Fostering Strong Family-School Partnerships

It’s that time of year when families deliver their most precious resource — their child — to the school doors or bus stop. Sometimes it’s with a sigh of relief; oftentimes it’s with some anxiety. Just about every parent, auntie, or grandpa wants to know that their child will be well-cared for and given engaging opportunities to learn and grow. 

Trust can reassure families that their children are in good hands. In fact, decades of research show that strong family-school partnerships are a necessary ingredient for achieving a wide range of educational goals, from increasing reading scores to reducing chronic absenteeism to preparing for life after high school. 

Here are a few ways you can help educators and families build stronger relationships as we head into the school year:

Help new staff become part of the community. Teachers who understand the community they’re serving build trust with families faster. Board members can help by:

• Supporting and championing community events like culture camps, which give staff a firsthand window into local history, values, and ways of knowing.
• Personally inviting new staff to community gatherings, not just posting an announcement; a direct invitation carries weight and signals genuine welcome.
• Taking time to share the history, culture, and values of the community with incoming staff, so they arrive with context rather than learning it by trial and error over their first year.

Make family engagement a strategic and intentional priority. Family engagement works best when it’s woven through your strategic plan rather than treated as a stand-alone initiative. That means asking, in every goal-setting conversation: “What do families need from us to show up as partners?” Consider:

• Going deeper by developing skills for hosting meaningful family advisory committees and conversations with families. Schedule an in-person Community Dialogues training or sign up for the On the Same Team virtual course (starts Sept. 22).
• Adopting AASB’s model family engagement policy.
• Weaving family partnerships into your strategic plan.
• Surveying your families, students, and staff. Learn more about AASB’s School Climate & Connectedness Survey, workshops, and other ways school boards can set up structures for strong family-school partnerships here. 

“We have learned how to host dialogues using open-ended questions to get everyone’s voices heard, and we value what is shared.” -Alaska Family Engagement Center School District Partner

Weave family engagement into your budget. Relationship-building takes time, and time costs money. If you want teachers reaching out to families before the first bell, meeting with them throughout the year, and showing up at evening events, that has to show up in the budget; whether through extra-duty pay for outreach and events or protected time built into the contract day. Teachers at one Alaskan middle school spend ten minutes of every staff meeting making at least two positive phone calls to families each week. Another rural school invites families to join for lunch in the classroom every Friday. Budgeting for transportation, childcare, and food can also help ensure family events at school are well attended by all families. As you approve budgets and negotiate contracts, keep family engagement in mind. 

Consider what education technology you’re purchasing; are communication apps easy for families to access and use? Do they allow for two-way communication between parents and teachers? Several Alaskan school districts have recently switched to ParentSquare. Both staff and families report appreciating the easy-to-navigate platform and the ability to share information back and forth between home and school. (Be aware as well of introducing too many apps and not enough support. If information about assignments, grades, attendance, and expectations is conflicting, outdated, or inaccessible, that can create confusion and frustration for families.)  

Build parents’ capacity to partner. Parents need tools, training, and tips too. And by parent, we mean the caring adults in kids’ lives. Let schools and families know about: 

• Capacity-building workshops for families so they can show up as strong partners.
• Resources like these Tips for Partnering, reading resources for families or this hot-off-the-press Launching Your Middle Schooler handout. 

Share tips, resources, and training opportunities. AASB’s Alaska Family Engagement Center’s mission is to make the work of building family-school partnerships easy.  Learn more about how school staff in your district are checking in with families, hosting family partnership events, and taking advantage of family-partnership training. Here are some examples and resources you might share:

• Scripts, checklists, meeting guides, and sample letters to start the year off strong.
• Family Night Toolkits that are linked to learning.
• Free training for educators, from in-person workshops delivered by AASB to training modules that can be modified and delivered by school staff. This year, we are also offering a free, virtual course that will give school- or district-based cohorts the space to develop a family- and educator-together team.

As a school board member, keeping this question in mind, “What do families and school staff need to show up as good partners?” can help guide your decision-making and make important connections. 

This year’s Experienced Board Member Academy at AASB’s 73rd Annual Conference & Youth Leadership Institute will focus on student engagement and strengthening family–school partnerships. Rebecca Winthrop, professor and author at the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, will lead a conversation about how to help students meaningfully connect with learning. Participants will explore the different modes of learning, how families and schools can work together to support students, and policies that help put kids into “explorer” mode.