1. Parents, Families and Family Engagement
Michael Brown
Minnesota Department of Education
December 2, 2015
“Leading for educational excellence and equity. Every day for every one.”

2. Overview Importance of Definitions, Meanings Role of Theory
Understanding Families
Family impact
Models of Family Engagement
Family Engagement as a Systemic, Integrated Part of Your Collaborative PreK-3 Work
Discussion
As you are preparing to enhance your family engagement work, the information in this presentation will help provide a starting point.
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3. Start with: Definitions and Common Understandings
“One of the most challenging aspects of family engagement training is the varying methods and definitions used to describe what exactly is meant by family engagement.”
Dostaler and Cannon (October 2011). Developing a family engagement training strategy.
Family
Changes in families?
Engagement
Different than involvement?
What does it include or not include? For example, is parenting education part of family engagement?
Work towards a common understanding of family engagement with your staff/colleagues.
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4. Family
“Two or more people who are committed to each other and who share intimacy, resources, decision-making responsibilities and values.”
David Olson, John DeFrain, Linda Skogrand
Marriage and Families: Intimacy, Diversity, and Strengths 7th ed, p. 5-6.
“A circle of care and support offering enduring commitment to care for one another related either biologically, emotionally or legally and takes into account those who the ‘client’ identifies as significant to his/her well-being.”
Dostaler and Cannon (October 2011). Developing a family engagement training strategy. P. 7
There are many definitions of family. At the same time, remember that they are also legal definitions, which may impact program requirements, policies, practices, etc.
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5. Parent Involvement or Engagement
Parents who are “involved” serve the school’s agenda by doing the things educators ask or expect them to do – volunteering at school, parenting in positive ways, and supporting and assisting their children at home with their schoolwork – while knowledge, voice and decision-making continue to rest with the educators (Pushor, 2001).
“Engagement,” in comparison to involvement, comes from en, meaning “make,” and gage, meaning “pledge”
– to make a pledge (Harper, 2001), to make a moral commitment (Sykes, 1976, p. 343). The word engagement is further defined as “contact by fitting together; … the meshing of gears” (Engagement). The implication is that the person ‘engaged’ is an integral and essential part of a process, brought into the act because of care and commitment. By extension, engagement implies enabling parents to take their place alongside educators in the schooling of their children, fitting together their knowledge of children, of teaching and learning, with teachers’ knowledge. With parent engagement, possibilities are created for the
structure of schooling to be flattened, power and authority to be shared by educators and parents, and the agenda being served to be mutually determined and mutually beneficial.
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6. “And even when schools and programs do engage families, they typically focus on asking parents to support the work of the school or program through activities such as serving on committees, helping with homework, fundraising, and volunteering to lead programs.”
We should be careful about thinking “involvement” is not good. There are many ways that involvement practices can be beneficial. I think involvement, in the absence of engagement, is what we need to avoid. In what ways do you see involvement being beneficial to families and programs?
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7. Family Engagement
Family engagement means building relationships with families that support family well-being, strong parent-child relationships, and ongoing learning and development of parents and children alike. It refers to the beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and activities of families that support their children’s positive development from early childhood through young adulthood. Family engagement happens in the home, early childhood program, school, and community. It is a shared responsibility with all those who support children’s learning. (OHS, PFCE Framework)
Engagement comes from en, meaning "make,"and gage, meaning "pledge" – to make a pledge (Harper, 2002), to make a moral commitment (Sykes, 1976, p. 343).
The word engagement is further defined as "contact by fitting together; the meshing of gears" (Engagement).
The implication is that the person 'engaged' is an integral and essential part of a process, brought into the act because of care and commitment. By extension, engagement implies enabling parent to take their place alongside educators in the schooling of their children, fitting together their knowledge of children, teaching and learning, with teachers knowledge. With parent engagement, possibilities are created for the structure of schooling to be flattened, power and authority to be shared by educators and parents, and the agenda being served to be mutually determined and mutually beneficial. (Pushor & Ruitenberg, 2005, pp.12-13)
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8. Influences What influences our work with families?
Beliefs, experiences, etc.
Skills, attitudes, dispositions
Theory (cognizant or not)
Other __________________
What influences our work when we create family engagement plans, strategies, etc.?
These are some things to examine as you work with families or as you create plans.
You may find the theories on the following slides to be helpful. They are examples of theories that influence family engagement.
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9. Ecological Theory: Development in Context
Microsystem: Refers to the institutions and groups that most immediately and directly impact the child's development including: family, school, religious institutions, neighborhood, and peers.
Mesosystem: Interconnections between the microsystems, Interactions between the family and teachers, Relationship between the child’s peers and the family Exosystem: Involves links between a social setting in which the individual does not have an active role and the individual's immediate context. For example, a parent's or child's experience at home may be influenced by the other parent's experiences at work. The parent might receive a promotion that requires more travel, which might increase conflict with the other parent and change patterns of interaction with the child.
Macrosystem: Describes the culture in which individuals live. Cultural contexts include developing and industrialized countries, socioeconomic status, poverty, and ethnicity. A child, his or her parent, his or her school, and his or her parent's workplace are all part of a large cultural context. Members of a cultural group share a common identity, heritage, and values. The macrosystem evolves over time, because each successive generation may change the macrosystem, leading to their development in a unique macrosystem.[1]
Chronosystem: The patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course, as well as sociohistorical circumstances. For example, divorces are one transition. Researchers have found that the negative effects of divorce on children often peak in the first year after the divorce. By two years after the divorce, family interaction is less chaotic and more stable. An example of sociohistorical circumstances is the increase in opportunities for women to pursue a career during the last thirty years
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10. Theoretical Influences: Social Capital
It is a multilevel and multi-component concept generally defined as a relational resource, such as personal and community networks, sense of belonging, civic engagement, norms of reciprocity and trust, which determines the quality of life, including our well-being and good health
Health Promotion International, Vol. 29 No. 2
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11. Theoretical Influences: Family Capital
The family’s role in constructing social capital:
Financial capital (wealth or income)
Human capital (parents’ education and cognitive resources they can share with children)
Social capital (relations between children and parents which reflects the time, effort, resources, and energy parents invest in their children)
Belcher et al., (2011). Family Capital: Implications for Interventions with Families.
Social capital focuses on the quality of the relationships between/among people.
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12. Fostering and Measuring Skills: Interventions That Improve Character and Cognition James J. Heckman and Tim Kautz
Both cognitive and character skills are crucial to success in economic and social life.
Character skills include perseverance (“grit"), self-control, trust, attentiveness, self-esteem and self-efficacy, resilience to adversity, openness to experience, empathy, humility, tolerance of diverse opinions, and the ability to engage productively in society.
Absence of quality parenting (stimulation, attachment, encouragement, and support) is the true measure of child poverty.
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13. Heckman
An effective strategy for promoting human development should be based on three factually based insights:
The powerful role of families in shaping skills;
The multiplicity of skills required for successful functioning in society. A core set of skills promotes success in many aspects of life. Different tasks require different skills in different levels and proportions. People tend to pursue the tasks where their skills give them comparative advantage;
The technology of skill formation: that skills together with investment beget further skills.
In families, skill begets skill
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14. Talent Development
Research on the topic of talent development has linked it to four factors:
Early experience
Coaching
Practice
Motivation
Parents play a central, if not critical, role in enacting all four factors.
Witte et al., (2015). Roeper Review, 37(2), 84-96
Example of social capital – parent investment in children
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15. Developmental Relationships Search Institute
Developmental relationships are close connections through which young people develop the character strengths to discover who they are, gain the ability to shape their own lives, and learn how to interact with and contribute to others. These relationships are characterized by five essential actions, each of which is described from the perspective of a young person:
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16. Developmental Relationships
Express Care: Show that you like me and want the best for me.
Challenge Growth: Insist that I try to continuously improve.
Provide Support: Help me complete tasks and achieve goals.
Share Power: Hear my voice and let me share in making decisions.
Expand Possibility: Expand my horizons and connect me to opportunities.
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17. Family-Centered Approach Family Strengths Diversity
Other Key Terms
Family-Centered Approach
Family Strengths
empowerment
Diversity
Cultural Competence
Collaboration vs Compliance
Other _______________
FAMILY CENTERED is a philosophy and evidence-informed approach to practice focused on meeting the needs of both clients and families (family as defined) where the family is seen as a primary component and unit of attention. Family centered care is based on the following principles:
Recognition that families are experts in the needs of their loved ones
Practices that promote equal partnerships between family members, service providers and the client
Supports the family’s role in decision making and contributions to ongoing care and planning for the client
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18. Example of View of Family Engagement
An organization used this figure to depict family-school collaboration.
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19. Understanding Families
The changing family:
Size, structure, diversity
Role of women and men in the workplace
Rise of single parenthood
Rising cost of living for families
Downward mobility
Pressure from digital technologies
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20. Strengthening Ties
Most of the social and economic policies in the U.S. do not explicitly address, or take into account, the growing importance of families as sources of human capital and determinants of individual success. (p. 2)
Among the 60 percent of the population that lacks a college degree, family formation and family stability have declined drastically. (p. 3)
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21. Strengthening Ties
American marriage today is becoming a class-based and class-propagating institution. In upscale America, marriage is thriving: most people marry, fewer than 10 percent of children are born to unmarried mothers, and most children grow up through age eighteen living with their two married parents. Among the more privileged, marriage clearly functions as a wealth-producing arrangement, a source of happiness over time, and a benefit to children (p. 4)
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22. Research Says Families are Important
“Research shows that parents have the greatest influence on children’s language and literacy development.”
A Governor’s Guide to Early Literacy: Getting all Students Reading by Third Grade, p. 14.
“Over 50 years of research links the various roles that families play in a child’s education—as supporters of learning, encouragers of grit and determination, models of lifelong learning, and advocates of proper programming and placements for their child—
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23. with indicators of student achievement including student grades,
achievement test scores,
lower drop-out rates,
students’ sense of personal competence and efficacy for learning, and
students’ beliefs about the importance of education.”
Karen Mapp and Paul Kuttner, p. 5. Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family–School Partnerships.
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24. Benefits (MI Dept of Ed)
Students achieve more, regardless of socio-economic status, ethnic/racial background or the parents' education level.
Students have higher grades and test scores, better attendance, and complete homework more consistently.
Students have higher graduation rates and greater enrollment rates in post-secondary education.
Educators hold higher expectations of students whose parents collaborate with the teacher.
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25. Benefits
Student achievement for disadvantaged children not only improves, but can also reach levels that are standard for middle-class children. In addition, the children who are farthest behind make the greatest gains.
Children from diverse cultural backgrounds perform better when parents and professionals collaborate to bridge the gap between the culture at home and at the learning institution.
Student behaviors such as alcohol use, violence, and antisocial behavior decrease as parent involvement increases.
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26. Benefits
Students will keep pace with academic performance if their parents participate in school events, develop a working relationship with educators, and keep up with what is happening with their child's school.
Junior and senior high school students whose parents remain involved make better transitions, maintain the quality of their work, and develop realistic plans for their future. Students whose parents are not involved, on the other hand, are more likely to drop out of school
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27. Create a home environment that encourages learning.
“According to research, the most accurate predictor of a student's achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which that student's family is able to:
Create a home environment that encourages learning.
Communicate high, yet reasonable, expectations for their children's achievement and future careers.
Become involved in their children's education at school and in the community”
MI Dept of Education, “Collaborating For Success” Parent Engagement Toolkit, p. 6
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28. Parent and Family Involvement: A Guide to Effective Parent, Family, and Community Involvement in North Carolina Schools
A study published in 2007 in the Journal of Human Resources indicates that schools would be wise to invest in parent involvement. This report points out that regular parent involvement at home increases student achievement at a rate equal to a $1000 increase in per-pupil spending. When parents are empowered to talk with their child about his or her interests, studies, and school classes, children succeed. The research then suggests that investing in parent involvement pays. (p. 7)
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29. “Families matter for virtually every child and youth outcome.”
In Conclusion
“Families matter for virtually every child and youth outcome.”
Pekel et al., 2015
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30. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) “Don't ever let somebody tell you…”
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31. Wanda Pratt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV7sbaHWlaQ
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32. Kevin Durant – NBA Player of the Year
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33. The Importance of Parents: What We Say
“Parents are children’s first and most important teacher.”
Sometimes the statements are not as bold:
“Parents are a child’s first teacher.”
If this is a belief, what are we doing to show that we support this belief?
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34. What is a Teacher? “A person who teaches, especially in a school.”
Oxford English Dictionary
What does one have to do to teach in a school?
Why the requirements?
Skills, knowledge, traits, dispositions, etc.
Does teacher quality matter?
What is the expected outcome of teaching?
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35. Learning What is learning?
knowledge or skill acquired through experience, study, or being taught.
Add beliefs and attitudes?
How is adult and child learning similar/different?
How do we know when a parent has “learned” something?
What is important for parents/families to know?
Felt needs of families in addition to ascribed needs.
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36. Parents and Teaching How does a parent learn to teach?
What is our role in helping parents enhance their teaching/parenting skills?
For me, the term parenting encompasses teaching. When we parent, we are teaching. So, there is no need to use both terms.
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37. Dr. Karen Mapp on the Recipe for School Improvement
Ingredients necessary for school improvement
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38. Stanton Elementary Hosts Family Engagement Roundtable
Flamboyan has valuable resources on family engagement
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39. Explore Family Engagement Models
These are examples:
Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler Model of Parental Involvement
Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework
Epstein’s Model for Parental Involvement
CRAF-E4
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40. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (HDS) Model
Parents’ decision to become involved is based on three general factors:
Parents’ beliefs that participating in their children’s learning is a part of their responsibility (i.e. parental role construction) and their evaluation of their capabilities in that regard (i.e. parenting self-efficacy),
Parents’ perception of invitations or demands from schools and teachers and from their children to be involved, and
Demands on parents’ time and energy that may conflict with involvement activities (e.g., caring for other children, extended family responsibilities, demanding or inflexible work schedules).
- from Park & Holloway, p. 107
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41. Parenting Roles Study on fathers looking at role identities:
provider, teacher, protector, disciplinarian, caretaker,
supporter, and co-parent.
Olmstead et al. (2009) Fathering, Vol. 7, No. 3,
How do we learn/understand our roles? (note, they can be implicit or explicit)
What are different roles for various family members?
Symbolic Interaction. Theoretically, it is the meaning one attaches to a social role, or one’s role identity, that provides
individuals with motivation for behavior.
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42. Parenting Self-Efficacy
Research suggests that parents’ self-efficacy beliefs can be central to their parenting practices.
With poor parental self-efficacy, there is an increased susceptibility towards learned helplessness and thus a poor motivation to address difficulties
It is a fragile experience that can be disrupted by maternal mood, particularly postnatal depression
It can be enhanced by stronger informal social support
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43. Parenting Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is a predictor of optimistic, authoritative and consistent interaction in parent-child interactions
Parenting self-efficacy influences parenting competence and adjustment; and it may be more difficult for parents with low self-efficacy to manage effectively challenging situations
Iran J Psychiatry 2012; 7: 57-60
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44. Parenting self-efficacy refers to “parents’ perceived ability to positively influence the behavior and development of their children”
A large body of literature links PSE to markers of parental competence such as sensitivity, consistency, and the use of non-punitive discipline with children ranging from infancy to adolescence
Journal of Applied Communication Research, 42:4, ,
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45. Parent, Family and Community Engagement Framework
The Office of Head Start (OHS) Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework a road map for progress. It is a research-based approach to program change designed to help Head Start programs achieve outcomes that lead to positive and enduring change for children and families. 
When parent and family engagement activities are systemic and integrated across program foundations and program impact areas, family engagement outcomes are achieved, resulting in children who are healthy and ready for school. Parent and family engagement activities are grounded in positive, ongoing, and goal-oriented relationships with families. For each family engagement outcome, there are a variety of strategies as well as evaluation processes to guide programs. 
The PFCE framework can be used by Head Start programs to do strategic planning, program design and management, continuous improvement, identify professional development , and impact approaches to providing services.
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46. PFCE Framework (Program Impact Areas)
PROGRAM ENVIRONMENT: Families feel welcomed, valued, and respected by program staff.
FAMILY PARTNERSHIPS: Families work with staff to identify and achieve their goals and aspirations.
TEACHING AND LEARNING: Families are engaged as equal partners in their children’s learning and development.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: Communities support families’ interests and needs and encourage parent and family engagement in children’s learning.
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47. PFCE (Outcomes)
FAMILY WELL-BEING: Parents and families are safe, healthy, and have increased financial security.
POSITIVE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS: Beginning with transitions to parenthood, parents and families develop warm relationships that nurture their child’s learning and development.
FAMILIES AS LIFELONG EDUCATORS: Parents and families observe, guide, promote, and participate in the everyday learning of their children at home, school, and in their communities.
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48. PFCE (Outcomes) cont.
FAMILIES AS LEARNERS: Parents and families advance their own learning interests through education, training and other experiences that support their parenting, careers, and life goals.
FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IN TRANSITIONS: Parents and families support and advocate for their child’s learning and development as they transition to new learning environments, including EHS to HS, EHS/HS to other early learning environments, and HS to kindergarten through elementary school.
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49. PFCE (Outcomes) cont. 2
FAMILY CONNECTIONS TO PEERS AND COMMUNITY: Parents and families form connections with peers and mentors in formal or informal social networks that are supportive and/or educational and that enhance social well-being and community life.
FAMILIES AS ADVOCATES AND LEADERS: Parents and families participate in leadership development, decision-making, program policy development, or in community and state organizing activities to improve children’s development and learning experiences.
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50. Epstein’s Six Types of Involvement
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51. CRAF-E4
Culturally Responsive, Anti-bias Framework of Expectation, Education, Exploration, and Empowerment.
This framework was designed to help early childhood practitioner’s engage with racially and ethnically diverse families in a manner that adopts the principles of cultural responsiveness and antibias.
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52. CRAF-E4
Principle 1. Inviting families to participate in decision making and goal setting for their child.
Principle 2. Engaging families in two-way communication.
Principle 3. Engaging families in ways that are truly reciprocal.
Principle 4. Providing learning activities for the home and in the community.
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53. CRAF-E4
Principle 5. Inviting families to participate in program-level decisions and wider advocacy efforts
Principle 6. Implementing a comprehensive program-level system of family engagement.
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54. Strategies: Know Where to Find Information
For example, visit the Family Engagement page on the MN PreK-3 webpage:
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55. Strategies: Review Plans from Other Organizations
For example: Visit the San Francisco Unified School District website:
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56. Strategies: Incorporate Recommendations
Search Institute
Listen first to families rather than just developing and sending messages that don’t resonate or motivate.
Focus on building relationships with families, rather than only providing programs.
Highlight families’ strengths, even amid challenges, rather than adopting and designing approaches based on negative stereotypes.
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57. Incorporate Recommendations Based on Research/Best Practice
Search Institute, cont.
Encourage families to experiment with new practices that fit their lives, rather than giving them expert advice on what they need to do.
Emphasize parenting as a relationship more than a set of techniques.
Broaden coalitions focused on young people’s success to actively engage families as a focal point for strengthening developmental relationships.
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58. Strategies: Use Visuals to Convey Message
Universal LevelAt the Universal Level, family-school collaboration is provided to support all students and families. Providing mental health information
Open conferencing
School-wide parent meetings (PTA or PTO)
Parent Nights
Parent/Teacher Conferences
School-wide Volunteering
Good-news contacts
Educator office hours
Weekly newsletters
Mental health screening
School-Home Links Reading Kit
District-wide policy
Aware Parenting Program
Parent Tutoring
Parents Encourage Pupils
Reciprocal Peer Tutoring and Parent Involvement
Selected Level
The Selected Level provides family-school collaboration to support identified students and families unresponsiveness to previous universal efforts. Parent workshops
Service coordination teams
Classroom Volunteering
Parent-teacher consultation about risk behaviors
More personalized invitations to school events
First Steps to Success
Indicated Level
At the Indicated Level, family-school collaboration is provided to students and families unresponsiveness to previous targeted efforts. Parent training and education
Family counseling
Home visits
Case management
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59. Strategies: Utilize Implementation Science
For example, the National Implementation Research Network
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60. Contact
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