What if there was a strategy that could boost students’ level of achievement, increase self-confidence, and ensure a sense of belonging and positive school experience?
There is, and it’s called family engagement!
The sentences above, from the course’s description, tell you what you need to know about this course; that family engagement influences students’ educational outcomes! In fact, in Fast Track course 5417: Positive Partnerships with Family Engagement, you will discover the beautiful simplicity of how working with families makes students, teachers, and families better.
For a glimpse of the course, review the section below to see just one of the many powerful activities you will explore!
ACTIVITY
Investigation: Family Engagement + Student Success
The research demonstrates that student success is directly related to family engagement. To find out more about the relationship between family engagement and student achievement, educators will be asked to review the following articles:
- “How Family Engagement Leads to Student Success,” from Waterford
- “Parental Involvement Is Key to Student Success Research Shows,” from the Annie E. Casey Foundation
- “TIPS: Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork,” from Johns Hopkins University
Next, teachers will reach into their memory and think about when they were young students. Then in their journals, they will comment on the following:
- Back-to-School events, open houses, conferences or other school events
- How attendance (or non-attendance) affected you and your achievement in school
And, teachers will write about their educator perspectives by commenting on:
- Are you satisfied with the participation of your students’ families, and why or why not?
- What barriers might prevent families from being involved?
- How could those barriers be mitigated?
- Ideas for events or activities that would increase family engagement
- Beyond events and activities, what kind of support (transportation, food, interpreters, communications, etc.) might increase engagement and participation?
Family engagement makes a difference! To learn the many ways including families lifts us all, check out course 5417!
