5. Take time to know your parents in the same way you take time to know your students. Some are a bit obvious ("Call home"), but several are very, very good, including: 1. Through using positive, encouraging language that encourages growth and accepts failure, parents set the tone for their students' learning (8). 6. Higher grades. They need to create strong relationships, partner with families on goals for their children, and receive and provide ongoing support. Share positive comments you have about your students with their parents. To meaningfully engage school families, we must bring together a diverse group of stakeholders and thoughtfully get to know the nuance of each person and group, says Mindy Huang SESEC Coalition . Univision reaches . It is even more than simply caring for a student, their well-being, and their success. (At Stonewall Jackson High School in . The improvement effort addresses the point at which family engagement tends to decline precipitously and students are particularly vulnerable--the transition into high school. Youth engagement enhances quality and operations of . Preparing Young Latino Students for Success: Best Family Engagement Practices (National Council of La Raza) Family Engagement, Diverse Families, and Early Childhood Education Programs: An Integrated Review of the Literature (National Association for the Education of Young Children) Call Them. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: * Define the culture of ELLs in K-12 classrooms across the U.S. * Recognize cultural impact on learning and formal education * Assess your school's . Yet, according to research conducted by the FrameWorks . Establish a routine of saying, "Good morning" and "Have a nice day!" Making families feel welcome when they are visiting can go a long way towards building relationships. 7. Here are some steps that every school and district can take. During school closures, teachers set up zoom . 1. Words are everywherenot just in books. 1. Work with students to create a list of goals they will be working on. STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING FAMILIES AT THE PRACTICE LEVEL . Pascual excluded some cold hard facts that impact parent engagement. Univision's Clave al Exito offers an accessible grade-by-grade guide to the Common Core standards with the right amount of information to help families understand what their children are learning in school. The engagement section begins on page 3 and highlights engaging several populations, including children, adult survivors, and the person using violence. ; Individual schools and school districts should determine which actions are most feasible and . 1. Here are some key strategies to engage families in school life. Gather Information. For this reason, it is crucial to establish positive partnerships with children's families and to include families in the preschool setting. Strong family engagement and collaboration is an integral part in building a successful and high-quality early childhood practice. Weekly lessons that invite families into the classroom and monthly events at the school where all are welcome. So many times we reach out to families because of discipline issues, but a little proactive positivity can go a long way in building trust and comfort between a parent and school. The mindset changes parents' perceptions from . Quality family engagement occurs at the practice level between the caseworker and the family. Ask about their hopes and dreams for their children. 2. Fostering Family Engagement through Shared Leadership in the District, Schools, and Community This case study of a U.S. Department of Education, Investing in Innovation grantee (i3), addresses how district leaders and community partners worked at building connections between school and home to create opportunities for parents to learn, provide input, and engage as active participants in their . There are many ways to engage and involve families within the school community. Click here to watch the video. District and school leaders often consider family engagement a two-way process that begins in early childhood education, persists through high school, and occurs across multiple settings where children learn. Promoting Family Engagement. Engaging Families in SEL. As this policy brief from the National Education Association illustrates, community involvement in schools leads to: Improved attendance. Find out when families prefer to communicate. Engaging Families in Schools is a practical resource that provides strategies and ideas that will contribute to the effective engagement of families and the involvement of parents in their child's education. Laura Gardner of Immigrant Connections cites three major parental rights that parents and even schools may not know that immigrant parents have: This follows Executive Order 97, which directed state agencies to equip and engage parents, increase transparency and collaborate with local law enforcement and school districts. Some support activities to engage parents. Start by learning about families. Effective, collaborative case planning relies on the caseworker's transparent efforts to continuously engage family members and others as appropriate, including utilizing the following activities: "Family engagement refers to the systematic inclusion of families in activities and programs that promote children's development, learning, and wellness, including in the planning, development, and evaluation of such activities, programs and systems" (U.S. One mechanism for engaging parents and youth, a school safety committee, can bring the community together to keep bullying prevention at school active and focused. They: Focus on building trusting, collaborative relationships among teachers, families, and community members. Three Ways to Engage Families in Student Learning. Let us remember our role as educators in garnering that involvement and take a look at 5 ways to encourage parental involvement at our schools: 1. 1 When launching and operating SBHCs, it is important that leaders reach out to families and community members. Be sensitive to busy families. When parents and families are fully engaged in the lives of their children's schools, they display a strong sense of pride in the school and advocate for it when talking with friends . Recognize that some adults may have had very different school experiences than what their children have today. NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Today, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee launched the new School Safety Toolkit for Tennessee Families, a practical resource to help parents prepare and engage in their child's school safety plan.. Phone calls, emails, and handwritten notes home. Mission: Welcome, invite, include, and engage the community and families in students' education through: Technology. Of course, this can be a challenge due to busy schedules. Send a folder home that includes the following docs: An explanation of the activity. Common channels of engagement include family night events . Every fall, our teachers and leaders visit the home of every student we serve to learn more about their family, life, and experiences outside of school. Start with Home Visits and Communicate Regularly. Seek to understand where parents are coming from, what their hopes and dreams are for their children, and the role . According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, from 1993-2003, minorities increased as a percentage of total public school enrollment, from 34 percent to 41 percent.That means your school's parent engagement initiatives should include strategies to reach . At many of the SBHCs in middle and high schools, youth are the primary stakeholders. Encourage faculty and staff to greet families as they enter and leave the school building. Help students and families gain ownership of the learning process working with them to identify personalized goals. Text! Reach Out to Families Just to Build a Relationship. Effective family engagement both enables school readiness and creates opportunities for families to reinforce and extend learning at home. Lisa Montez Sullivan, a teacher in Detroit, reminds us, "For a great many [] students, just making it to school every day is a triumph.". Greater academic aspirations for students. 5. Relationship-building is the key to effective communication and community-building. Start by understanding family attitudes and perceptions of social-emotional learning. In this article we analyze the implementation of a continuous improvement approach to engaging families as students make . It also works to establish a mutually supportive network of educators, families, and students, creating a climate that promotes learning and success. To engage families in social-emotional development, teachers and school administrators can't just send home packets and to-do lists. Talk with your administrators and find out school regulations for parent visitations and volunteering. This case study focuses on one district's process of continuous improvement in family engagement. Gina Pascual's Edutopia article "Using a 'Less Is More Approach' to Engage Parents" highlighted three ways to engage parents, but honestly, her recommendations do not go far enough. A Relationships-Centered Approach. To do this, staff members must understand the importance and impact of family engagement on student learning. When a classroom has students from various cultures, teachers should create an environment that accepts and includes different backgrounds. To encourage parent engagement in school health, schools can: Connect with parents. Schools that succeed in engaging families from very diverse backgrounds share three key practices. Practically speaking, the mission involves getting the community and family to the school or the students into the community. Ask about their family's culture. Ask how they would like to communicate with you. Know parents' rights. The board also helps youth gain a sense of . Make phone calls, write notes home and use email to convey your message. * (2018 National Improvement Framework, 2017, p14) The 'Engaging parents and families: A toolkit for practitioners' has been developed to provide practitioners with a practical resource to help support partnerships with parents and . First, it is important to know the legal rights of all parents in public school districts. Suggested procedures: 1. Have these topics become the themes for Coffee with the Principal get-togethers. Start by learning about families. To effectively build rapport with school partners, consider staying on the fol-lowing communication track: n Respect family values and strengths; n Actively engage families as partners in . Adding photos when possible. Some families may: work outside of the home during the school day, during the evening, or overnight. This key opens the door to positive relationships and provides opportunities to build rapport with all families throughout the school year. Then talk with them in those ways (in person, by email, through two-way communication). Engaging Culturally Diverse Families in Early Learning. To engage families, the first step for schools is to establish a culture that embraces family engagement as a core value of the school. 5. Family engagement is defined by the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) as a "shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways and which families are committed to actively support their children's . These families need our support to feel welcomed, accepted, and included in the school . Staff have their own struggles communicating with families. It is also important to go beyond minimum expectations of translation and interpretation of report cards, flyers, pamphlets, and legal documents. Consider the following insights and ideas in planning and improving family engagement (FE) programming: (Seems simple, and won't work for all parents, but some parents will be downright unreachable without it) 3. Teachers are often asked to do an impossible job with few resources. A phone call is a great way to welcome new families to your school! To pave a more inclusive path forward, we need only look at some of the school districts . Invite families in for a movie night once a month at night. Explore print and language in the real world. Try different ways to communicate with family members. Identifying needs and resources. The one below offers 27 ways to increase family involvement in the classroom. Parents and youth also have a role to play in preventing bullying at school. Additionally, once staff members embrace and recognize family engagement among their school culture . Document and share. ENGAGING FAMILIES IN REOPENING OUR SCHOOLS JUNE 1, 2020 ESSENTIAL ACTIONS Supporting a child's learning and growth from birth through college and career is the shared responsibility of families, schools, and communities. Relationships between the school and wider community strengthen the ability of schools and families to support . Schools take a variety of creative approaches to involve parents in their child's learning, from parent-student cooking classes to sending tweets about lesson activities. Here are 10 tips on using technology to engage families. and school. ; Engage parents by providing a variety of activities and frequent opportunities to fully involve parents. If you still aren't able to do this because of COVID you can still host a watch party and have questions kids can share with their families then bring into class the next day. Show up and be visible: Build trust with families by establishing a strong presence in the local Hispanic community. Keep in mind that immigrant families may be juggling a number of challenges and responsibilities that impact how and when they can communicate with the school. Editor's note: This piece was adapted from Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools by William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge. SEL is for all students. This workshop builds on Search Institute research that identifies critical strengths that are relevant to all families, regardless of culture, income, or structure. Enlist some help from your team, and set aside a day to knock out phone calls to incoming families, welcoming them to your school and inviting them to your upcoming events like your Welcome BBQ. Keep striving to get parents and community members engaged in school activities; the connection . Use surveys, open houses, or phone calls to . Initiate communication with families for positive reasons. Teachers and school staff are going into homes to meet parents, rather than expecting parents to take time away from family and work to visit the school. Search Institute's research is used as a . Schools and partners can play a vital role in supporting families to do this effectively and with confidence. Parental engagement with school staff has a significant and very positive impact on children's learning, and strategies presented have been extensively trialled in a variety of . Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (2018) Offers a resource guide for child welfare professionals in Texas working on domestic violence cases and includes a section on engagement. One of the first touchpoints teachers and leaders have with families is an annual home visit. Best Practice 10: Create a Parent Appreciation Program. Family volunteers. Strong family and community relationships are critical components of positive school culture. Build relationships and trust. Then look for ways to visually include the cultures of the children and their families in the classroom. Yes, children benefit when parents and other adults read to them on a regular basis, but there are many other language- and print-rich environments that can help families prioritize literacy from an early age. It's more than communicating with parents when there's a problem with their child. Keep your meetings/conversations brief and to the point. 6 Strategies for Engaging Families About SEL. Recognize, respect, and address families' needs, as well as class and cultural differences. 2. 6. At Open House, explain the importance of a strong school and home connection, and talk about your . Public schools have a problem with engaging families, students, and teachers in conversations around equity and policy. Stronger school reputation. Family engagement is the shared responsibility of family members, schools, and communities. Make space and support teachers to do this work. 1. True engagement takes place when families and school staff work together, on an ongoing basis, to support and improve the learning and growth of students. When parents and families actively participate in their child's afterschool program, they become allies in his or her development. Use their preferences to create personal and classroom parent communication plans. Host a movie night. Advice: Schools are responsible for building a welcoming culture and environment. Keep a log of how each family prefers to communicate. It doesn't have to be this way, though. Make the most of drop-off and pick . Ditch stereotypical beliefs about parents and poverty. This helps tear down walls and barriers that keep parents and families from engaging in their student's education. No need to make assumptions about how families use technlogy at homea quick survey or conversatin can help you find out what they use, how they use it, and whether they have Internet access. Building strong, trusting partnerships to support student learning takes time and effort. Decades of research confirm that systematic school efforts to engage families in their children's education have positive effects on student learning and development, but as students move into the "make or break" 9th-grade year (Phillips, 2019), efforts to engage families have historically declined (Spera, 2005; U.S. Department of . With the right techniques to understand the wants and needs of the community, schools can serve and tailor the involvement opportunities to meet their time, interests, and demands. This page provides resources to help you build and maintain these relationships. Put another way, language, cultural differences, and negative perceptions of immigrant families on the parts of school leaders and teachers frequently create barriers to reaching the students who might need it most. One simple way to keep families informed and engaged during drop-off or pick-up is by creating a Family Board. Invite family members to document early learning . Engaging Families. If districts truly want family engagement to be a priority, leadership must make it one within the school building. While making a few hundred phone calls might seem really . In its 20 years of training and engaging with schools, families, and communities, Families In Schools has learned what effective engagement looks like. Classrooms are diverse communities. High-poverty schools can involve students' families through home visits and by joining the community's safety net to provide social and medical services for those in need. At the end of the school year, the school's leadership team with teacher support can host a . Buoyed by promising research, the Flamboyan Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., partnered with teams in 10 cities to expand family engagement strategies, including home visits. The mission, according to Becker, is the "easy" part. Research shows that parental involvement in their children's learning positively affects the child's performance at school (Fan & Chen, 2001) in both . This means that SEL should be used throughout the school day and then followed up in after school activities and at home. Based on this information, design a clear plan to recruit family volunteers in your classroom. While there is an extensive body of research on general family engagement strategies, many schools and districts need information about how schools engage all families equitably. Reflecting the changing demographics of the United States, students in our schools are more diverse than ever. Learn why parents must engage children in different activities and make the best use of the time spent together. Positive relationships between students, teachers, families, and the community at large. Families find out too late about things happening at school. Engage families at the door. Even in small daycares, people of multiple cultures and backgrounds come together to share the education space. Shared by: Rayna Freedman. As we begin recovering from the pandemic, every school and district must strengthen its family engagement muscles, and educators must partner with families more than ever before. Many of them transition well into virtual formats. Departments of ED and HHS 2016). 3. Supporting, empowering and engaging families through a strength-based approach helps youth thrive. Whether it's a school-related event they can attend or concerns about their student's progress, families wish they had known sooner. From sharing their experience, you will have the tools necessary to implement strategies and procedures for engaging your ELLs and their families. Acknowledge that most families are very busy. To engage families in social-emotional development, teachers and school administrators can't just send home packets and to-do lists. School leaders must also recognize that bi-annual conferences, monthly . 2. My top 5 family engagement strategies: 1. They need to create strong relationships, partner with families on goals for their children, and receive and provide ongoing support. The importance of building strong relationships with parents and community members cannot be underestimated; these stakeholders must be an integral aspect of a school's culture. However, if a school's effort in family involvement is generic, they will get surface-level engagement in return. As parents increase their leadership at the school site, principals can initiate parent coffees to encourage added dialogue with families and increased partnerships in their school community. Relational trust, mutual respect, and . School staff can do a great deal to prevent bullying and protect students, but they can't do it alone. School leadership groups that include caregivers, faculty, and community members. Every single child can and will benefit from an integrated approach to SEL; one that is comprehensive in nature and utilized across curricula and across every environment. Teachers and school staff should communicate with families using free resources . Authentic and effective family, school, and community engagement is about so much more than back-to-school night. Barrier #2: Poor Timing and Methods of Communication. The following sections outline strategies and provide real-world examples across five major types of evidence-based strategies for promoting equitable family engagement. This lesson will help you identify ways to . When establishing family-school partnerships, it's important to meet families where they are. Try these tips for building two-way communication into your parent partnership plan: Discuss contact methods with each parent at the beginning of the school year. During this period of reopening school buildings, including planning for potential short-term disruptions to ; Sustain parent engagement by addressing the common challenges to getting and keeping parents engaged.