Offering Everyone a Seat at the Table: Designing Family Engagement That Matters

Traditional involvement models such as parent-teacher conferences or open houses are stand-alone events that inevitably fail to reach every family or provide a tangible foundation for continued engagement. Other involvement models may include providing transportation for the child to get to school, arriving on time, or reviewing and signing off on important documents and paperwork that come home from school. While these actions and others are critical to student success, they are only a small piece of what builds strong connections and relationships. Participation requires a reciprocal relationship, a seesaw of actions resulting in repeated engagements.