indicators of family engagement melanie lemoine and monica ballay louisiana state improvement...

Indicators of Family Engagement

Melanie Lemoine and Monica BallayLouisiana State Improvement Grant/SPDG

Background Information LaSIG 2

Second round of SPDG funding Main project goals to improve student outcomes

by improving the service delivery at the state, district, school, and individual levels

Focused on two issues Professional development Improving family engagement

Background Information Research on family engagement

Students perform better when positive relationships and partnerships exist between families and schools

When family members are leaders in the school, outcomes improve

The school improvement process is more effective if it includes all stakeholders including family members

A Significant Concern Schools expressed a desire to improve

relationships with families but lacked direction to do so

Two needs A simple measure for schools to determine what

structures were currently in place A measure of the level at which schools were

engaging families

Developing the Scale Strategist group

Determine what is important Review the literature Review current assessment tools Capture all voices

Consultant Narrow focus Assist in developing the actual scale

Developing the Scale Organized around four dimensions

Communication Family Support Decision Making Partnerships

Developing the Scale A total of 25 items

The number of Items for each dimension ranged from six to eight

Responses to each item on a four point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree

Pilot Tests Two pilot tests

Pilot 1 Five schools with approximately 150 respondents Items functioning well Respondent comments resulted in adding two items

Pilot 2 Four schools with approximately 150 respondents Six items deleted One item moved to a different subscale Items functioning well

Indicators of Family Engagement Scale

General characteristics 21 items reflect perceived levels of family

engagement Four subscales

Communication Family Support Decision Making Partnerships

Family Engagement Survey for Schools


Technical issues Item functionality

All item reliabilities were acceptable All coefficients across all scales functioned well

Validity Content validity established in development Construct validity confirmed with a principal

components factor analysis using varimax rotation All items loaded as expected except for a single

exception


Technical Issues (Cont’d) Reliability

Cronbach alphas for the total scale and subscales were calculated

Scores were .86, .81, .86, .83, and .93 for the four subscales and the total score respectively


Scoring Subject must respond to at least 75% of

the items on the total scale or any subscales

Scores are the means of non-missing items for the respective total and subscale items


Score interpretation

Score Range

Level of Engagement

1.00 – 1.50 Insufficient level of meaningful family engagement

1.51 – 2.50 Low level of meaningful family engagement

2.51 – 3.50 Moderate level of family engagement

3.51 – 4.00 High level of family engagement

Survey Administration 14 Districts 120 Schools Online application

through Survey Monkey

Some sites conducted all 3

Facilitated results discussions with staff

School improvement decisions

Triangulation of data

Triangulation of Family EngagementAcross Stakeholders

School SurveyFamily Survey Student Survey

Alignment of Surveys: School Survey

A variety of methods such as but not limited to phone calls, newsletters, or e-mail are used to communicate with families in my school.

Family Survey A variety of methods such as but not limited to

phone calls, newsletters, or e-mail are used to communicate with my family.

Student Survey A variety of methods such as but not limited to

phone calls, newsletters, or e-mail are used to communicate with me and my family.

School Survey Families are informed of academic programs.

Family Survey I am informed of the school’s academic programs

available for my child. Student Survey

The school informs my family and me of academic programs.

Alignment of Surveys:

Survey Results Correlate survey results and SPS

Triangulation of survey results

Impact on individual schools

Top 10 Schools with SPS 114 or ↑

High School Results from all 3 groups:

School

Overall Score:3.32

Communication: 3.59Family Support: 3.22

Decision Making: 3.12Partnership: 3.33

Families

Overall Score:3.40



Students

Overall Score:2.93



Elementary School Results from all 3 groups:

School

Overall Score:3.22



Families

Overall Score:3.14



Impact on Schools Ah-ha moments Baseline data for schools were established Schools began looking more closely at other

family measures Schools created a more effective action plan to

engage families when data were displayed numerically

School staff wanted more answers to survey results

Use of the Scale Short term plans

Provide a self assessment of the level of family engagement by school, family, and/or student

Identify the strengths and areas of need in terms of family engagement

Provide access to additional resources provided by LaSIG

Long term analyses Incorporating the results into school improvement plans Correlation between survey results and student

achievement

Discussion Question:

What initiatives are currently underway in your state to support family engagement?

Discussion Question:

What resources are available to schools and districts to support family engagement?

Discussion Question:What assessment tools are

currently in place to measure family engagement at the school, district, and state level? How are they working?

Contact Information

Louisiana State University Melanie Lemoine

[email protected] Monica Ballay

[email protected] www.lasig2.org

indicators of family engagement melanie lemoine and monica ballay louisiana state improvement...

Documents

family engagementstudents

schoolswhen family members

total scale

total score

scalea total

respective total

varimax rotationall

itemsthe number of items