Family and Community Engagement

The evolution from the use of the term parent “involvement” to the use of parent “engagement” signifies moving from the goal of expecting parents to routinely attend school functions to a more active role as partners in students’ educational processes.

In 2010 the National Family, School and Community Engagement Working Group (now the NAFSCE Policy Council) defined “Family Engagement as:

• Family engagement is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways and in which families are committed to actively supporting their children’s learning and development.
• Family engagement is continuous across a child’s life and entails enduring commitment but changing parent roles as children mature into young adulthood.
• Effective family engagement cuts across and reinforces learning in the multiple settings where children learn- at home, in prekindergarten programs, in school, in after school programs, in faith-based institutions, and in the community. (NAFSCE)

Approaches to family engagement may be different depending on the age of the student and the school and community context. Some families of at-risk students may need help with how to access extended learning opportunities, tutoring, or other types of extra academic supports for their student within a school; and some families may need help in more effectively interacting with their student’s teacher, principal, or other school staff.

To the extent that schools and LEAs are successful in giving families the tools, skills, and needed information to help their student, the families are more likely to be better able to support their student at home. Moving families to a more “engaged” status, particularly in high-poverty communities, is a challenge faced by many low performing schools.