Family Engagement is critical for healthy child development.

Research tells us that quality family engagement can have a lasting effect on a child’s health, school readiness, and later success in life. Here are some questions we are trying to develop to make it more meaningful.  

1- How do we define family engagement? 

2- How do we know what will work with today’s families? 

3- What can we offer programs working with young children that will help them be more effective in engaging and empowering parents? 

LISA Academy Parent and Family Engagement

Focus on school readiness and transitions across learning environments. It suggests that school readiness is a continuous process, beginning at birth, continuing through elementary school, and at its best, lays the foundation for ongoing success in school. Likewise, engaging families during transitions can ensure a positive experience that has the potential to help children throughout their school years. Arkansans and LISA Academy appreciate that each family’s needs are different and each community has unique characteristics and constraints. This was designed to offer a range of ways in which to engage families. The suggested strategies can be tailored to the operations of different programs serving children.

We always value the importance of family engagement, racial equity, communication, and respect. 

• Family engagement practices respect parents as their child’s first teacher and recognize their importance in school readiness and later success in life. 

• Families are unique. We appreciate and celebrate all differences. Family engagement activities will demonstrate regard for different ways of knowing, doing, or being, and will build on family strengths. Engagement is designed to encourage intentional thinking and action related to family engagement. LISA Academy recognized that the implementation of family engagement varies widely across early childhood programs, with some programs participating in well-designed and appropriately resourced systems while other programs have little to no specific plan in place and are without any resources to implement a family engagement plan. 

Purposes 

1. Ensure that family engagement is recognized as a core component of quality early care and education, especially as it relates to school readiness and transitions across varied learning settings, 

2. Identify a set of common goals for family engagement that will promote policies and practices both at the state and local levels for agencies that provide care and education for young children, and

3. Positive two-way communication must be modeled in order to build trust and relationships with all partners, including encouraging family-to-family interaction. Family engagement should create a safe environment where all questions are welcomed and ideas are embraced.

4. The practice of engaging families must be achievable and sustainable. In order to support early childhood programs, current and proposed state-level early childhood and school-age policies should be reviewed for their potential impact on the family engagement goals articulated in this guide.

5. Family engagement practices should create meaningful and ongoing opportunities for families to serve in leadership roles.