5 Resources for Supercharging Family Engagement for Student Success
As educators nationwide work to bring more students into class, engaging families in a way that honors them as their child’s first teacher—making them welcome, seen, heard, and leaning into their knowledge—has been a top priority. Whether it’s a friendly phone call, caring home visits, or fun community event, there are a multitude of ways to engage families as partners in both their student’s academic success and the success of the entire school community. Whether you are looking to get started with a new family engagement initiative, or ready to build on your existing strategies, these five resources will help you build a more vibrant and inclusive school community that your families and students will feel excited to attend, every day.
How Schools Can Practice Family Engagement to Dismantle Longstanding Educational Inequities from Carnegie Corporation of New York
A Corporation-commissioned report by Karen L. Mapp and Eyal Bergman outlines a new vision for family engagement that cultivates effective partnerships between families and educators
Keynote: Now More Than Ever: Family Engagement is Essential for Student & School Success Presented by Dr. Karen L. Mapp, Senior Lecturer on Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education
In this keynote from our Power of Present National Summit on Student Absenteeism, Dr. Karen L. Mapp articulates the essential conditions for effective family engagement and supporting research, discusses what it means to implement the 2019 Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships with fidelity, and talks about how to cultivate and sustain liberatory (free of dominance), solidarity-driven (in union and fellowship), and equity-focused (fair and just) family engagement.
The Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships by Dr. Karen L. Mapp & Eyal Bergman, US Department of Education
Based on existing research and best practices, this Framework is designed to support the development of family engagement strategies, policies, and programs. It is not a blueprint for engagement initiatives, which must be designed to fit the particular contexts in which they are carried out. Instead, the Framework should be seen as a compass, laying out the goals and conditions necessary to chart a path toward effective family engagement efforts that are linked to student achievement and school improvement.
This Toolkit is designed to provide educators with insights, research, and strategies on how to effectively partner with families so that every student has an equitable opportunity to learn. It is divided into three parts: Effectively Communicating with Families; Family Agency & Attendance; Families as Assets to Learning.
Webinar: Making Family-School Partnerships More Effective This Fall
For decades we’ve known families are critical for supporting student outcomes, but COVID-19 and a national call for racial justice put a spotlight on family-school partnerships as invaluable to learning. This fall (and really, all year round!), bringing families to the table needs to be non-negotiable. Join Karen L. Mapp, author of the U.S. DOE Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships, and Todd Rogers to learn how to develop family school-partnerships that effectively communicate what a critical support system for learning they are.
Click here to learn more about EveryDay Labs and our proven effective family engagement strategies.