Strong family engagement at schools can support student achievement and help combat chronic absence. Yet, too often, parents are sidelined in their student’s education, according to Centering Families in the Future of Education: Insights and Perspectives from 10 Years of Research, a recent report from Learning Heroes.
Drawing on a decade of research and practice by the organization and its partners, the report identifies 10 insights that prove “when families are engaged as true partners in education, they help build stronger, more learner-centered systems where achievement rises, schools improve, and trust becomes a catalyst for lasting change,” the report states.
One insight highlighted is that parents’ belief in how their student is performing academically often differs from the reality of the situation. This “perception gap” can stop parents from stepping in to help address issues their child is having. “It’s critical for families and teachers to team up around a shared, accurate understanding of a child’s strengths and areas for growth. Because when parents know their child needs support, they seek essential academic supports like tutoring, summer math or reading programs, and are more likely to consistently send their child to school,” according to the report.
Making family engagement a strategy, not a goal, is another important factor in improving home-school relationships as it allows educators to connect it with outcomes. “Family engagement is most effective when it’s directed toward the goals and priorities that schools are already focused on,” the report states.
Examples of how it can be implemented as a strategy include training and providing teachers with the time to share student data with parents, creating an action plan with families to support at-home reading or conducting home visits to foster relationships and boost attendance.
“In Pajaro Valley Unified School District in California, for example, leaders and families have built engagement strategies grounded in trust and focused on student learning and well-being — a process that has strengthened both relationships and results,” the report explains.
Home-school relationships are also critical in identifying and supporting learning differences in students.
Other key points explained in the report include prioritizing the parent-teacher team, reckoning with report cards, sparking parental action through awareness, defining success after high school, connecting the dots between social-emotional and academic growth and communicating with families in language they’ll understand (like being mindful to not overuse hard-to-grasp education jargon).
Examples of each concept currently utilized in school systems are featured.
As research shows, family engagement efforts rooted in trust that focus on student learning can have great impact across grade levels.
“To make meaningful progress on student achievement and school improvement for all students, regardless of educational setting, we must center the voices and needs of those too often overlooked or underserved. When family perspectives shape the systems and structures that support learning, we can directly confront the root causes of chronic absenteeism, student underperformance, educator retention, and more,” the report concludes.
