The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
March FINE Newsletter: Preparing Teachers for Family Engagement
Volume III, Issue 1, March 2011
Dear FINE Members,
Family involvement in schools is key to improving student outcomes, but it cannot work without the effective training of teachers. Teacher preparation and continuing professional development in family engagement strategies can have an enormous influence on how teachers feel about efforts to engage families and what they do as practicing educators. Because it is important for schools to engage students’ families from early childhood through high school, teacher preparation programs must support pre-service teachers at all levels in effectively working with families. In this issue, we explore the new skills and knowledge teachers need to develop to effectively engage families in the twenty-first century. We respond in particular to teachers’ desires to be better prepared to relate to diverse students and families.
In this issue’s Commentary, Elise Trumbull, EdD, co-creator of the Bridging Cultures Project, discusses the challenges of communicating with families from different cultural backgrounds. She presents a framework to help teachers understand cultural patterns, as well as guidelines for cross-cultural parent–teacher conferences. We also feature two innovative methods for training teachers to communicate with families in Voices from the Field: Carol St. George, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Rochester, discusses an innovative method for parent–teacher collaboration in elementary school literacy learning, and we follow up with Maria Paredes from Creighton School District in Arizona, first profiled last fall, about her work preparing teachers to share student data with families through Academic Parent–Teacher Teams.
One of the key resources in this month’s newsletter is an update to the 1997 teacher preparation brief, New Skills for New Schools, reflecting recent changes to the education reform landscape and the current need to align teacher preparation and professional learning for family engagement with the goals of a twenty-first century education. This Update previews some of the ideas from a forthcoming policy brief on teacher preparation (Spring 2011). HFRP has also invited the Flamboyan Foundation to share its classroom family engagement rubric with FINE. This rubric and accompanying article provide districts, school leaders, and teachers with a clear picture of what effective family engagement looks like in the classroom.
Professional development as a means to improve family and community engagement was further explored in the fourth installment of the Achieving Excellence webinar series, which is archived here. In addition, we have developed a matrix of HFRP teaching cases in family involvement to help teacher educators find a teaching case that best fits their instructional needs, and we feature a review of a new book about family–school partnering. This issue also includes an update to our family involvement bibliography series, featuring family engagement research from 2009. And, as always, we provide a list of new family involvement articles, news, and resources.
We invite your feedback on the topics we explore in this FINE Newsletter, and encourage you to pass on this issue to interested friends and colleagues. We've made it even easier to share FINE content with your social networks: Find the "share" button on the left of every page and send interesting articles via email or through other platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.
It is with deep sadness that we share with you the passing of Sue Ferguson, a committed and passionate leader in school, family, and community engagement. A wonderful friend and an amazing mother, Sue was also the chair of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE), where she worked to promote parent and family engagement in children’s education and foster relationships between home, school, and community. Sue has been committed to the field of education for over 35 years, and has worked tirelessly to advocate on behalf of children and youth with special needs. Sue previously served as a member of the National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group. Her hard work and dedication to the Working Group has been an enormous contribution to the family engagement field. It has been an honor and a privilege for Harvard Family Research Project to collaborate with Sue and share in her work.
Guest Commentary
The Challenge of Cross-Cultural Family–School Communication
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Guest commentator Elise Trumbull, EdD, co-creator of the Bridging Cultures Project, discusses the challenges of communicating with families from different cultural backgrounds. According to recent research, over one-third of pre-K–12 students are minorities, and an increasing number of students' families are immigrants and non-native English speakers. However, new teachers are often unprepared to deal with these challenges. Dr. Trumbull addresses these concerns and presents a framework to help teachers understand cultural patterns and improve cross-cultural communication. |
How Can Elementary Teachers Collaborate More Effectively with Parents to Support Literacy Learning?
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Carol St. George, EdD, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Rochester and Title I Family Involvement Coordinator for the Greece Central School District in New York, discusses her use of the Collegial Circle, a professional development activity that engages teachers with parents. |
Preparing Teachers to Engage Families Around Student Data
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Maria C. Paredes is the Director of Community Education at Creighton School District in Arizona. Our October 2010 FINE Newsletter: Using Student Data to Engage Families profiled Creighton District’s work with Academic Parent–Teacher teams. In this follow-up, Paredes describes how Creighton prepares teachers and parent liaisons to share student data with families through Academic Parent–Teacher Teams. |
Resources & Research From Harvard Family Research Project
Update: New Skills for New Schools
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Since the 1997 publication of New Skills for New Schools, the education reform landscape has changed, making it necessary to align teacher preparation for family engagement with the goals of a 21st century education. HFRP is working to gather information about promising teacher education practices to prepare teachers to partner with families for student success, to be published in a forthcoming policy brief. This Update includes a preview of those practices. |
Resources & Research From Harvard Family Research Project
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HFRP invited the Flamboyan Foundation to share its classroom family engagement rubric with FINE. Lela Spielberg introduces the rubric with an article on what teachers need to know to successfully engage families. The rubric provides districts, school leaders, and teachers with a clear picture of what effective family engagement looks like in the classroom through concrete descriptions of how teachers demonstrate strong family engagement through their daily practice. |
Resources & Research From Harvard Family Research Project
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This webinar highlighted examples of how states can embed family engagement into their professional development systems and how teacher education programs can systematically include family engagement in teaching and learning. Also discussed were promising practices in higher education, including partnerships with PIRCs to build the capacity of family coordinators. This archive includes audio/visuals from the webinar, presentation slides, and other resources. |
Resources & Research From Harvard Family Research Project
2009 Family Involvement Bibliography
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This latest update to the Family Involvement Bibliography series provides faculty and others interested in family involvement with a compilation of journal articles, dissertations, theses, research briefs, papers, reports, and books on family engagement from 2009. Stay tuned for the 2010 Bibliography, coming later this year. |
Tips & Tools From Harvard Family Research Project
Teaching Cases on Family Involvement
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Teaching cases are a valuable tool in preparing teachers and school administrators to engage effectively with families. They involve real-world situations and consider the perspectives of various stakeholders, including teachers, school leaders, parents, students, and community members. This tool provides a detailed matrix of HFRP's teaching cases in family involvement, sorted by topic, gender, age, and ethnicity of the students discussed. |
Book Review
The Power of Family–School Partnering
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Beth Schueler reviews the new book, The Power of Family–School Partnering (FSP): A Practical Guide for School Mental Health Professionals and Educators, a user-friendly handbook for developing and implementing a sustainable and effective Family–School Partnering (FSP) strategy. |
Family Involvement News
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We at Harvard Family Research Project are committed to keeping you up to date on what's new in family involvement. View our list of links to current reports, articles, resources, and events in the family involvement field. |
Contact Us
If you experience a problem reading this newsletter or have questions and comments concerning our work, we would love to hear from you. Please send an email to fine@gse.harvard.edu.
Enjoy!
The FINE Team at Harvard Family Research Project