Six Ways Principals Can Improve Family Engagement

Key points:

As a school administrator, I thought a lot about family engagement. How could you get more parents and guardians to feel connected and interested in participating? How could I get my staff to connect with families? I researched articles and tried different strategies.

About two years ago, I had the opportunity to work with an internal team providing technical assistance to a district as part of a grant through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One of the focal points of our collaboration focused on creating resources to support and increase family engagement. Our team conducted research and focused on the work of Karen Mapp, PhD, and the Dual Capacity Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships for this work. This framework made me rethink family commitment.

In “Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships,” Mapp and Paul Kuttner explain that there are six process conditions “that are important to the success of capacity-building interventions.” ”. They argue that “process conditions are key to designing effective initiatives to develop the capacity of families and school staff to partner in ways that support student achievement and school improvement.”

The six process conditions require that family engagement initiatives focus on these six areas.

1. Take a relational approach – based on mutual trust: Supporting a relational approach based on mutual trust is the first process condition listed in the Dual Capability Framework, and this is no accident. Mapp is well known for saying that relational trust is the factor that allows all other conditions to be possible. Too often, the first contact between families and school is not positive. Many times, these initial interactions involve tasks that need to be completed or requests for school supplies. This can be unpleasant for families. Instead, look for proactive communication that seeks to build trust and supports ongoing communication. Commit to early positive phone calls focused on learning about them and their students.

2. Connect family engagement, learning and development: This supports student achievement, especially when we help families and students develop knowledge and skills. Sharing learning strategies can help empower families. Can you create online resources that help parents and guardians teach their children strategies to solve math problems or improve reading at home?

3. Take an asset-based approach: Recognize that families have strengths, skills, and resources that support student learning and school improvement. Encourage parents and guardians to take advantage of those assets. Invite families to visit classrooms and share their lived experiences. A family member can share with a class how they use math in their medical career, for example.

4. Be culturally responsive and respectful: Respect the values, cultures, languages ​​and heritages of families. This process condition does not ask us to invite families to share their background with us, as the previous condition does. Rather, it asks us to recognize that not all families are the same and to respond positively to these differences. Families interact with schools in different ways, and this may be partly due to their cultures. Schools must identify and recognize different types of participation to attract all families. Whenever possible, provide families with opportunities to speak with you and teachers in their preferred language. This may need to be done in collaboration with community resources and services.

5. Be collaborative: In many schools, collaboration between school and home may be limited. The fifth process condition in the framework asks us to be collaborative and is strengthened when educators, families, and communities have positive community-building experiences together. When planning school or district events, bring educators, families, and community members together so everyone can participate in making them happen. Consider approaching families in different ways when asking them to participate. Consider including students in preparing for school events, such as holding an event flyer contest. If staff members have cultural ties to different communities, ask them to help promote events.

6. Offer interactive opportunities: Interactive family-school partnerships engage educators, families, and community members in learning together. Think of a traditional open house, where families come to your building, meet the teacher, and are told about things like the rules and curriculum. Communication is one-way and children usually stay at home with a babysitter. Are there opportunities to invite children to join their adults? Just seeing your child excited about taking him to her desk or pointing him out to the gym and library can help parents and guardians feel more engaged. Another suggestion is to ask teachers to invite parents and guardians to leave a note on their child's desk or locker.

Family involvement may seem excessive when the plate is already full. Keep your goals realistic. Ask yourself: What can I do differently this week that can help my students' families feel like a larger part of our school community? Maybe you decide you'd like to try a family math night with games and activities aligned to the curriculum. Next week, you can take a second action to help make this happen.