As districts struggle to improve student outcomes and well-being, family engagement is a crucial piece of the puzzle. But a new report argues that some schools don鈥檛 consider what it means to truly involve caregivers in students鈥� education.
True family engagement creates a synergy between parents, the community, and schools that can be thought of as an 鈥渆quitable partnership-driven process,鈥� said Ayesha Hashim, a senior research scientist at the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and one of the authors of about how family engagement can help schools recover long term from the pandemic.
The NWEA is an educational organization based in Portland, Ore., that creates research-based assessments for K-12 schools and districts. Its report concludes that family engagement is often thought of as parental involvement and interest鈥攂ut that鈥檚 too narrow a definition.
"[The parental involvement] lens assumes parents should just plug into [school activities], it doesn鈥檛 actually think about the institutional constraints and barriers that hinder participation,鈥� said Hashim.
Schools encourage parental participation, but parents can play an even larger role in student success, said Karen Mapp, a professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, whose research has focused on creating partnerships between families, community members, and 糖心动漫vlog.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen engagement is more about, let鈥檚 make families happy about our school, happy about our district, so that they support the things that we鈥檙e doing,鈥� said Mapp. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 no connection to engaging [parents] with what鈥檚 actually happening around student goals.鈥�
Family plays a pivotal role in a student鈥檚 education
Past research shows that parental involvement in a student鈥檚 education resulted in improved academic achievement, school engagement, and motivation. For example, when students practice skills they learned at school with their parents at home, they showed higher percentages in reading and math proficiency. Additionally, parental involvement also helps students regulate their emotions better, enjoy school, and prevent student delinquency.
Historically, national surveys paint families as uninterested in COVID recovery efforts, according to the report.
For example, , Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, and the USC Rossier School of Education conducted a survey in April and May of 2022, asking parents questions about their children鈥檚 academic experiences in that school year. Some questions were used to measure parents鈥� awareness of and interest in tutoring and summer school.
The results showed 23% of parents of school-aged children were interested in their kids attending summer school and 28% were interested in tutoring.
But Hashim argues that questions about parental interest are not the best way to measure family engagement.
鈥淭hese surveys, because they鈥檙e national, they鈥檙e asking questions about a lot of different things, so they may not have time to ask families about all their interactions at schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淸These questions are] really asking about participation, but the finding is framed as interest.鈥�
Typically, parents are expected to passively participate and plug into school-related activities like parent-teacher conferences or back-to-school nights, the report found.
But that expectation does not consider the different barriers parents may face like language or a tough work schedule, said Hashim: 鈥淸Those parents are] not going to be able to plug in when you need them... Then the assumption is to blame them.鈥�
Instead, family engagement should be measured by establishing goals agreed on by the community, parents, and the school. These goals should consider any institutional policies and systemic barriers that might affect parents and students, which can vary by district, said Hashim.
鈥淭his is a very locally defined phenomenon. You can鈥檛 just read a national survey and understand what family engagement might look like,鈥� she said. 鈥淟eaders really need to be asking thoughtful questions of their local communities.鈥�
Recommendations to foster family engagement
In order for schools to increase family engagement, there needs to be more frequent communication with parents on matters that go beyond bad behavior or student achievement.
鈥淚f the first phone call home is about bad news, guess what? [There鈥檚] not going to be much of a relationship developed,鈥� said Mapp.
Instead, Mapp suggests schools send a welcome note home to each family and follow up with a phone call, with the main message being: We welcome you and your family.
Additionally, there can be a lack of trust between parents and schools, and it鈥檚 important for 糖心动漫vlog to understand what building trust looks like in their community, she said.
Each school community is different, and the best way to build trust with parents and guardians may vary. For example, in New Mexico, schools that wanted to meet families for home visits as a way to build trust ran into obstacles.
鈥淚n Indigenous communities, home visits just aren鈥檛 appropriate, and so consequently what [糖心动漫vlog] do are community visits,鈥� Mapp said. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l go to a community gathering place鈥攖he library or something like that鈥攖o do trust-building with families.鈥�
Finally, schools should involve parents more in school-wide decisionmaking, both Hashim and Mapp agreed.
鈥淧arents are actually really hungry for leadership opportunities where they can give input that will meaningfully transform the education of their child,鈥� said Hashim.
For example, if schools are focused on helping students write better essays, teachers can communicate with parents about the components of a good essay. Then, at home, parents can ask their children questions about building an effective argument to further develop those skills outside of the classroom.
鈥淔amilies aren鈥檛 in the dark, and now teachers and schools have allies at home helping them to support the specific goals around teaching and learning that they鈥檙e trying to achieve,鈥� said Mapp.
Educators should also be learning more about family engagement in their professional development, Hashim said.
鈥淲e need to approach this from the lens of professional development on how to communicate with families,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his ultimately is going to make the work of teachers easier, because if students and families feel connected to school and are coming to school, then teachers can do their job.鈥�
