Turning Family Engagement Into Better Schools
Parents have taken center stage in political debates over K-12 education in the past four years.
Contentious school board meetings over COVID-19 safety protocols, library books, and instruction about race and gender have garnered outsized attention. Eight states have passed parents’ bills of rights to give parents more control over what their children are taught at school. A federal parents’ bill of rights passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
That’s only one picture of parent involvement that doesn’t represent the day-to-day reality for most families and educators. But it didn’t manifest out of thin air. Experts say it’s the result of a lack of trust between the adults in a student’s life: their parents and their teachers.
But many schools are looking to rebuild that trust.
This special reporting project documents some of the efforts schools, districts, teacher-preparation programs, and state education agencies are undertaking to make parents and caregivers partners in their children’s education.
In Southfield, Mich., a community schools model that establishes the school as a hub for support services has robust family engagement as its foundation. In Rocky Mount, N.C., an after-school program run by an education professor teaches parents of students with special needs how to effectively advocate for their children. And in Denver, a home visiting program brings teachers and parents closer.
