Family Engagement Plan
Studies have shown that parental involvement has a significant impact on a child’s learning outcomes (Battle-Bailey, 2012). This text seeks to develop a school social worker’s plan for engaging and involving parents in their students’ learning at a high school in Clark County School District in Henderson, NV. Clark County School District student demographics indicate that a majority (46 percent) of the students come from Latina families, with 25 percent and 14 percent coming from white and African-American families respectively (Great Schools, 2020). Further, 67 percent of high school students are from low-income families (Great Schools, 2020). The strategies selected for the family engagement plan need to take these demographic factors into account to be more effective.

Home-Based Family Engagement Activities

One positive strategy for enhancing home-based family engagement is the development and implementation of home-learning toolkits for families (Floyd & Vernon-Dotson, 2009). The kits could be designed for different study areas such as math, creative writing, reading, language, science, music and art among others. Given the large population of students from Latino families, reading and writing toolkits that integrate both English and Spanish materials would be relevant. Digital toolkits provide access to a wider range of material than physical toolkits. To increase access to digital content, kits could provide links to online sites such as Learning Ally, CommonLit, and MyOn, which provide access to a wide array of curriculum-aligned literature, textbooks, and audiobooks that allow learners to not just read, but also create content online and share the same with colleagues. To make digital content in provided toolkits more affordable for learners, the school could pay the subscription beforehand so that learners have free access to the same once they log in. To make the toolkits more engaging for families, teachers can include resources to guide parents on how to support their children at home and how to select the most effective resources for their children’s holistic development.

Interactive homework could also be a crucial strategy for home-based family engagement (Battle-Bailey, 2012). There are several activities that teachers could undertake to make homework more interactive. First, they could design home literacy bags, where every week they send home quizzes and assignments requiring the collaboration of learners and parents (Battle-Bailey, 2012). Teachers could add a section to these home assignments that encourage learners to demonstrate a skill that they have learnt or share information on what they have gained with their parents (Colorado Department of Education (CDE), n.d.). Parents, on their part, could be encouraged to engage their children in natural conversations in regard to completed homework, take notes on these conversations, and then hand the same over to the teacher, for compilation in a class library (Battle-Bailey, 2012). Another interactive homework strategy would be to create a skill chart that parents could use to monitor and record how well or how often their children make use of skills acquired through homework assignments (CDE, n.d.). This allows parents to measure the progress of their child, identify their areas of weakness, and devise ways to help them strengthen these weak areas.

Two-Way Communication

A good communications strategy for family engagement is one that helps to keep parents informed in a timely manner using engaging and user-friendly techniques. A promising strategy for two-way reciprocal communication is the home-school-journal (CDE, n.d.). In this case, the teacher creates a journal that is used to share questions, concerns feedback and comments between educators and families (CDE, n.d.). An educator could share information in the journal on classroom policies and guidance, thereby guiding a parent on the best way to monitor their child’s reading habits at home. The parent, upon receiving the same, could write feedback to the educator explaining their observations and propositions to enhance the child’s learning. The journal thus provides an effective framework for two-way communication on a child’s performance and progress. A second reciprocal mode of two-way communication is regular report-card sharing forums and group meetings held between educators and parents (CDE,...…Engagement Activities

It is prudent to develop school-based strategies to complement the home-based strategies identified earlier on in this plan. One of the crucial school-based strategies required for the successful implementation of the family engagement plan is the hiring and training of volunteers and other personnel tasked with the primary role of implementing the plan (CDE, n.d.). The team is headed by a family-engagement coordinator, who is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, and evaluation of the plan (CDE, n.d.). The volunteers provide technical assistance to the engagement team and serve as the liaison point between the school and families. Developing a team that is fully responsible for the family engagement plan communicates the importance of the same among learners, families, and educators, and provides a basis for financial commitment (CDE, n.d.).

Besides hiring an implementation team, there is a need to put in place a school-wide advisory board whose role is to engage in planning and decision-making as well as promoting communication (CDE, n.d.). As a best practice, the membership of the advisory board needs to be representative of all of the school’s stakeholders, including the principal, social workers, the family engagement plan coordinator, educators, parents, and student representatives (CDE, n.d.).

The final school-based strategy is to create a resource center or family room, furnished with adequate material on proper family engagement and the importance of the same on learners’ outcomes (CDE, n.d.). The space needs to be open to both parents and students, with the overall goal of educating and familiarizing them with the concept of family engagement in education (CDE, n.d.).

Conclusion

Family engagement is a crucial driver of positive academic performance among highs school students. This plan sought to develop a plan for the effective engagement of families in the learning process in a school in Clark County. The plan develops strategies around sis primary areas: home-based learning, school-based learning, two-way communication, parents as decision-makers, parent education, and available community resources.

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