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Engaging All Families: �From Cradle to Career

Tamara Huff, Project Coordinator

Kansas Parent Information Resource Center (KPIRC)

thuff@kpirc.org

My name is Tamara Huff. I am a project coordinator with the Kansas Parent Information Resource Center. KPIRC as it is affectionately called is part of the Kansas technical assistance system network or TASN. KPIRC is designed to support meaningful family engagement at all levels of education to promote the educational success of each Kansas child. KPIRC partners with other providers to infuse family engagement strategies into statewide professional development. Staff collaborate at the state and local levels to incorporate family engagement into policies for accreditation, School Redesign; and the five State Board outcomes of Kindergarten Readiness, Graduation Rates, Postsecondary Success, Individual Plans of Study, and Social-Emotional Growth. Family Engagement is an effective and time-tested way to achieve the desired board outcome results.

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The Objective

For every student to become a successful high school graduate, it is important that families are engaged in their children’s learning from cradle to career. You will be able to distinguish between low and high impact strategies for engaging families as well as the development of an “equity lens” in family engagement practices.

�

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Learning Targets for Our Time Together

I can identify two benefits of family engagement in education.
I can name and explain one component of the ESEA family engagement mandate.
I can explain the components of the 5 A’s of Partnerships.
I can define equitable family engagement.
I can explain how the components of the 5 A’s of Partnerships apply to equitable family engagement.
I can share three skills to use to promote equity in family engagement.

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Let’s Get on the Same Page

Complete this thought:

Partnering with families to support learning and development means…

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act:�Definition of Parent Involvement�Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

The participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities; including ensuring that parents:

(A) play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
(B) are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
(C) are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child;
(D) the carrying out of other activities, such as those in Title I, Sec 1116.

We refer to this as the Educator Mandate.

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A NEW Vision for Kansas ...

Kansas leads the world in the success of each student

KANSAS STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION | www.ksde.org

The educator mandate ties directly to the vision for education in Kansas and the redesign initiative. This vision is all about aligning school systems to ensure the success of each student. In this way, family engagement acts as a lever for change.

For educators, family engagement is about valuing families, building deep partnerships with them, and amplifying families’ and communities’ knowledge, skills, culture, and humanity to make schools and communities better learning spaces for all, especially for those most underserved. For families, it is about the way they support, advocate, and promote student learning. To be clear, family engagement is not about families carrying out goals and requests of a school or a one-size-fits all program. Rather, it is a process of ongoing, sustained, and intentional collaboration that must be tailored to community interests, culture, resources, and needs. Because family and community engagement bears its greatest impact on families who are often the most underserved, it is also a matter of equity, and one of the most salient ways to reduce inequalities and disparities that exist within our educational systems.

“Each” – personalizing learning for each student.

What do you want success to mean for your students?

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Title Requirements for Family Engagement

Title I

Compacts
Action Plans
Policies

Title III

Inclusive of English Learners

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Research

“the evidence is consistent, positive, and convincing: families have a major influence on their children’s achievement. When schools, families and community groups work together the support learning children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more”.

Henderson T. A., & Mapp, L. K., (2002) A New Wave of Evidence.

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Impact of Family Engagement Strategies

Lower impact

Higher impact

Celebrations

Parent help on administrative tasks

Parent training events

Goal-setting talks

Weekly data-sharing folders

Fundraisers

Parent resource rooms

Back to school night

Regular, personalized communication

Home visits

Potlucks

Family support services

Parent-teacher conferences

Positive phone calls home

Modeling of learning support strategies

Performances and showcases

Generic school newsletters

Interactive homework

Classroom observations

Parent help on learning projects

What do you notice about the activities on the higher impact side of the chart? What do they have in common?

(Prompt if they don’t say: 1) teacher-led; 2) learning-focused; 3) individualized; 4) they either build relationships or support academic partnering; 5) most of them don’t require the family to come to the school

The family engagement activities that schools often engage in are school-wide, not learning-focused, and require families to come to the school. “Numbers of participants” is what gets recognized – rather than the increase in a parent’s ability to play the five roles. If families are being asked repeatedly to come to school but are not getting anything that will help them with what they most care about – educating their individual child, then schools often see the undesired effect of families choosing NOT to attend school events because they feel like their time is wasted.

“High impact” family engagement activities may or may not bring families to your buildings, because many of the highest impact family engagement happens at home. When families do need to come to the school, proactively encourage their continued participation by only inviting them to high quality/high impact offerings.

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Benefits of Family Engagement

Students with involved parents were more likely to earn higher grades and test scores;
enroll in higher-level programs;
be promoted;
attend school regularly;
have better social skills and adapt well to school; and
graduate and go on to postsecondary education
Students display more positive attitudes toward school
Students behave better both in and out of school
Middle and High school students make better transitions
Develop realistic plans for the future
Less likely to drop out
Children from diverse cultural backgrounds do better when families and schools join forces to bridge the gap between home and school cultures

(Beyond the Bake Sale, Henderson & Mapp, 2007).

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� Developing Pathways to Partnerships

The 5 A’s:

Approach + Attitude + Atmosphere + Actions = Achievement

(Christenson & Sheridan, 2001)

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Approach, Attitude, Atmosphere

Approach – Do we approach families with an understanding for a shared responsibility for learning? (Equal Partners)

Attitude – Values and perceptions held about families and family-school relationships. (Strengths – based)

Atmosphere – The physical and hidden climate in school that makes them inviting and “family friendly.”

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The 5 A’s

Prerequisite Conditions:

Approach

Actions Achieve

Attitude

Atmosphere

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School Practices are KEY

What predicts whether families are engaged?

Specific school programs and teacher practices that invite, encourage and guide parents to become involved.

Dr. Joyce Epstein

Johns Hopkins University

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Let’s Hear From YOU!

What are the biggest challenges to engaging families right now?

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We have an incredible opportunity NOW

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National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

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KPIRC: Engaging All Families Modules�www.ksdetasn.org/kpirc �

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Engaging All Families Equitably

Let’s go a little deeper…

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Revisit Learning Targets for Our Time Together

I can identify two benefits of family engagement in education.
I can name and explain one component of the ESEA family engagement mandate.
I can explain the components of the 5 A’s of Partnerships.
I can define equitable family engagement.
I can explain how the components of the 5 A’s of Partnerships apply to equitable family engagement.
I can share three skills to use to promote equity in family engagement.

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Definition of Equitable Family Engagement�

Equitable family engagement focuses on meaningful engagement activities and systems between schools and families that do not characterize or treat specific parent groups as deficient in their level of engagement or approach to education (Day, 2013).

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Equity in Education

Link to YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/EvpuwU7gfVo

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Family Barriers to Equitable Engagement

Family members may not be able to attend school meetings or functions due to scheduling conflicts, time constraints due to childcare, commute time, multiple jobs, and other challenges.
Family members may have had different, negative, few, or no experiences with formal education.
Family members who are recent immigrants, regardless of age, may be experiencing stress regarding cultural dissonance or major life changes.
Family members may distrust public institutions and choose to limit interactions with school personnel or to participate in their children’s education outside of the reach of the school system. Some immigrant and refugee families come from a culture where parents are not expected to be engaged with schools, but rather to entrust their children’s education to outside experts.

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Educator Barriers to Equitable Engagement

• Educators may have limited time or capacity to engage in thoughtful or detailed interactions with families.

• Educators may communicate with families about problems but fail to offer guidance or information to help parents support students.

• Educators may lack the preparation or administrative support to effectively engage with diverse families.

• Educators may hold expectations for family engagement that do not realistically reflect the schedules or cultures of families.

• Educators may hold perceptions that families do not wish to be involved, which can exacerbate communication challenges between families and school staff.

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Activity: Developing an Equity Lens

SHOW A SLIDE

LOOK AT PICTURE FOR DETAILS

PICTURE WILL VANISH

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Family Image

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Group Response

What’s wrong with this picture?

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Comic Image

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Group Response

What’s right with this picture?

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Deficit Ideology

Belief system that locates the primary cause of educational disparities—test score gaps, behavior referral and special education referral disproportionalities, graduation rates, etc. within rather than pressing upon the communities experiencing the disparities.

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Family Engagement is a Lever for Equity: �Inequities Cause Worry

Parents: Worry that school staff will criticize their parenting, undermining their confidence
Families of low income: Worry that their students are likely to fall way behind in school
Families that have children with disabilities: Worry that their children are not getting critical supports
School staff: May have negative bias about families’ interest/ability to help children with academics

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Three Skills to Promote Equity

Accepting and respecting different cultural differences around communication and values.
Self-awareness regarding one’s own culture and values.
Understanding how various factors influence interpersonal dynamics and experiences

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Approach, Attitude, Atmosphere

Approach – Do we approach families with an understanding for a shared responsibility for learning? (Equal Partners)

Attitude – Values and perceptions held about families and family-school relationships. (Strengths – based)

Atmosphere – The physical and hidden climate in school that makes them inviting and “family friendly.”

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An Equity Lens for Your Community

What racial, ethnic, or other marginalized groups are affected or impacted?
Can impact be made regarding existing disparities?
How can families and other stakeholders be involved?
How can negative impacts/barriers be mitigated?

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New DistrictTools.org

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Family Engagement Survey

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Review and Wrap-up

Family Engagement work is EQUITY work.
www.ksdetasn.org/kpirc
KANSANS Can…
What questions might you have?

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Contact Information

Tamara Huff, Project Coordinator

KPIRC – Kansas Parent Information Resource Center
thuff@kpirc.org
www.ksdetasn.org/kpirc