When schools engage with families to work collaboratively in supporting their child's education, students show higher academic achievement, improved social skills, and increased motivation to learn. In this blog, we will discuss how strong parent-educator partnerships can expand the opportunities for students to practice and master new skills, be they academic, social emotional, or executive function. Learn about the benefits of engaged families for schools. Plus, download a resource to ensure that families feel welcomed to set the stage for engagement.
Family engagement is a strategy that schools can develop and use to improve student learning and achievement. The effort includes practices that reach out to families to welcome them and build trust and help them be collaborators in their child’s development. An easy way to ensure engagement is to show families that their participation is linked to their child’s learning success. When parents and caregivers know what, when, and how to support specific skills, they are able to provide support in sync with what is being taught in school.
The reality is that children spend only about 12% of their total yearly hours in school. An important fact that needs to accompany this statistic is that learning happens over time and with practice. The school day provides the time to teach the components of a new skill, but there is limited opportunity in the school day to provide the practice necessary for a new skill to be truly learned and mastered.
Parents and caregivers care deeply about their children, and their desires and dreams for their children are big. Parents are the perfect collaborators for helping their children secure the skills they need to succeed in the next section of work, the next grade, and the world ahead of them. When parents and caregivers know what is being taught, and the vocabulary and basic strategies that are used for learning in school, they can support their child’s learning at home. Many times families are able to give learning an everyday application and underscore its place and importance.
High levels of academic achievement is a goal desired by all parents and caregivers. The pathway to that goal becomes ever steeper as the standards for academic attainment become greater with each passing year. Improving education and promoting higher levels of academic attainment has generated a variety of efforts to increase the quality of educational experiences and outcomes.
Yet, family engagement has been under-utilized as an opportunity to build relational trust to provide a foundation for improving the relationships between the educators and families a school serves. Extending this opportunity to broaden the network of support for student learning can be the beginning of not only better communication between schools and students’ families, but of better student outcomes and stronger schools. Decades of research validates the many improved outcomes for students whose teachers and caregivers work together.
It’s easy to assume that schools and families are solely focused on academic achievement, but learning that includes skills that support learning and life are an important part of the work that teachers and families need to do. Social emotional and executive function learning needs to be included as well.
The focus in Pre-K includes early academic, social emotional, and executive function skill building. In the elementary grades, families are able to support academic skill building. Social emotional and executive function skill building get more attention as well. Students need to learn to work and play together, and build the self regulation skills that allow them to build the stamina to deal with more challenging work.
When students enter middle school, the focus shifts. Families are not usually asked to partner in supporting learning in secondary school. It’s often more difficult for parents and caregivers to be involved in supporting academic learning, though it’s still important for them to share realistic high expectations for achievement, be aware of performance, and help guide their child in advocating for themself and asking for help when necessary. Supporting social emotional learning and executive function skill building becomes critical in secondary school.
Helping students manage emotions and desires for independence during adolescence is incredibly important. The expectations of middle and high school students are often steep. Social emotional and executive function skills need to be learned. Adolescents need guidance in the areas of building positive relationships, managing emotions, and open communication, as well as in developing the cognitive skills of planning, organizing, and prioritizing.
Neither teachers nor families can do it alone. The effort done well is a big one that requires a team. A team that works together with sufficient knowledge, plans and supporting resources can do it—at all grade levels!
Parents engaged in supporting their child’s learning and achievement increase their child’s motivation to learn in many ways.
Family engagement is not a difficult undertaking, but there are elements that schools and educators need to be aware of to successfully position engagement in high impact ways.
Parents are their child’s first teacher and they remain in that role for years. Some parents may be trained educators, but most are not. Schools and educators that recognize families have the capacity to support their child’s learning can maximize the opportunities that are available. High impact practices are available for initiating and using a family engagement program.
The key to building these strong partnerships that create a supportive learning environment and foster confidence, communication and long-term success is the time spent building and honoring the relational trust that is critical to any partnership. Teachers and parents that are able to have comfortable conversations, especially when there is a need to discuss a concern, will be able to share all necessary information and mutually develop a plan for next steps. When this happens the benefits are numerous, including higher student achievement, happier teachers and parents, and stronger schools.
Family engagement offers educators the chance to see the work they begin in the classroom expand. Family engagement offers students greater support and the chance to secure their skills started in the classroom. These outcomes make collaboration a winning strategy. This is especially true when the partnership provides teachers with a window to better understand their students and their families, and provides families with the ability to bring their children closer to fulfilling the dreams they have for them.
The work on education is much bigger than a sentence or an equation. It’s building the academic, social emotional, and executive function skills to fulfill each child’s highest capacity and giving them the skills they will need in the world ahead of them. Education requires these partnerships between teachers and parents who work together for the best possible outcome for each child and in each school.
TCM understands that family engagement is key to student success. That’s why we provide free resources, lesson plans, and strategies designed to help educators strengthen partnerships with families. Whether you’re looking for interactive activities or practical guides, our tools make it easier to create meaningful connections. Discover our resources today and build a more engaged school community!