Family Engagement Choice Board for Reopening Schools
Highlander Institute Spotlight Series
What?
Family engagement has become an increasingly critical component for schools during the pandemic. The Highlander Institute team has created a Family Engagement Choice Board for Reopening Schools, where each column represents a different process for engaging families to build mutually beneficial relationships:
- How will you inform families of policies, structures, and resources?
- How will you establish feedback and decision-making structures?
- How will you build community with families?
- How will you leverage families’ funds of knowledge to co-construct learning experiences?
The choice board is designed in a way that encourages schools to select one or more ideas from each column, ensuring a holistic, multi-dimensional approach to family partnerships. Each square in the board represents an example we have collected from our local and national partners. While there are many unknowns about next year, planning for how you connect and partner with families is one thing that will set you up for success, no matter how we return to schools.
Why?
How?
- Family Engagement Choice Board (Highlander Institute)
- Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships
- School-Wide Family Engagement Rubric from Flamboyan Foundation
- Beginning of the Year Relationship Building Toolkit from Flamboyan Foundation
- Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success by Karen Mapp
