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Family Partnerships
Family Partnership Events
Purpose:
Family partnership events are an excellent way to support family leadership, provide access to resources, and foster collaboration between families, educators, and community organizations. These events should seek not only to give a glimpse into what is going on in the classroom but should also provide avenues for parents and caregivers to extend the learning in the classroom into their everyday lives. Events could be large events with dinner and childcare, or small events with learning materials for parents and children to engage with together.
All family engagement events should be planned by the family participation group. This will help support the events to meet the needs of families and foster access. Like classroom activities, every event should be purposeful, intentional, and clearly identify learner outcomes. Events should also be fun and engaging for families, providing playful learning activities to engage families and encourage them to participate in future events.
Recommendations:
- Events can focus on educational outcomes, strengthening parenting skills, or providing leadership opportunities for parents in the classroom or in the larger school community
- Family engagement efforts should be tailored to meet the needs of all families. This may include offering transportation and food, providing all materials in families’ home languages, and providing interpreters. Events might be planned with flexible beginning and ending times to accommodate families’ schedules.
- In some cases, the family participation group might work with community partners to support or expand a community event that meets the needs of and supports families.