Ways to Assess Family Engagement Outcomes

Wendy Allen wallen@lsu.edu

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People First Language

Kathie Snow. (n.d.) A few words about People First Language. Disability is Natural. Retrieved August 1, 2012 from http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/images/PDF/pfl-sh09.pdf Kathie Snow. (n.d.) A few words about People First Language. Disability is Natural. Retrieved August 1, 2012 from http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/images/PDF/pfl-sh09.pdf

“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

Fundraisers Student Back to school night Weekly data performances sharing folders

Potlucks Parent social Parent-teacher Positive phone calls services conferences Home visits

Parent resource Generic school Interactive homework, tips, ClassroomRoom newsletters and 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

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, #H323A110003. 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.

www.laspdg.org

Wendy Allen wallen@lsu.edu Monica Ballay mballay@lsu.edu

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