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The Importance of Family Engagement
The Importance of Family Engagement
Research
Research
Research shows the positive effect consistent family engagement has on student learning. "When families of all backgrounds are engaged in their children’s learning, their children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and pursue higher education" (Henderson & Mapp, 2002, p. 73). I have seen first hand the positive effects family engagement and involvement can have on students growth and buy in to the school, classroom and learning process. When both students ad parents are bought in to the learning process, students are more responsibly and responsive to the expectations in the classroom.
Parents and families know their student better than anyone else and I rely on their expertise about their children's learning process, behaviors and motivators to help me be a supportive and culturally responsive teacher. I make sure that parents recognize together we make a team and I cannot do this work independent from their help, support and feedback.
Additionally, when there is increased and consistent family engagement within the classroom, strong relationships are easily supported and continued. All stakeholders are fundamental in the academic and behavior growth of students and I cannot do this work without the support, buy in and feedback from my students parents.
My Vision
My Vision
My vision for family engagement at my school is to support parents and families during this difficult time of virtual learning. I want to focus on creating strong relationships with my students and their families so they feel they are trusted and respected within our building. I want to initiate this by calling families and informing them about how their student is doing academically and behaviorally in class as well as informing them around absences, completed work, and grades. There are many questions in regards to what this school year will look like long-term, when students will be allowed to enter the school building again, how attendance is being monitored, and how students will be graded and supported academically. All of these are valid questions and I believe by building strong relationships with my parents, students and their families, I will be able to ease their frustrations and confusion around what school will look like for this upcoming year.
My Plan
My Plan
Long-TermFamilyEngagementPlan_Template_Jolly_Lauren-converted.pdfFamily Engagement in Action
Family Engagement in Action
Below are just a few of the events that occur in our classroom to help create and sustain positive engagement and interaction with families, parents and students. I prioritize family engagement along with the rest of the academic standards and curriculum because learning in the classroom cannot happen without the buy in and support from parents. Similarly, parents want to feel included and communicated with around their students learning, so they know specifically how their student is succeeding and growing.
Parent Teacher Conferences
Parent Teacher Conferences
Parent Teacher Conferences are used as a tool to effectively communicate to parents how their student is succeeding in the classroom. This one on one time offers the teacher an opportunity to present student work from different subject areas as well as data points from assessments. At the beginning of the year parent teacher conferences, I explain classroom expectations to parents and the importance of the behavioral and academic expectations. Additionally, I present parents with their students NWEA data for them to have a reference point where their students is beginning the year academically. I value parent voice and input and spend much of the time asking parents questions to get to know them better, their home lives and their students. Some parents are much more vocal about their concerns regarding their students progress than others and I have found that meeting one on one and inviting them into the conversation around their student and collaborating together to best support their student helps elevate parents confidence about the academic experience within our classroom. This helps me begin to build relationships with parents and understand where they are coming from.
Positive Phone Calls
Positive Phone Calls
When teachers make a concerted effort to make positive phone calls to parents around student success, it helps to create a safe and loving classroom environment. I am not a teacher who leads by filling her students with fear, rather I strive to be a teacher who fills her students with love, confidence and positivity. By making a consistent effort to call parents, check in with them and highlight their students growth academically and behaviorally, parents begin to trust me more as a person and a teacher. Similarly, students strive to do their best work every day because they want me to make a positive phone call home to their mom and dad. Positivity helps students feel confident at school and helps motivate students through challenging assignments. The positive phone call assignment exemplified to me the power that consistently calling and communicating with parents can have on student academic and behavior success. It helped me understand a little bit more about my students' home life and difficulties they were facing as a family and as a student which in turn helped me understand how to address certain behavioral and academic issues within the classroom. I am always grateful for parents responsiveness in supporting me as teacher. I truly believe that increased collaboration with parents has helped me be a successful teacher and led to positive student outcomes.
PositivePhoneCalls_Jolly_Lauren.docxGrandparents Day
Grandparents Day
Grandparents day was just one of many events we had in our classroom to promote family engagement. In the community I work, many students spend a lot of time with their grandparents. Some of their grandparents pick them up from school everyday, work with them to complete their homework, and take care of them while the parents are at work. I felt it was important to allow an opportunity to physically invite grandparents into our classroom since they are such strong role models and mentors to our students. Students thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity and took ownership over showing their grandparents around the classroom. This was an extremely successful event that I would love to continue to implement in my classroom when we are able to come back to school in-person.
Student 1 (seen in the middle) was so proud to show his grandmother his math projected he had completed for homework. Student 1's sister also joined us in our classroom during the grandparents day.
Student 2 was working with her grandmother to complete the worksheet that was handed out to the class asking them why they loved their grandparents. Her grandmother was also completing a separate worksheet of her own. Student 2 was so excited to have her grandmother in our classroom for the afternoon.
Student 3's grandmother was everyone's favorite! She spent the afternoon playing a game with her grandson and his peers. They all had the best time!
Conclusion & Reflection
Conclusion & Reflection
Family engagement is an aspect of teaching that should not be overlooked, rather it should be emphasized and prioritized alongside the academic curriculum. Communication and engagement with families should be consistent, frequent, and informative. It is not enough to have occasional conversations or one-off meetings. All of these techniques must be used in concert with one another and be proactive to build the rapport necessary to achieve dramatic student growth. As a constant learner, I am frequently researching new ideas and asking for input around how to further engage parents in the classroom in an exciting manner. One cannot fully tap into student success and dramatic growth without engaging, communicating and collaborating with parents along the way.
References
References
Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2002). New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community
Connections on Student Achievement. SEDL – Advancing Research, Improving Education.
https://sedl.org/connections/resources/evidence.pdf
LENA Team. (2018, September 5). Frameworks for understanding effective family engagement. LENA. https://www.lena.org/family-engagement/
Utah PTA. (2020). National Standards For Family-School Partnerships.
https://www.utahpta.org/national-standards-family-school-partnerships
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