2. Using Assessments to Improve Family Partnerships
Dan Seaman
Michelle Belnavis
wisconsinrticenter.org
wisconsinrticenter.org
Jennifer Grenke
Sara Summ
wisconsinpbisnetwork.org
wisconsinrticenter.org

3. Family Engagement Conceptual Aim
Home
Other Systems
School
Adapted from Sheridan & Kratochwill (1991)

4. School Conditions to Support Family Engagement
Approach
Actions
Outcomes
Atmosphere
Attitude
Communicating a tone of partnership through bidirectional home-school communication and fostering family involvement in learning at home
Successful learning opportunities and outcomes for children
Christenson & Sheridan (2001)

5. Goals of Family Engagement Programs
Build family member and school staff knowledge and skills
Strengthen home-school-community connections
Promote positive outcomes for children
Adapted from Sheridan & Kratochwill (2008)

6. Family Engagement Components
Distinct ways that families support their children (Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000; Jeynes, 2012)
Embedded in cultural beliefs and ideologies (Hill, 2010; Leverson, Smith, McIntosh, Rose, & Pinkelman, 2016)
Active, interactive, and dynamic (Sheridan, Knoche, Kupzyk, Edwards, & Marvin, 2011)
Active: Engage as equal partners in planning, decision-making, and implementation (Fette et al., 2009)
Interactive: Work with other stakeholders (Sheridan, Rispoli, & Holmes, 2014)
Dynamic: Changes over time (Eccles & Harold; Epstein & Dauber, 1991)
Garbacz (2017)

7. Family Engagement Research Support
Students
Achievement (Fan & Chen, 2001)
Attendance (Simon, 2001)
School drop-out (Barnard, 2004)
Social behavior (Fantuzzo, McWayne, Perry, & Childs, 2004)
Peer affiliations (Garbacz, Zerr, Dishion, Seeley, & Stormshak, in press)
Parents and Teachers
Parent efficacy and role construction (Semke, Garbacz, Kwon, Sheridan, & Woods, 2010)
Parent trust of teachers (Santiago, Garbacz, Beattie, & Moore, 2016)
Teachers improved job satisfaction and fewer transfer requests (Christenson, 1995)

8. Effects of Family Engagement Interventions
Students
Academics (Stormshak, Connell, & Dishion, 2009)
Social behavior (Sheridan et al., 2012)
Substance use (Stormshak et al., 2011)
Police arrests (Connell, Dishion, Yasui, & Kavanagh, 2007)
Parents and Teachers
Family management (Dishion, Nelson, & Kavanagh, 2003)
Parent-teacher relationships (Sheridan et al., 2017)
Parent competence in problem solving (Sheridan, Ryoo, Garbacz, Kunz, & Chumney, 2013)
Home-school communication (Sheridan et al., 2013)

9. Summary
Family engagement is an important component of educational, social, and behavior programs for children and adolescents.
When families and schools partner, there are benefits for children, family members, teachers, and the parent-teacher relationship.
There are several important elements to consider when supporting family engagement, such as systems and practices.

10. Partnering with Families
Within a Culturally Responsive Multi-Level System of Support
Lower Impact Higher Impact
Feature photos that represent families in your school
Family resource room
Positive phone call
Share academic and behavioral expectations
P-T conferences to set goals
Celebrations
Parent representative(s) on PBIS/RtI universal team
Monthly positive phone calls/contacts
Back to school nights
Potlucks
Strategies highlighted in
Communications done In home language
Modeling learning support strategies
Class parties
Acknowledgement system
Home visits
Performances
Literacy/math nights
Read with child at home
Regular, personalized communication
PBIS/RtI family brochures, website
Fundraisers
Using family surveys and feedback
Data sharing folders
Embrace
Engage
Empower
Adapted from the Class-wide Family Engagement Rubric created by Flamboyan Foundation.

11. Family Engagement on PBIS and RtI Self-Assessments
Family Engagement items are on all PBIS and RtI self-assessment tools.
TIC: 3 items (3, 8, 11)
SAS: 1 item (13)
SAS Individual Student: 2 items (6, 7)
BAT: 6 items (12, 24, 26, 33, 41, 46)
BOQ: 2 items (34, 41)
TFI: 11 items (1.1, 1.11, 1.15, 2.3, 2.4, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 3.8, 3.12, 3.17)
SIR: 5 items (7, 25, 34, 43, 49)
SIR All Staff: 5 items (6, 12, 18, 23, 38)
Resources available at:

12. Handouts
handout

14. Both Items can Score 0 or 1 on the BoQ

15. Top Ten Ways to Engage, Embrace, and Empower Families
Valley View Elementary School – Ashwaubenon’s
Top Ten Ways to Engage, Embrace, and Empower Families
Academic School of Merit
PBIS School of Distinction
PBIS School of Merit
Reading & PBIS School of Distinction
Reading School of Merit
PBIS School of Distinction
Silver Recognition (Behavior)

16. 10. Involve parents on your universal team.
Valley View has one teacher from each grade level/ department and one parent on our team. We meet once per month.
Our parent member also makes an effort to visit a few times each month (usually during lunch and recess) to see how our systems are working from a parent perspective.

17. 9. Let the data be your guide.
Use SAS, BOQ, TFI, EduClimber/SWIS, and other data to assist you in making decisions.
When appropriate, share data with parents and community stakeholders.

18. 8. Want to know what parents think? ASK!

19. 7. New Family Orientation and PBIS Introduction Brochure

20. 6. Make your message your school brand

22. 5. Involve families
HERO Tic Tac Toe
Home Cool Tools

23. 4. Incorporate Community Service
Students who are recognized as members of our Jaguar Club are required to complete community service outside their home prior to being recognized.
We celebrate these accomplishments on PAW PRIDE boards in our cafeteria.

24. 3. Engage families online

25. 2. Make it fun- Kids will talk at home!

27. 1. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

28. Questions? Kurt Weyers – Principal kweyers@ashwaubenon.k12.wi.us
Andy Bake – Associate Principal

29. Family Engagement Practices
Hello. My name is Ashlee Resch and I am a 5th grade bilingual teacher and the PBIS coach at Baird Elementary School in Green Bay. Today I will be talking with you about how we utilized perception data to foster family engagement.
Utilizing Perception Data
at Baird Elementary School
Green Bay Area School District
PBIS School of Merit
PBIS School of Merit
PBIS School of Distinction
Silver Recognition (Behavior)

30. Determining Family Engagement as a Focus
There are many ways to measure family engagement in our school and specifically in regards to PBIS. The following slides will highlight the different perception surveys used to determine family engagement as a focus.

31. Family Perception Surveys Used
Parent Communication Survey
Family Title 1 Survey
PBIS Parent Survey
Family Perception Surveys Used
The Importance of
Family Input
There are three main surveys that we use to gauge family perception. These surveys are our Parent Communication Survey, our family Title 1 survey, and our PBIS Parent Survey. The following slides will discuss these in more detail.

32. Parent Communication Survey
Our parent communication survey is given to all families at the beginning of the year. It is available in English and Spanish to accommodate our growing Spanish bilingual program. We are working towards getting this form translated into Hmong and Somali to be able to successfully reach all of our families. We do utilize the translators that work in our building as well as our language line to be able to communicate with all families as necessary. As you can see, we use this survey so that we know the best way and manner to send home correspondence to our families. From this survey, we also gain information about the best time of day or day of the week our families are available to attend school functions such as music concerts, literacy or math family nights, and many others.

33. Family Title 1 Survey Once a year Electronic or paper copy Bilingual
As a Title 1 school, we have our families fill out a survey that focuses on many aspects of our school - from how welcoming the school is, to how frequently families hear from the school and classroom teachers, to their perception of the functionality of Baird. The survey is sent out in paper copy and with a link to all families in February. During the survey window, families are reminded to fill it out at various times through use of our school messenger. This survey gives our school as a whole great input about how we can continue to improve our school. Towards the end of the year, parents were invited into school for a meeting with information about Title 1 at Baird. Parents were given a survey to gauge their support with continuing to have a math, literacy, engagement, and behavioral goal at school, as well as to gauge their level of support with new initiatives.

34. Baird PBIS Parent Survey
Given 2 times per year
Paper Copies
Currently on a 1-5 rating scale
Bilingual
Our PBIS parent survey is newer to Baird. After realizing that we did not have a formal parent survey in place, we created one of our own that encompasses three categories of questions. These categories focus on the parent perception of Baird, their knowledge of PBIS at Baird, and Parent Involvement. The survey was given two times per year; in November and March. These dates coordinate with our parent/teacher conferences. During conferences parents have the ability to fill out the survey while they are waiting for their conference time with the teacher. Our survey is currently on a rating scale of 1-5; 1 being strongly disagree, 5 being strongly agree.

35. Staff Assessments Used
Self-Assessment Survey (SAS)
Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI)
Staff
Assessments Used
How they aligned with
parent survey results
The use of staff assessments has proven to be beneficial in many ways. While analyzing the results from our Self Assessment Survey and the Tiered Fidelity Inventory, our Universal Leadership Team noticed that our staff perception aligned with that of our parents who responded to the survey.
Analyzing the results of both of these surveys is crucial. The Self Assessment Survey is taken by each staff individually. We utilize “staff captured time” so that everyone in attendance completes the survey and does not have it take during their personal time. It is important to receive input from each staff member on an individual basis to get their honest feedback. The information gained from the SAS is invaluable. The TFI on the other hand is taken by the Universal Leadership Team as a whole. This allows for discussion around the specific items.

36. Our Action Plan - What did we do?
Family Engagement goal for School Success Plan
Monthly newsletters
Created a Communications/Publicity Committee
Added a parent rep to ULT
PBIS Parent brochure
PBIS Information Table at Open House
Positive Postcards
Survey parents
Progress Monitor Results
Now that we had analyzed our data, it was time to create an action plan. This was a collaborative effort completed by some of the members of our Universal Leadership Team.
Our action plan included a variety of steps. Our building leadership team chose to assign a family engagement goal in our school success plan. Our goal for the previous school year was that 100% of our Baird families will attend at least 3 school events. This includes events such as parent/teacher conferences, music concerts, band concerts, or family nights. We also decided to include more information about PBIS and what was happening at school in the monthly newsletter sent to families from our principal. These were written up by our newly created communications and publicity committee. In the past, we had a parent representative on our team, however, she had since moved away therefore we were missing that important representation and valued input on our team. We worked diligently to find a parent representative who had an interest in the behavioral education of the students at Baird. There are a few other things that we created, such as a parent brochure, an informational board for open house, positive postcards, and continuing to survey our families. These will be discussed in more detail in the next few slides.

37. PBIS Parent Brochure
Here is our parent brochure. You will notice that the outside has our three positively stated expectations - be respectful, be responsible, and be safe. Other information discussed includes what PBIS is, what PBIS looks like at Baird, and some strategies for connecting school and home with PBIS. The inside of the brochure contains our behavioral matrix so parents are getting the same information as the students. These brochures are available in English and Spanish. They were given to families at open house and are also available in the main office for parents to take.

38. PBIS
Parent
Board
This is the information board that briefly describes PBIS to parents at open house. Here parents can read about which character trait students are learning about that month as well as the celebration they are working towards. Also included is information around behavior management strategies and how parents can get involved with school found on the Wisconsin PBIS network site.

39. Positive Postcards
One really exciting addition was the use of positive postcards. On the screen you will see the back side of the postcards where teachers get to write the good news they want to share with our families. The other side is blue with our school logo and return address. These were given to teachers, along with labels, at the beginning of the year with the expectation that all students get a positive postcard sent home at some point throughout the school year. Through self-reflection, we know that this expectation will need to be altered.
I remember sending one home telling a family about the hard work their child was demonstrating in my classroom. The day after it was received at home, the student asked me if I had sent his mom a note. When I responded, he said, “My mom was so excited she took pictures of it and sent it to all of her friends.” This interaction with my student, reminded me the importance of these positive contacts with parents and students.

40. Progress Monitoring for Family Engagement
To hold ourselves accountable for increasing family engagement, it was important that we set up ways to monitor progress towards the effectiveness of our initiatives. Our progress monitoring included surveying parents on two different occasions throughout the year, having informal conversations with families - at conferences, during family events, or before and after school. We also had attendance sheets at all family events to gauge how many families participated in the event as well as to collect necessary data for our family engagement goal.

41. Baird Demographic Data
Race
# of students
% of students
American Indian 5
1.0%
Asian 37
7.7%
African American
105
21.8%
Hispanic/Latino
150
31.3%
White
162
33.6%
Native Hawaiian 2
0.4%
Multi-Racial 21
4.4%
This year at Baird, we had 482 students enrolled. In this graph and pie chart you will see the breakdown of our student population based on race. I will give you a minute to look at this information before moving on. This information will be helpful in understanding the importance of the question on the following slide.

42. Family Title 1 Survey Results
My child is treated fairly regardless of their race or cultural background.
Let’s discuss our comparative data.
While there are many questions on the Family Title 1 Survey; our universal leadership team focused on one specific question. Parents were asked if their child was treated fairly regardless of their race or cultural background. As you saw on the previous slide, Baird is a diverse school, so we want to be more equitable in everything that we do. For example, we want to ensure that our data continues to be at or under proportionality for behaviors. The data from this question is extremely important for us to make sure we are on the path to culturally responsive teaching. Not only did the percentage of families who disagreed with this statement decrease, but the percentage of those who strongly agree increased.

43. Parent Perception of Baird
The Baird Schools rules are consistent
Baird School is a safe environment for my child
The adults at Baird School care about my child.
There is an atmosphere of respect among the students and adults at Baird School
My child enjoys going to Baird School
Baird School has high expectations for all students
Baird School is a supportive and inviting place for students to learn
I feel welcome at Baird School
Parent Perception of Baird
Baird Parent Survey
As stated earlier, our PBIS parent survey included three categories of questions. The questions listed here fit into the category of the parent perception of Baird in relation to behavioral expectations. These questions discuss the consistency of rules and expectations in the building and the environment and atmosphere of Baird.
Between the survey in 2016 and 2017, our participation of the survey almost doubled.
As a reminder, this survey was on a rating scale of with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree. You will notice in the following slides that some of those categories are not represented on the pie charts; that is because there were zero responses for that label.

44. Parent Survey Results - Parent Perception
41 responses
77 responses
Here are the results from the parent perception portion of the PBIS parent survey. The percentage of families who agreed or strongly agreed was consistent from 2016 to However, there was less than 1% of families who disagreed or strongly disagreed. We will continue to be transparent with families about the rules and expectations of our school as well as continue to provide a safe and respectful environment for all students to learn.

45. Knowledge of PBIS at Baird
I know what PBIS stands for
I know the three behavioral expectations for my child at school
I know how my child can earn Bee Tickets
Knowledge of PBIS at Baird
Baird Parent Survey
The second category focuses on the parent’s knowledge of PBIS at Baird. It includes only three questions, but these three questions give us valuable information.

46. Parent Survey Results - Knowledge of PBIS
41 responses
77 responses
As you can see here, our data shifted between 2016 and While the majority of our families still agreed or strongly agreed with the questions about their knowledge of PBIS, there is still a big percentage of families that are neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree. During this past school year, we have been more strategic about spelling out what PBIS stands for, our principal states the three behavioral expectations daily on the announcements, and information about bee tickets was added to the parent brochure. While we had incorporated new strategies to help our families learn about PBIS, we still need to integrate more. In a few slides I will discuss our action plan for this coming school year, but a few options to help our families include more detailed and engaging monthly newsletters, revamping our parent brochure to include more specifics about PBIS at Baird, and having the information board up all year round and changing out the information.

47. Parent Involvement Baird Parent Survey
Baird School gives me information and resources that help me support my child at home
I know that parental involvement is critical for my child’s success at Baird School
I know that my child’s behavior is a key factor in his/her academic success
Parent Involvement
Baird Parent Survey
The third category of questions discusses parent involvement and its effects on their child’s education.

48. Parent Survey Results - Parent Involvement
41 responses
77 responses
In the category of parent involvement, our data was relatively consistent between 2016 and The majority of families who answered with either neutral, disagreed, or strongly disagreed, chose that answer for the question: “Baird School gives me information and resources that help me support my child at home.” This means that we need to find or create resources that are shared more regularly with our families.

49. Self Assessment Survey
In place
Partially in place
Not in place
Schoolwide (13) - School has formal strategies for informing families about expected student behaviors at school.
Spring 2016
58%
39% 3%
Spring 2017
70%
27% 2%
Individual (6) - Significant family and/or community members are involved when appropriate and possible
73% 0%
64%
30% 6%
Individual (7) - School includes formal opportunities for families to receive training on behavioral support/positive parenting strategies
21%
42%
38%
24%
52%
Self Assessment Survey
Shifting to our staff surveys, our data team focused on three questions of the Self Assessment Survey that revolved around family engagement. The questions came from the schoolwide and individual categories of the survey. While we noticed that our percentages for the schoolwide feature increased so that the majority of our staff felt we had formal strategies in place for informing families about expected student behaviors, it was also apparent that we still have work to do in the individual features.

50. Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI)
Implementation
(11) Student/Family/Community Involvement: Stakeholders (students, families, and community members) provide input on universal foundations (e.g., expectations, consequences, acknowledgements) at least every 12 months
Spring
Spring
(15) Annual Evaluation: Tier I team documents fidelity and effectiveness (including on academic outcomes) of Tier I practices at least annually (including year-by-year comparisons) that are shared with stakeholders (staff, families, community, district) in a usable format
Spring
Our Universal Leadership Team filled out the Tiered Fidelity Inventory towards the end of March. Comparing our data from the spring of 2016 to the spring of 2017 we noticed one celebration and one area of focus around engaging our families. We worked towards increasing the input from families from surveying them twice during the year and we fostered community partnerships, such as the March of Dimes and the Green Bay Gamblers, a local hockey team.
While we increased feedback from stakeholders, we are still lacking in sharing the effectiveness of our efforts at Baird with them. We plan to share our data from last year with our families in a comprehensible manner at the beginning of the school year. It will also be our goal to share next year’s data at the end of the school year. This share out will most likely be in a newsletter and possibly a presentation during open house night.

51. Family Engagement Goal Results
At the end of last school year, we analyzed our Family Engagement Goal results in order to create a new goal for the school year. Our goal was for 100% of families to attend at least 3 family events at Baird. As you can see, 66.6% of families accomplished that goal. We are going to modify our goal to 80% of families will attend 3 or more school events to make our goal attainable. We will continue to monitor this goal and eventually make it to 100% of families. We need to explore different strategies to get more families in the door. We will also report out this data to parents at the beginning of the school year.

52. Planning for next year Family Engagement goal for School Success Plan
Monthly newsletters
Add a second parent rep to ULT
Revamp our parent PBIS brochure
PBIS Information Board
Positive Postcards
Survey parents three times a year
Open House, Fall P/T Conference, Spring P/T Conference
As stated in the previous slide, we will continue to have a family engagement goal in our school success plan. We will continue to use a lot of the same strategies we currently used, but with some modifications. Our information write up for the monthly newsletter will include more information and tips for parents with regards to PBIS at home and its connection to school. Our universal leadership team has added a second parent representative to the team to account for multiple viewpoints. We have revamped our parent brochure to include more information based on the survey results. The information board will be out at open house, but it will also be visible throughout the year for parents to reference. We will continue to send home positive postcards, but the expectation will change for staff. It will be the expectation that all staff send these home to their students within the first trimester of the school year. Additional postcards will be available for the remainder of the year. We have also decided to survey our parents three times a year - at open house, fall conferences, and spring conferences, using a 3, 2, 1 rating scale where families can agree, be neutral, or disagree.

53. Family engagement is key!
Family engagement is key to the success of PBIS implementation in schools, just as it is for academics.
I have embedded a QR code on this slide. You can scan it to access the documents I showed you today that we use at Baird. Or, if you are viewing the presentation, all of the documents are linked to the same folder with all of the documents. I also brought samples of our parent brochure, survey, and positive postcards.
Thank you so much for your time today. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Ashlee Resch

54. Take Aways
As a leader in your building how do you build staff understanding that families want the very best for their child(ren)? (think PD)
Establish and maintain two-way communication with families
Be Intentional and Genuine
Are your practices systemic and systematic?
What is one high impact practice you could begin to implement next year?

56. Resources Flamboyan Foundation Rubric Family Engagement E Book
Family Engagement Website Page (WI RtI Center)
Harvard Family Research Project

57. session-e.questionpro.com