Traditional vs. Transformative Family Engagement
Traditional
Family Engagement
School is welcoming to families for
certain events and specific purposes,
such as parent-teacher conferences
and student performances
Families attend school-wide
gatherings, especially student
performances
Communication with families is
passive and impersonal, mainly
through fliers and emails
Occasional participation from a
stand-out parent leader, without
broader involvement
Families contribute volunteer time
Transformative
Family Engagement
School has a welcoming environment for families
of all backgrounds at all times, from the front
door to the front office to the classrooms
Families attend school-wide gatherings,
enrichment classes, leadership trainings, and
much events to weigh in on school decisions
Communication with families is active and
personal, including face-to-face outreach, home
visits, phone calls, and community tours
Strong core of parent leaders who are involved
on an ongoing basis, and broad participation
from the larger parent body
Families contribute volunteer time, relationships
and social capital that help mobilize local
institutions, leaders, and families; and advocacy
for sustained and increased resources for school
Only certain constituencies of
School is engaged in ongoing efforts to reach out
families are involved in school
and bring in families from constituencies who
are not as involved
School staff deliver information;
Families deliver information as well, for example
families receive it
by conducting workshops and trainings for
school staff and other families
Family outreach and meetings are
Translation and interpretation in the school
conducted only in English
community’s main languages are provided for all
family-facing materials and meetings
Families are on their own to manage School provides the logistical support –
the logistics of getting involved
childcare, interpretation, food, transportation,
flexible meeting schedules - that is necessary for
families to be active participants
Families who can navigate school
School provides information and leadership
policy and bureaucracy participate in training necessary to build families’ capacity to
decision-making, and others do not
participate meaningfully in school decisions