Help students furthers behind their peers make substantial learning gains. What's the catch? 

Decades of research have revealed the cascading positive effects of a high-impact family engagement strategy that is laser focused on student learning. Here is what it can look like when schools that invest in family engagement as a component of their student success plan:

• School systems that share information about grade-level goals with families and equip them with activities to support outside of the school building, find that… 
• Families are eager to support. Caregivers will take those insights and engage with children around classroom instruction and help draw real-world connections that reinforce learning…
• Students thrive in an environment that supports their learning inside and outside of the classroom.

Planning tools for district and school leaders

Our expert team has worked alongside school systems, teachers, and families to understand the most impactful strategies for advancing student learning outcomes. We’ve distilled these learnings into a series of downloadable planning tools.

Assess the current state of your family engagement practices

Before jumping into high-impact strategies, we've found that taking some time to reflect on the current state of family engagement and communication in your school system can be incredibly useful. Take a few minutes to complete this guided self-assessment to understand the strengths and areas to explore.  ​

Explore high-impact strategies for fueling academic achievement

We’ve mapped tactics and practices that your school may already be implementing along a spectrum of impact on learning. High-impact strategies are relational, collaborative, build capacity, and are linked to student learning.

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Explore best practices for learning-focused family communication

In our work with schools and districts, we've found that high-impact communication practices, that are focused on learning, are low-hanging fruit for school leaders and teachers to implement.  We've gather insights into the best practices for content, channel, frequency, and engagement nudges. 

Schools and teachers that implement these high-impact practices find that the impacts on learning are astonishing. ​

Embark on collaborative goal setting and planning to set your strategy

School leaders seeking to implement effective family engagement practices have an invaluable, research-based guide at their disposal: the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnership, which highlights how relationships between educators and parents are central to supporting student learning.  An essential component of this partnership is collaborative goal setting that includes relevant stakeholders like students, families and caregivers, and teachers. 

Share professional resources with school staff

Notably, only 51% of educator preparation programs offer at least one standalone course in family and community engagement for aspiring teachers and in-service professional learning opportunities are often limited or nonexistent. Help fill this gap for educators in your school with professional resources to support family engagement.

Insights from FEL and resources from the field

We're here to help!

Considering ways to implement high-impact family engagement strategies in your school system?
​Connect with an expert.