There’s A Hidden Treasure in Education

Discover the value of family engagement

The importance of family engagement is devalued in some school systems. This is because there are other priority items that educators have to focus on to ensure the steady growth of students. It is also very important for schools to engage their teachers and other school personnel in other continuous professional development so that they provide students with the very best opportunities for learning.

As a family engagement influencer, I get all of that. However, promoting family engagement in education is very important, too.

There is value in increasing family engagement in schools.

Family engagement is all about the mutual partnership that should exist between educators and parents.

It also includes other family members who play a role in their child’s learning. These include relatives like grandparents, older siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles along with special people in a child’s life like foster parents, mentors, neighbors, pastors, godparents, and family friends. That’s why parent engagement is not the popular term to use. Family engagement is more inclusive.

There are some very important things about family engagement that has to be acknowledged. Not all schools and school districts have problems in this area. A lot of the schools that struggle in this area have a lot of families who are racially and culturally diverse. Many of these families in schools with low levels of family engagement have English learners or non-English speaking families. Many in these struggling schools have families that exist in poverty and experience unspeakable daily struggles.

Here is what I think.

In order for the family to be engaged in their child’s education, I believe that teachers, school leaders, and other school employees must take the lead in building authentic relationships with them.

This genuine relationship can only be built when educators accept parents and respect parents unconditionally and without trying to change them so that they become the type of families they think they should be. Only then will educators truly understand each family. This understanding releases the ability of educators to have empathy and compassion for the families they serve because they care about them.

This will open the door to the family reciprocating so that acceptance, respect, and understanding are shared.

When this happens, what results is powerful. Educators and parents work together as a unified team as they remain totally devoted to the overall process of education. Educators continue to give their best for each child at school and the family offers a lot of support for their child’s education at home. In other words, family engagement increases!

Increasing family engagement does not happen overnight. There are no quick fixes. Increasing family engagement involves an investment.

School leaders must be willing to invest time and resources to provide training to educators so that family engagement increases.

School leaders must also invest in the time and resources required especially to help educators become culturally competent so that they are able to understand their diverse families. Remember, they are the families who are less likely to be connected to their child’s educators. School leaders must be willing to invest time and resources to develop parent training programs to empower parents to partner with educators. All of the investments must produce sustainable results.

Simply stated, these results must last.

There’s another investment that must be made. Board of school directors, school superintendents, and other decision-makers must be willing to adjust their budgets to support family engagement initiatives and programs within their school districts. This could include hiring a family engagement specialist or administrator who has the power to help change the culture of a school system. This cannot be a meaningless position that educators and the community also view as senseless. This investment could include creating partnerships with experts who will remain committed to helping school districts that feel stuck in the area of family engagement. Whatever the investment, school leaders must realize that there is no one size fits all approach to increasing family engagement.

I wrote the article found in the link below.

All of the benefits of family engagement for students, educators, parents, and our society are explained. I invite you to delve into this topic more deeply by reading this article.

I hope that you realize that there is value in increasing family engagement in education.

Here’s my golden ticket that helps me accomplish my mission.

Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher, School Principal, Director of Pupil Personnel Services, Assistant to the Superintendent for Family and Community Engagement, and Professor of Multicultural education. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and her YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1DPhBeA29UlybU9jzDkdQ.