Ways to Assess Family Engagement Outcomes Wendy Allen

Considerations This webinar is being recorded and will be available for viewing at – Data Based Decisions – Webinarswww.laspdg.org If you need to ask a question, please use the Chat Pod on bottom right of your screen To download the materials for today, you can click on the files in the file share pod on your screen and save them to your computer

Roll Call At this time, EVERYONE please use your chat pod and type your first and last name as well as your district/LEA that you are representing

People First Language Kathie Snow. (n.d.) A few words about People First Language. Disability is Natural. Retrieved August 1, 2012 from “People First Language puts the person before the disability and describes what a person has, not who a person is.”

Goal: Assess Family Engagement Outcomes Objectives: Gain knowledge on the types of tools to assess family engagement Gain skills on the process to assess family engagement

In order to assess it, one must define it… Define Family Engagement: Family Engagement is the interaction between schools and families and the degree to which families are engaged in the educational lives of their children. Steve Constantino, 2003

Use the Chat Pod to answer: What are some positive benefits/outcomes you observed as a result of engaging families in your school and/or district?

Research on Family Engagement Parent involvement in education helps produce increase in student attendance, decreases in the drop-out rate, positive parent-child communication, improvement of student attitude and behavior, and more parent- community support for the schools. Rich (1985) & Sattes (1985) Benefits of family involvement for students: higher grades and test scores, better attendance, more positive attitudes and behavior, higher graduations rates, and greater enrollment in postsecondary education. Henderson and Berla (1995)

Research on Family Engagement Henderson and Mapp (2002) found that regardless of the income or background, student whose families were engaged with school were more likely to earn higher grades and enroll in higher-level programs, stay in school, and enroll in postsecondary education.

Family Engagement is linked to student achievement!!!

What outcome(s) do you want to achieve from your family event? General Information – graduation requirement, orientation, etc. Relationship Building – Toy Bingo, Fair, school play, etc. Link to Learning – Math night, Reading night, etc.

Create Measureable Objectives… Defining measurable objectives – Important to increase families understanding of how to support learning at home as well as the ultimate goal of increased student achievement. At the end of the workshop, we want families to…….

Let’s Take a Poll… Status of Family Engagement Activities Parent Parent Parent training Regular, personalized Coordinators Volunteering events communication FundraisersStudentBack to school night Weekly data performances sharing folders PotlucksParent socialParent-teacher Positive phone calls servicesconferences Home visits Parent resource Generic schoolInteractive homework, tips, Classroom Roomnewslettersand tools for home learning observations or mini-lessons

**This is a great activity for a faculty to engage in and discuss

What are ways to assess family engagement? Interviews Focus Groups Surveys *Consider face to face, paper/pencil, electronic

Interviews with Families “Ask Questions face-to-face and 1:1” Pros – More personable – Read body language – Ask probing questions – Two-way communication Cons – Time consuming – Scheduling issues – Some people may not be as open Tips to Interviews: -Call person with plenty of advance times -Tell interviewee the purpose of interview -Give interviewee agenda (if appropriate) -Pick a good interviewer for task -Make sure questions are aligned with objectives

Focus Group “Ask questions face-to-face and group of people” Pros – More personable – Read body language – Ask probing questions – Two-way communication Cons – Time consuming – Scheduling issues – Some people may not be as open Tips to Interviews: -Call person with plenty of advance times -Tell interviewee the purpose of interview -Give interviewee agenda (if appropriate) -Pick a good interviewer for task -Make sure questions are aligned with objectives

Surveys Determine… – What questions to ask – Target audience – Process to collect information (electronic, paper copy, etc.) – How to compile and share survey results – Create surveys in native languages to match demographics “Process of gathering information by asking questions”

Feedback of Events/Activities

Assess knowledge before and after Be careful with too many open- ended questions

Save participants’ time by having basic info completed already (Date, Time, Location)

Compile & Share Feedback

Build Feedback Process into Daily Activities At a school conference

Build Feedback Process into Daily Events/Activities Visitors to Office

Build Feedback Process into IEP Meeting

Other Ways to Collect Feedback

SPP Indicator 8 “Parental Involvement”

SPP Indicator 8 Parental Involvement – based on a survey of parents’ overall impression of whether schools facilitated their involvement as a means of improving services and results for children with disabilities. Only a certain number of districts participate each year

“Parents are the First and Last Teachers”

Building Capacity When you leave today, what will you do with this information? How will you share it with others in your district? When will you share it? (Timeline)

The contents of this PowerPoint presentation were developed under a grant from the US Department of Education, #H323A However those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Wendy Allen Monica Ballay

We Want Your Feedback! We are going to open the survey on your screen for you to offer feedback regarding this webinar If you have pop up blockers enabled, it may not show on your screen, so you can go to the link directly at