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Advancing Early Learning Through Family Engagement: Ideas for State Level ActionShelley H. Billig, Ph.D.RMC Research Corporation

Session Objectives• Increased familiarity with the research on family

engagement in early childhood programs, including research on working with diverse families and the effects of family engagement on academic outcomes;

• Exposure to engaging activities that could be adapted or adopted in one’s own state or local setting to advance family engagement in early learning;

• Increased knowledge of state-level strategies for advancing early learning through family engagement.

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Definition• Family engagement can look different and take on

many forms. What family engagement means and looks like depends on the unique characteristics and the individual comfort levels and understanding of each family.

• Indiana defines family engagement as:– Families actively support their children’s learning and

development and sharing the responsibility with early care and education providers, who are committed to engaging with families in meaningful, culturally respectful ways.

– Family engagement is continuous across a child’s life, beginning in infancy and extending through college and career preparation programs.

– Family engagement occurs across the various care and learning settings where children play and grow.

(Indiana Early Childhood Family Engagement Toolkit, 2015)

Family Engagement Components• Effective family engagement has multiple

characteristics (Virtual Lab School, 2016):– trusting relationships between teachers, families, and the

community;– Recognizing, respecting and supporting family needs and

the cultural diversity that exists;– Developing strengths-based partnerships where decisions

and responsibility are shared;– Providing activities, interactions, and support that increase

family involvement in children’s healthy development;– Helping families take responsibility for their children’s

learning; and– Acknowledging that family engagement is meaningful and

beneficial to both families and to early care and learning programs.

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Current Research: Fun Facts Quiz!• How much do you already know about family

engagement in early learning?

• Please answer the Family Involvement Quiz questions. This is an individual activity! No consulting your neighbors on this one (though there will be plenty of time to do that later in this session.)

• Quick discussion of answers.

Research on Family Engagement• MDRC (2013) reviewed 95 studies of

family engagement, both rigorous and descriptive.

• The majority of studies, including some randomized controlled trials (RCTs), demonstrate this positive link between family engagement and students’ literacy and mathematics performance. – A few studies show positive relations with social-emotional skills.– The weakest association was between family involvement at school

and children’s outcomes (relative to the promotion of home learning activities, teaching supportive parenting activities, and making parents feel welcome and valued.)

– Outcomes were related to program objectives (e.g., if the intervention was math, the outcomes were in math but not literacy).

• Frances L. Van Voorhis,Michelle Maier, Joyce L. Epstein, Chrishana M. Lloyd (2013) The Impact of Family Involvement on the Education of Children Ages 3 to 8:A Focus on Literacy and Math Achievement Outcomes and Social-Emotional Skills |

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Research on Family Engagement• Selected findings:

– Increased levels of family involvement at school, K-5, were associated with higher levels of literacy achievement (Dearing, et. al, 2006).

– Increasing family involvement over time in elementary school related positively to students’ literacy skills in third grade, especially for struggling readers. Increases were highest for children with Spanish speaking bilingual teachers (Tang, et.al, 2012).

– Parent volunteering at preschools was positively related to students’ vocabulary skills (Hindman & Morrison, 2011).

• Frances L. Van Voorhis,Michelle Maier, Joyce L. Epstein, Chrishana M. Lloyd (2013) The Impact of Family Involvement on the Education of Children Ages 3 to 8:A Focus on Literacy and Math Achievement Outcomes and Social-Emotional Skills |

Additional Research• Where teachers are able to communicate with parents and

develop trusting relationships, they are more likely to remain teaching in their schools. (Allensworth, E., Ponisciak, S., & Mazzeo, C. (2009). The Schools Teachers Leave: Teaching mobility in Chicago public schools. Chicago, IL: Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute.)

• Communications between parents and early childhood teachers were positively associated with overall student achievement and development of social skills, particularly when parents perceived that the teachers were responsive to them, took an interest in the child, were respectful toward the child, and were perceived as being warm and affectionate (Jeynes, 2012).

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Additional Research on Diverse Families

• The MDRC study found, “Parents from diverse backgrounds, when given direction, can become more engaged with their children. When parents are more engaged, children tend to do better.”

Additional Research on Diverse Families• Sample studies:

– Families with different cultural backgrounds may be more familiar or comfortable conducting particular types of math activities with their children at home, but when exposed to a particular intervention on how to conduct specific mathematics activities, they became more willing to conduct the activities… and their children performed better academically. The same was true with literacy, particularly when the tasks were enjoyable. (MDRC citing, e.g., Guberman, 2004 and Pan, et.al., 2006).

– Sample activities related to diverse families and positive child results included: shared book reading, dialogue reading, home tutoring, listening to a child read, family conversations of feelings/events, visits to libraries; family stories (reminiscing), creative dramatics, and practicing reading readiness skills such as letter of the week.

– There is a need for many more studies on family engagement and diverse families!

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Putting Ideas to Work: Communications• Positive communication is perhaps the most powerful tool that

you can use with families. – Good communication helps to inform, reassure, and engage

families. • A single conversation, positive or negative, can set the tone for a

family’s opinion of preschool or school staff, so it is essential to develop effective communication skills.

– Positive communication and relationships with families help to build trust.

• Trust is an important part of helping to make sure that you (a) maintain partnership with families and (b) work as a team with families to help children meet their goals.

Positive communication skills help to make sure that (a) accurate information is shared, (b) expectations are shared, and (c) trust is established.

Putting Ideas to Work: Communications

• Three of the largest complaints of families:– Educators use jargon that parents cannot

understand.– Educators do not take the time to

understand context.– The need to understand dads/men who

care for children at home

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Putting Ideas to Work: Communications

• Activities That Can Help:– Jargon Alert– World Café– REL Toolkit

Putting Ideas to Work: World Café (PDG TA)

Graphic by: Sonja NiederhumerAvailable at:

http://www.theworldcafe.com/tools-

store/hosting-tool-kit/image-bank/

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Parent Cafe In A Box Dads Edition

REL Toolkit

– Reflecting on Beliefs and Assumptions– Getting to Know School Families– Understanding the Influence of a Cultural

Lens– Acknowledging Cultural Differences

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Putting Ideas to Work: Diversity

• Take a look at the iceberg graphic on page 29 of the REL toolkit. What influences would these cultural differences have on participation in parent-teacher conversations about children’s progress in ECE programs?– Pair and share

State Approaches to Advancing Learning Through Family Engagement

• Exciting approaches have been developed by SEAs and state partners!– Frameworks– Program standards for quality– Dedicated staff

– Maryland has a comprehensive approach that we will examine in detail; we will also quickly look at some others (e.g., Indiana).

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Maryland FrameworkFeatures:

– Introduction– Purpose– Process to develop– Guiding principles– Organization– Definition of family engagement– Goals– Strategies to meet goals– Foundational areas: leadership, professional development,

impacts– Alignment to ED and Head Start Frameworks– Resources– Key terms and definitions

Maryland Framework• First short activity:

– What did you like about this Framework?– What would you change?

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Comprehensive Toolkit• The Early Childhood Family Engagement

Framework Toolkit: Maryland’s Vision for Engaging Families with Young Children– Features

• Introduction and Involvement to Engagement • Seven Goals • Special topics impacting early childhood

educators• Effective Practices• Self-Assessment

Group Discussion

Group DiscussionChoose a goal area or other section for in-depth exploration.Goal 1- Promote family well-being (pp.3–6)Goal 2- Promote parent-child relationships (pp.9–12)Goal 3- Support families as lifelong educators (pp.13-16)Goal 4- Support educational aspirations (pp.17–20)Goal 5- Support families through transitions of early childhood (pp. 21–25)Goal 6- Connect families to peers and community (pp. 27–29)Goal 7- Support, develop as leaders and advocates (pp. 31–35)Section 3: Special Topics (pp. 35–38)Section 4: Effective Practices (pp. 39–61)Section 5: Self-Assessment (pp. 63–85)

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DebriefDebrief

• Briefly share one good idea that came from your discussion.

Indiana’s Toolkit: A Different Approach

Brief Review of Indiana• Toolkit Sections– About the Family Engagement Toolkit– Family Engagement Focus Areas– Family Engagement Self-Assessment– Program, Family, and Child Outcomes– Family Engagement Framework– Definitions for the Family Engagement

Goals

• What do you think about this approach?– What did you like/think should be changed?

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Reactions• Do you have something like this in your

state?• Would you like to do something like

this?• What would it take?

Wrap Up

Did we meet objectives?• Increased familiarity with the research on family

engagement in early childhood programs, including research on working with diverse families and the effects of family engagement on academic outcomes;

• Exposure to engaging activities that could be adapted or adopted in one’s own state or local setting to advance family engagement in early learning; and

• Increased knowledge of state-level strategies for advancing early learning through family engagement.

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Needs SensingNeeds Sensing

• What types of additional TA would help?

Thank you!

• Thank you!– For additional information, feel free to

contact me at:

– billig@rmcres.com– (800) 922-3636