Module 1: Why is Family Engagement Important?
Families are often the one constant in a student’s life. Students spend about 80% of their time outside of school and bring their culture and experiences to the classroom. For students receiving special education services, as teachers and teams change from year to year, families continue to be on every team their child has as they grow and transition between grades, schools, and types of services. They are often the connector for their child’s services in and outside of school. This care map from the Boston Children’s Hospital shows the many services families of children with disabilities might navigate. The map can help others working with the family to understand the child and family’s strengths and needs and relieve stress by partnering to support coordination.
Families bring essential knowledge of the child, past challenges and successes, and dreams for what their child’s life will be like through adulthood. With that, families might also bring worries about their child, stressors from navigating educational and medical systems, and concerns about their own skills in supporting their child. Similarly, family-facing professionals bring knowledge from their field, information about educational systems, and hopes for student success. They might at times question their skills and ability to connect with diverse families.
Engaging families as partners can help the members of the team to feel supported and valued. Family engagement is related to improvements for everyone involved. See the Flamboayan Foundation for additional information and resources.
- Improvements for Students
- Better attendance
- Improved grades and achievement
- Improved attitudes toward learning
- Better social skills and fewer behavior problems
- Higher graduation rates
- Improvements for Families
- Increased self-confidence and empowerment
- Improved trust in schools
- Improved parenting skills
- Improvements for Teachers and Family-Facing Professionals
- Higher expectations for student learning
- Improved communication and problem resolution
- Increased morale and retention
- Reduced tension and barriers between families and school personnel
Advisory Board Feature: Why is Family Engagement Important?
“It’s necessary. Necessary was the first thing that came to mind. Family looks different for everyone. My family is my husband and children, and then my family is my husband and children at all of our siblings or parents. And then my family is my husband and children, siblings, parents, and all of the friendships that we’ve developed over the last decades that contributes to our village. So family engagement is necessary because that is where people run when they’re scared. That is where people around when they’re tired, when they’re overwhelmed, exhausted, lacking understanding, needing comfort. So you can’t accomplish anything without acknowledging the family unit. So family engagement is necessary. Children aren’t going to give themselves everything they need by themselves. They engage the family unit, whatever that looks like.” -Phoebe
“When we all come together, we support each other. Collaboration. So that kind of encouragement where you feel like I’m not alone in this. At least I have some people that I can count on.”-Faith
“Cohesive communication”-Patricia/Claudia
“Confidence, knowledge is power. If you’re engaged and you have the knowledge, you have a better footing.” -Georgia
“The child” -Ann
“I feel that it helps the child’s competence. They feel like they are getting there. They are. The children feel like they’re getting support from home. Plus it’s also good for the professionals that are working with the children, knowing that they’re also getting support from home to work…I think family engagement is just a big key into every child’s life for success.” – DeAnna
“Many of us who come from other cultures, sometimes we do not understand the culture, some of the controls here, and sometimes we not acting out of ignorance, but we do not know. Like for instance, I can tell you for sure, the education system it’s very, very different from where I come from. And if I didn’t have a person in my life who helped me go through some things we could not have done it. It’s always going to know the culture where every person is coming from without being biased in any way. And also trying to understand some things we’re not doing out of ignorance, but we do not know. And just being again, polite and giving us the instructions and advising as well, that will make us to understand more.” -Faith
Pause and Reflect
- Think back to the important person you thought of at the beginning of the module. How did they help you reach a goal? What supports might they have had or do you think they could have benefited from having to help you meet your goal?
- What does family mean to you?
- Why do you think family engagement is important?
- Image Credit: The74 ↵
