Designate dedicated and welcoming space where families can gather and teachers and families can meet.
• Provide opportunity and time for teachers to engage with families.

Teachers

• Regard family engagement as an essential element of their job.

Two-Way Communication

Two-Way Communication

Schools and programs establish regular two-way communication approaches to share data with, and to learn from, families.

Example Implementation Indicators

District Administrators/Community Leaders

• Link family engagement to district’s or community’s instructional goals.
• Establish expectations and processes that provide families with a rich array of data on their child (e.g., attendance; academic progress; social connections).

Principals/Site Administrators

• Link families to support resources (e.g., GED training, mental health services) through collaborations with community partners.

Teachers

• Provide regular, accessible, and multi-modal opportunities for engaging families in understanding and supporting their child’s progress (e.g., parent-teacher conferences, home visits, parent-to-parent events).
• Initiate opportunities to engage with families in order to develop deeper understanding of each child’s progress from home, community, and cultural perspectives.

Families

• Perceive there are adequate opportunities for engagement in their children’s education.
• Sustain their engagement over time from PreK-3rd grade.

Shared Leadership/Decision-making

Shared Leadership/Decision-making

Families, teachers, and administrators share decision-making for student success.

Example Implementation Indicators

District Administrators/Community Leaders

• Designate teams of teachers, administrators, and families that build site-level capacity for family engagement.
• Host (with community partners) parent academies or family leadership institutes in which parents learn how to guide their children’s educational success.
• Support families to share their cultural wisdom to inform definitions of and strategies to achieve educational success.

Teachers

• Engage families in the setting of educational goals for their children.

Families

• Participate in setting goals for their child’s school/program through leadership roles on site-based management teams.
• Perceive themselves to be partners with teachers and schools in setting goals for their own children.

Resources

Continuing Education

Continuing Education

Developing a Family Engagement Training Strategy
Click Here Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, October 2011.

Working Systematically In Action - Engaging Family & Community: A Guide for Facilitators
Click Here Ferguson, C., Jordan, C., & Baldwin, M. (2010). Austin, TX: SEDL.

Family-Centered Practice

Family-Centered Practice

Links

Family-Centered Practice
Click Here, from the Child Welfare Information Gateway

Laws, Regulations, Statutes

Laws, Regulations, Statutes

Family Engagement in Education Act of 2013
Click Here

State Laws on Family Engagement in Education
Click Here, National PTA® Reference Guide

Links

Links

A Conversation with Dr. Karen Mapp, Consultant on Family Engagement
Click Here,

Center for Educational Improvement, Family Engagement
Click Here

District Leaders Network on Family and Community Engagement (FCE)
Click Here

Family-School Partnership Lab at Vanderbilt University, The
Click Here, The Family-School Partnership Lab at Vanderbilt University is dedicated to the scientific investigation of the reciprocal relationships among families, schools, and children.

Harvard Family Research Project
Click Here

National Black Child Development Institute
Click Here

National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE)
Click Here

National Network of Partnership Schools
Click Here

Parent Involvement Matters
Click Here

Parent Universities help districts tap into feedback required under funding formula
Click Here, EdSource

Strengthening Families: The Protective Factors Framework
Click Here, Center for the Study of Social Policy

Literature

Literature

A New Tool for Understanding Family–School Relationships: The Harvard Graduate School of Education PreK-12 Parent Survey Click Here

Building Partnerships with Immigrant Parents Click Here
Educational Leadership, March 2007

Classroom Family Engagement Rubric Click Here
from Harvard Family Research Project and Flamboyan Foundation

Community & Family Engagement: Principals Share What Works
Click Here, NAESP, NASSP, MetLife Foundation, Coalition for Community Schools

Connected Educators, Connected Families Click Here
Principal as Family Engagement "Deal Breaker"
Harvard Family Research Project

Developing a Family Engagement Training Strategy
Click Here Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, October 2011.

Differences Between Parent Involvement and Parent Engagement, The
Click Here Library Media Connection, March/April 2013

Early Childhood School Success: Recognizing Families as Integral Partners
Childhood Education, 84:5, 281-285 Click Here

Early Steps to School Success (ESSS)
ESSS provides parent education and support, home visiting and pre-literacy and language development services for families in rural, geographically isolated communities.
Click Here

Electronic Family and Community Engagement: e-FACE
Click here for elementary school principal Joe Mazza's blog
Click here for his school's Family Engagement wiki

Engaging Parents in Parenting Programs: Lessons from Research and Practice
Click Here
Children and Youth Services Review, 34 (2012), 2061–2071

Exploring Families' Beliefs and Practices.
Click Here, Gillanders, C., & Gutmann, L. (2013). Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, FirstSchool.

Family Engagement and Children with Disabilities: A Resource Guide for Educators and Parents Click Here
Harvard Family Research Project, September 2012

Family Engagement in Education Seven Principles for Success
Click Here National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance (NRC), University of Southern California’s Center on Educational Governance (CEG)

Fostering School, Family, and Community Involvement: Effective Strategies for Creating Safer Schools and Communities
Click Here, Howard Adelman & Linda Taylor, September 2007, The Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence & Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

Growing and Sustaining Parent Engagement: A Toolkit for Parents and Community Partners
Click Here, The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), December 2010

How Districts Can Lay the Groundwork for Lasting Family Engagement
Click Here, SEDL Insights, Vol 2, Number 2, Summer 2014

Parent Engagement: Building Trust Between Families and Schools
Click Here, Education Canada, 2013

Parent Engagement from Preschool through Grade 3: A Guide for Policymakers
Click Here for Link to National Center on Children in Poverty
Click Here for Document

Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework: Promoting Family Engagement and School Readiness from Prenatal to Age 8 Click Here
This framework was developed by the Office of Head Start with the assistance of the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement for the Office of Head Start. This Center is a partnership between Brazelton Touchpoints Center at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP), with the Council of Chief State School Officers, National PTA, and Save the Children as active members of the leadership team.

Successful Family Engagement in the Classroom: What teachers need to know and be able to do to engage families in raising student achievement Click Here
Harvard Family Research Project and the Flamboyan Foundation, March 2011

Teaching the Teachers: Preparing Educators to Engage Families for Student Achievement Click Here
Harvard Family Research Project

Today’s Young Families: Successful Strategies for Engaging Millennial Parents
Click Here, Childhood Education, September/October, 2013

Using School Websites to Support Parent Engagement
Click Here Leadership, November/December, 2012

We Were a "Hard-to-Reach" Family by Nikia Parker Click Here
Nikia Parker reflects on her family’s experience with the Head Start program and her journey from being a “hard-to-reach” parent to an actively engaged parent who has served as an advocate and leader within the Head Start community for the past 10 years.

Working Systematically In Action - Engaging Family & Community: A Guide for Facilitators
Click Here Ferguson, C., Jordan, C., & Baldwin, M. (2010). Austin, TX: SEDL.

Minnesota Examples

Minnesota Examples

Check & Connect: A Comprehensive Student Engagement Intervention
Click Here, University of Minnesota

Partnering for School Success
Click Here, University of Minnesota Extension

Models & Frameworks

Models & Frameworks

CRAF-E⁴ Family Engagement Model: Building Practitioners' Competence to Work with Diverse Families
Click Here, 2014 Elsevier Inc.

Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler Model of Parent Involvement
Click Here, The Family-School Partnership Lab at Vanderbilt University

Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts
Click Here, California Department of Education, 2011.

Models for Family and Community Engagement
Click Here, from the Ohio Department of Education

• Virtual Tour of our Family Friendly Partnership School Click Here

National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS)
Click Here, Johns Hopkins University

Strengthening Families: The Protective Factors Framework
Click Here, Center for the Study of Social Policy

National Examples

National Examples

“Collaborating For Success” Parent Engagement Toolkit
Click Here, Michigan Department of Education

Early Childhood Family Engagement Framework: Maryland’s Vision for Engaging Families with Young Children
Click Here, This document was developed by the Maryland Family Engagement Coalition and funded by the Maryland State Department
of Education as part of Project 8 of the state’s Race to the Top — Early Learning Challenge grant.

Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts
Click Here California Department of Education, 2011.

Latino Families and Parent Involvement in Oregon Schools: Current Issues and Models
Click Here, Katherine C. Rodela, Stanford University

Models of Meaningful, Productive Parent Engagement (district examples)
Click Here, Compiled by the Learning First Alliance, September 2012

Parent and Family Involvement: A Guide to Effective Parent, Family, and Community Involvement in North Carolina Schools
Click Here, Public Schools of North Carolina, State Board of Education, Department of Public Instruction

Parent Engagement/Mentoring Models in Washington State
Click Here, Partners for Our Children

Rhode Island: SFRI Parent Engagement ‘Starter’ Logic Model
Click Here

SFUSD Parent Engagement & Partnership Plan
Click Here, San Francisco Unified School District

State Approaches to Family Engagement in PreK Programs
Click Here, Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO)

Presentations

Presentations

Family Engagement: Finding Common Understandings and Methods to Assess Family Engagement: Part II
Click Here, Ohio’s SOAR Alternative Response Project, October 25, 2013

Family Engagement - MN Head Start Association
Click Here

Measuring Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Intervention Programs
Click Here, Kirsten Ellingsen, Ph.D. & Lowell Myers, B.A, National Conference on Family Literacy, April 28-30, 2013, Louisville, KY

Supporting Authentic Family Engagement
Click Here, Office of Child Care and Office of Head Start

Tools

Tools

Check & Connect: A Comprehensive Student Engagement Intervention
Click Here, University of Minnesota

Epstein's Framework of Six Types of Involvement (Including: Sample Practices, Challenges, Redefinitions, and Expected Results)
Click Here, Joyce L. Epstein, Ph.D., et. al., Partnership Center for the Social Organization of Schools

Family Engagement Inventory
Click Here, from the Child Welfare Information Gateway

How to Develop a Logic Model for Districtwide Family Engagement Strategies
Click Here, Harvard Family Research Project, 2009

Parent Engagement Information and Tools: Moving Beyond Parent Involvement to Parent Engagement
Click Here, Michigan Department of Education

Parent Survey for K-12 Schools
SurveyMonkey Collaborates with Harvard Graduate School of Education to Help K-12 Schools Improve Parent Involvement
Click here or https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/harvard-education-surveys/

Webinars & Videos

Webinars & Videos

Allies Not Foes: School-Family Partnerships
Click Here, The PreK-3rd Grade National Work Group
from the PreK-3rd National Work Group

Dr. Karen Mapp on Parents as Agents of Change
Click Here

Evaluating Family Engagement Strategies: Addressing Measurement Challenges
Click Here, The U.S. Department of Education and its partners United Way Worldwide, National PTA, SEDL, and Harvard Family Research Project

Family Engagement: Authentic Partnerships for Increasing Achievement
Click Here, New Jersey Department of Education
On September 25, 2014, teacher, author, and parent advocate, Mary Cowhey, presented a webinar to help educators better understand how to partner with parents of ELLs.

Ready to learn? The science behind the experiment
Click Here from The Guardian
Thousands of children are taking part in an online activity and survey to explore the links between nutrition, exercise and sleep and children's cognitive functions. There is a growing body of scientific research examining the links between lifestyle and learning. This video looks at the key findings as well as showing how a better understanding of brain function is helping teachers in the classroom

Using Text Messaging To Strengthen Family-School Relationships
Click Here for Link, Colorado Department of Education

Webinar: Using Leadership to Promote Strengths-Based Family Engagement
Click Here, Harvard Family Research Project

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¹ Kauerz, K. & Coffman, J. (2013). Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches. Seattle, WA: College of Education, University of Washington.
² "State's Community and Technical Colleges and the Department of Early Learning Highlight Parenting Education, Gov. Inslee Issues Proclamation." States News Service 12 Nov. 2013. Student Edition. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. Click Here