Offer Services and Events to Bring Parents into the School¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 8 studies (4 quant-synthesis, 2 causal, 1 review, 1 theoretical), q1–q4 · 3 of 8 report an effect size

Description¶

Offer free classes and workshops that focus on topics of interest to parents, such as family nutrition, child development, or homework help. Welcoming families with resources and support can help break down negative preconceived notions about school and build a community of hope and trust. The strategy treats the school as a service hub: parents come first for something they value for themselves, and the resulting familiarity and trust become the foundation for deeper engagement in their children's learning.

Design Implications¶

Parent involvement research shows that families participate more when schools actively create opportunities that fit families' schedules, interests, and capacities, rather than relying on passive invitations Parent involvement is shaped by school outreach and partnership practices. [+M]. Services and events work by building parents' self-efficacy and social networks — parents who meet staff and other parents at a low-stakes workshop are more likely to attend conferences, volunteer, and support learning at home Parents' social networks predict subsequent family involvement. [+M]. Events should be designed around parents' felt needs and offer genuine choice, since autonomy-supportive programming sustains attendance better than compliance-oriented mandates Autonomy support fosters intrinsic motivation and sustained engagement. [+S]. A sense of belonging — for parents as much as students — is a precondition for sustained partnership Belonging interventions improve engagement and outcomes. [+M].

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Space, resources, and credible speakers or facilitators for workshops and classes
• Needs assessment (surveys, informal conversations) to identify topics parents actually want
• Logistics that remove barriers: childcare, translation/interpretation, evening or weekend scheduling, transportation support
• Consistent, multilingual promotion through channels families already use (texting, community organizations, churches)

Constraints¶

• One-off events with no follow-up rarely change involvement patterns; effects depend on a sustained program, not a single workshop [-M]
• Topics that appeal to all parents do not exist — a single generic program will underserve large segments of the community [-M]
• Events organized around what the school wants to tell parents (rather than what parents want) can reinforce perceptions of school as unwelcoming or paternalistic [-M]
• Requires real staff time and budget; under-resourced attempts that feel tokenistic can damage trust more than offering nothing [-W]

Implementation Variability¶

• Service model: ESL classes, GED support, family nutrition or health screenings, technology training, job-readiness workshops
• Child-focused model: homework-help nights, family literacy or math nights where parents learn the methods their children use in class
• Community-partner model: host external agencies (health clinics, libraries, housing services) on campus, positioning the school as a trusted gateway
• Frequency: recurring "coffee mornings" or monthly family academies build habit and community better than annual showcases

Target Learners¶

• Parents and caregivers, especially those historically underrepresented in school events (working-class families, immigrant families, families with negative prior school experiences) School outreach practices predict involvement among families who do not initiate contact themselves. [+M]
• School staff, who build relational knowledge of families that improves communication and expectations
• Community partners seeking trusted access points to families

Target Learning Goals¶

• Increase parent involvement and family–school trust
• Build parents' capacity to support learning at home (homework help, literacy practices, adolescent development)
• Build community social capital and a welcoming school climate

Instructions¶

1. Assess needs and assets. Survey or interview families about topics, languages, and scheduling constraints; map existing community organizations that can co-sponsor.
2. Design a recurring, low-barrier program. Choose 3–4 topics per term from the needs assessment; always provide childcare, food, and interpretation. Frame events around parent benefit, not school messaging.
3. Welcome and connect. Open each event with a brief Check-In so parents meet staff and each other by name; assign staff to greet rather than lecture.
4. Deliver practical value. Use Coaching and hands-on formats — parents practice homework-help strategies or cooking skills rather than sitting through presentations.
5. Bridge to children's learning. Close each event by connecting the topic to what students are studying, and give parents one concrete, low-effort way to support learning at home.
6. Follow up and iterate. Collect attendance and feedback after every event; adjust topics and formats, and personally invite non-attending families to the next one.

Related Strategies¶

• Home visits and positive phone calls home — complementary outreach that builds the individual relationships events can only start at scale
• Community-based learning — extends the school-as-hub model outward into reciprocal community partnerships
• Offering Multiple Options for Family Engagement
• Share information about existing school and community health resources with students and their families, prioritizing youth-friendly resources
• Families partner with schools on attendance and grades through belonging, collaborative support, and joint monitoring
• Teachers guide parents on homework support types and hold family meetings on learning goals
• Hold parents' meetings at which a principal, doctor, or minister persuades parents to give sex instruction at home and to permit class and lecture instruction at school.

Related Elements¶

• Check-In — low-stakes relational routines that turn attendance into community
• Coaching — hands-on workshop formats that build parent skills rather than delivering information at them

Examples¶

• Epstein's "Type 6" partnerships (Collaborating with the Community) — the Johns Hopkins NNPS (National Network of Partnership Schools, https://nnps.jhucsos.com) provides templates for family workshops, "parent academies," and community resource fairs used by hundreds of schools.
• Family Math Nights — schools using the Family Math program (Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley) host evening events where parents and children solve problems together, familiarizing parents with current math pedagogy.
• Parent academies in district family-engagement programs — districts such as Long Beach Unified run free multi-week parent institutes covering child development, college pathways, and digital literacy, with childcare and translation provided.

Key Sources¶

• Epstein, J. L. (2011). School, family, and community partnerships: Preparing educators and improving schools (2nd ed.). Westview Press.
• Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., & Sandler, H. M. (1995). Parental involvement in children's education: Why does it make a difference? Teachers College Record, 97(2), 310–331. doi:10.1177/016146819509700202
• Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The relationship between parental involvement and urban secondary school student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Urban Education, 42(1), 82–110. doi:10.1177/0042085906293818
• Sheldon, S. B., & Epstein, J. L. (2005). Involvement counts: Family and community partnerships and mathematics achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 98(4), 196–207. doi:10.3200/JOER.98.4.196-207