Family Engagement
Overview
Family engagement happens when educators and schools collaborate with families to collectively support their child's learning in meaningful ways, both at school and at home. Students whose families are involved and feel valued within the school community are less likely to miss school and integral instructional time, which research has shown can result in students falling behind academically. Parental and family involvement in students' academics from their start in schooling and continuing into middle and high school can have positive effects on their academic achievement and Sense of Belonging throughout their development. Technology can be a valuable support in this communication process. Importantly, actively involving parents in the conversations about their childs' learning and educational journey can facilitate advocacy for parents in developing shared goals and becoming empowered to contribute to decisions for their child. This can be particularly important for students with learning disabilities who may need particular resources and support.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Starting at 1:29, watch how this high school has family-community resource centers that provide support and engagement opportunities for families to be part of the school environment. By bringing in students' families and culture, students feel a greater sense of belonging, which improves their Motivation to learn.
Design It into Your Product
Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.
Watch how Remind provides a way for families, teachers, and students to communicate quickly and easily through a mobile app about student progress, assignments, and other school-related activities.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Culturally Responsive Strategies
Developing empathy in educators and in learners is an iterative process that requires taking the time to understand and honor others' perspectives.
Checking in with learners, or taking the time to talk with individual learners about their experiences or goals, is important for fostering a positive classroom environment.
Developing cultural awareness as an educator is an ongoing process that includes building empathy for the full diversity of students, intentionally recognizing how one's own identity intersects with students' identities, and creating an awareness of how the learning environment can impact students' Sense of Belonging.
Discussing race with students can range from celebrating the importance of diversity to understanding the impact of racism from the perspective of those who have been historically marginalized.
A first step to supporting learners is truly understanding who they are.
Equitable grading systems and practices reimagine how to assess and communicate student progress through various methods that reduce subjectivity and increase opportunities to learn.
Learning about students' cultures and connecting them to instructional practices helps foster a Sense of Belonging and mitigate Stereotype Threat.
Selecting culturally responsive reading materials, including multicultural and diverse texts, is critical for supporting all students.
Student-led conferences are meetings between students, parents, and teachers where the student actively leads the conversation by reflecting on their progress toward goals and sharing examples of their work.
Translanguaging is a flexible classroom practice enabling students to listen, speak, read, and write across their multiple languages or dialects, even if the teacher does not have formal knowledge of these additional languages.
