Designing parent engagement strategies

In addition to engaging students, your team should consider how to engage and involve parents and guardians.

Questions to ask:

  • How will your team encourage parents to be active in the classroom and throughout the
    school?
  • What structures will be put in place to engage parents in meaningful, two-way interactions
    about student learning?
  • Will your team ask parents to participate meaningfully in teacher interviews and evaluation
    and/or to serve on the school governance council (as existing teams have done)?
  • Will your team reach out to parents through culturally inclusive activities? Some teams ask
    parents to plan activities related to the cultures of their families in order to gain their trust. For
    example, in one school with a high percentage of students whose families are immigrants from
    Mexico, teams ask parents to plan celebrations for holidays like Day of the Dead.

Resources

Sample family handbooks

Boston Arts Academy Handbook, 2021-2022

Handbook. This family handbook is a means for the team of teachers to communicate with families about the pathways for becoming an artist, scholar, and citizen at Boston Arts Academy.

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