Expanding Family Involvement

As a public school teacher and administrator for 17 years, I always had a particular interest in family engagement. I saw first-hand that, as Emilie Buchwald once said, “children are made readers on their parents’ laps,” meaning that children value what their family members value and will work harder to do the things they think their families find important.

Students need to know that their family wants them to learn and cares about what they are doing in school. Research has shown that children progress more when their families show concern or excitement about their education, and demonstrating that can be as simple as signing off on their folder. Here’s a bit more about family engagement, the challenges educators face in nurturing it, and a few suggestions for meeting those challenges.