How designing with instead of for teachers and families shifted our approach

You’ll often hear, “Math isn’t taught the same way anymore” or “I’m not a math person.” And yet, we know that math skills, particularly in middle school, are incredibly important for a students’ long-term success. 
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As we have expanded our support for engaging middle school families in math, we knew we’d have to be thoughtful about our approach. As a learning organization, it was natural for us to reach out to teachers and families to better understand their needs and obstacles for supporting their students’ math success at home. Elisabeth O’Bryon, FEL’s co-founder and chief impact officer, recently shared insights with NAFSCE about our research and co-design process.

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A focus on the essential learning skills that facilitate math success

After working alongside families and teachers, we’ve learned that families are uniquely positioned to help students develop the essential learning skills, such as a growth mindset, that will help them succeed with math. FASTalk, our parent communication software, is well-positioned to share insights with families and equip them with prompts to model essential learning skills or connect classroom learning to daily experiences.  We shared mindset-focused FASTalk messages and asked for input from families and teachers. 
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The feedback we heard was tremendous!  Instead of feeling stuck, families felt capable and confident. Centering families’ needs and experiences through co-design helps ensure solutions are both accessible and effective in helping families play their critically impactful role in promoting positive learning outcomes for their children.

Dive deeper into Family Engagement Lab's research and development process in Elisabeth’s blog with NAFSCE.