Welcoming All Families

Make it pleasant and easy for families to get to you. Make sure that families can easily understand how to get to the school, where to park, and how to access the school via public transportation (if available). Entrances should be easy to find and clearly marked, including wheelchair-accessible entrances. Signage should appear in the languages spoken by families in your school. Facilities should be accessible for people with disabilities and security procedures are carried out in a transparent, consistent, and friendly way. 

Make smiling a cultural norm. Unlike handshakes, hugs, and eye contact, smiling is a nearly-universal facial expression. Everyone families come into contact with should demonstrate warmth and patience throughout their interactions with families and visitors.

Visibly celebrate diversity in your communications and within the school environment. Choose images and decorative elements that reflect diverse cultures, communities, generations and family structures. 

Communicate to families, not about them. Underscore your relationship by speaking personally to individual families. When writing information for families in general, use the pronoun "you" rather than speaking of families as, "they."

Make your commitment to partnership explicit. Families might not assume that schools will welcome their partnerships due to cultural differences or negative past experiences. One tool you can use to communicate about the importance of School-Family partnerships is our colorful, illustrated "Families Are the Key" resource.  Available in multiple languages, this resource provides an overview of the principles and practices of the Strengthening Partnerships Massachusetts Family Engagement framework. Consider sharing this resource with your families as part of a discussion of what family engagement means for your school, students, and community. As also available.

To build a culture that values family engagement, use the Space Launch metaphor. This research-backed analogy provides a clear and positive framing of the goals and purpose of family engagement. It has been tested with a diverse cross-section of people and was shown to produce support for creating the kind of culture described throughout family engagement research.

Use inclusive language. Inclusive language is the words and phrases you use that avoid biases, slang, and expressions that discriminate against groups of people based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, and ability. When used, your message can resonate with a larger audience by speaking and writing in ways everyone understands and makes everyone feel welcome.  For example, instead of saying "parents," use the term "families" to include all caregivers. 

Use gender-neutral pronouns and terms. When referring to an unidentified person or to people in general, use the terms they, their, or them instead of the old fashioned phrases he/she, his/hers, or him/her.  This communicates that you understand that gender is complex, that you can't tell someone's gender by their appearance, that some people identify as nonbinary. It also shows that you want people of all genders to feel welcome, safe, and respected. 

Seek guidance from affinity and advocacy groups about inclusive choices of language and imagery. This includes the preferred language diverse communities use to describe themselves as well as imagery and terms that send up "red flags" or cause alarm. As political and social realities change, communities may adopt new language preferences, and individuals may have different preferences. Asking for input and listening to these evolving conversations is one way to show that you value and respect diverse opinions. These issues are complex, so humility and openness are the best approach.