Dive Brief:
- A 2012 report from the nonprofit research organization Child Trends shows that family engagement is crucial to student achievement and can also alleviate or even prevent behavioral problems.
- Harvard Family Research Project Associate Director Elena Lopez told District Administration that it's crucial for administrators to consider ways to engage families across all departments.
- The U.S. Department of Education also has a parental involvement framework, released in 2014, that can serve as a blueprint for how districts can best engage families.
Dive Insight:
Parental involvement in student education can be boosted in a variety of ways. Districts can try out innovative digital models that go beyond the traditional face-to-face student-teacher conference, or they can supplement traditional meetings with digital components like videoconferencing.
Another trend that districts can implement is the collaborative approach. This fall, Education Week reported that academic parent-teacher teams (APTTs) are a new model gaining popularity. In just five years, APTTs have spread to 250 U.S. schools.
APTTs encourage parents and teachers to keep their relationships going while mapping out clear academic goals that can be reinforced to children at home by families. Teachers can make their learning plans more inclusive by breaking down teaching concepts with parents, so that they understand what students are supposed to be learning and why. That way, they’re better prepared to help kids learn at home.
Parent and community engagement can be integral to turning around low-performing schools, and in boosting student achievement for school leaders who are able to communicate and collaborate.