Enable regular, meaningful family engagement through diverse home-language communication, proactive meetings, student-led conferences, and shared decision-making forums¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The brief states there is 'no single strategy for cultivating effective family engagement' but recommends four approaches: diverse communication tools so families can consistently learn how their child is doing; proactively scheduled virtual or in-person meetings rather than only reactive ones; reimagined student–teacher–family conferences including student-led conferences; and family inclusion in decision-making forums that distribute power, such as school site councils.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Communication should be conveyed in families' home language wherever possible
• Meetings should be conducted proactively to build rapport, with thoughtful scheduling and supports such as translation services and babysitting to increase family participation
• Shared decision-making forums must allow families' knowledge and expertise to substantively inform a shared school vision, not merely collect opinions

Constraints¶

• These approaches hold particular relevance in communities where interpersonal and institutional trust has been violated

Target Learners¶

• secondary school students' families
• students in communities with violated interpersonal and institutional trust

Target Learning Goals¶

• school–family trust and alignment between home and school values, norms, and practices
• family participation in school improvement and strategic planning

Affordances¶

• Relationship Centered Schooling Framework

Related Strategies¶

• Remove language and participation barriers by communicating with families in multiple languages through varied channels with interpreters available
• Zoom Family Hours
• Structured and Sustained Family Engagement Programs
• Teacher Parent Communication
• Home School Communication
• Open Communication and Trust
• Positive Phone Calls Home
• Culturally Competent Family Engagement
• Building Cultural Competency Skills for School Staff

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Hernández, L., & Darling-Hammond, L. (with Nielsen, N.). (2024). Cultivating relationships in secondary schools: Structures that matter. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/cultivating-relationships-secondary-schools-brief