Family Engagement Tool Orientation The Family Engagement Tool is designed and developed by Academic Development Institute

The Family Engagement Tool (FET) is used by state departments of education to assist schools in developing their school improvement plan.

For Title I Schools the tool helps meet the letter and the spirit of parent involvement as defined in Title I Section 1118 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of Any school will benefit from using FET

Purpose The Family Engagement Tool guides a school based team through an inventory and self assessment of parent involvement policies and practices.

The team may be an existing team (school improvement team) or a team formed especially to conduct the analysis. A typical team should include the principal, school staff, and parents. A least half of the members of the team should be parents of currently enrolled students and not employed by the school or district. The School Team

The principal prints out the needed worksheets from the website Makes copies for team members The team discusses and completes the worksheets at the meeting The principal records the completed version in the online system Tools for the Team

The time investment necessary to complete the analysis process is approximately 5 to 6 hours. Time Commitment

Three meetings (one meeting for each of steps 3, 4, and 5 in the process). Meet twice for longer amounts of time Devote a day to the process and complete the analysis in one session. Meeting Options

The Principal will: 1.Register the school at or 2.Receive the schools login via from Client Support Family Engagement Tool Registration

Accessing the Family Engagement Tool OR

Main Menu Quality resources for the school and the team

What are the 5 steps in the Family Engagement Tool?

The principal completes the School Information Form ____ Contact Information ____ Demographics ____ School Personnel ____ School Grade Levels and Enrollment ____State Assessment Scores Step 1

The principal completes the About Your School Form and gather needed documents for review. ____Current Parent Involvement Practices ____Parent Education ____Other opportunities for families to be involved Step 2

Step 3 The school team scores the key documents with the rubrics District Parent Involvement Policy* School Parent Involvement Policy* Compact* Homework Guidelines Student Report Card Classroom Visit Procedures *Title I documents

The School Team completes the School Community Survey Step 4 Each member of the team completes the survey independently. The team discusses each survey question and arrives at a consensus score for each question. Discussing each question will take time, but it simplifies the development of your plan.

Sample Survey Page

The school team completes a needs assessment and develops their plan Step 5 School InformationPolicy AnalysisSchool Community Survey Needs Assessment

Needs Assessment Pages WiseWays®

The Wise Ways ® are one of the many evidence-based resources available to the team while preparing and implementing their objectives. Did you Notice the Wise Ways?

When the Needs Assessment is submitted a full report will be submitted to the District Title I Director or Superintendent As each document is submitted, a completion date will be added to the main screen

The Planning Tool

Connection Education Communication Policies & Practices Shared Leadership Ongoing two-way between school and families Developing a partnership through quality learning opportunities Face to face opportunities to connect with families on learning goals Guidelines that lead the way to engaging parents School Team, PTA/PTO, Parent Advisory Group FET Building Blocks

FET Planning Tool Get started by reviewing the Action Plan Resources

Quality resources are provided to help schools implement their plan.

Technical Support

We can help you to build strong school communities within the schools you serve. Visit our website for more resources: Illinois State Board of Education Academic Development Institute