Prioritize Family Engagement
Overview
Students are more likely to come to school when families feel like a valued part of the community. Research has shown that students can fall behind academically when they miss only two days every month. This strategy also supports the practice of culturally responsive teaching and can be used with other strategies that allow representation of all learners in the curriculum.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Starting at 1:29, watch as this teacher reflects on a family math night to teach strategies for families to use with their children. With these strategies and open-ended homework questions, families can discuss and talk through challenging math problems. Additionally, they played games during family math, which helped show how math can be fun and used in the home.
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.
See how a mobile app, Remind, provides a way for parents, 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 Teacher Modeling & Support Strategies
Teachers support language development by using and providing vocabulary and syntax that is appropriately leveled (e.g., using simple sentences when introducing complex concepts).
Content that is provided in clear, short chunks can support students' Working Memory.
Providing math tasks with high cognitive demand conveys high expectations for all students by challenging them to engage in higher-order thinking.
Teaching students how to label, identify, and manage Emotion helps them learn Self-regulation skills.
Actively and authentically encouraging all students to seek support, ask questions, and advocate for what they believe in creates a safe space for risk-taking and skill development and supports a Sense of Belonging.
Teachers can help students understand that learning involves effort, mistakes, and reflection by teaching them about their malleable brain and modeling their own learning process.
Attributing results to controllable aspects (strategy and effort) fosters students' beliefs in self.
Learning about students' cultures and connecting them to instructional practices helps foster a sense of belonging and mitigate Stereotype Threat.
Teachers sharing math-to-self, math-to-math, and math-to-world connections models this schema building.
Maintaining consistent classroom routines and schedules ensures that students are able to trust and predict what will happen next.
When teachers connect math to the students' world, students see how math is relevant and applicable to their daily lives.
Providing students a voice in their learning is critical for making learning meaningful.
Untimed tests provide students the opportunity to flexibly and productively work with numbers, further developing their problem-solving abilities.
Wait time, or think time, of three or more seconds after posing a question increases how many students volunteer and the length and accuracy of their responses.