Today is National Parent Involvement Day!

Did you know today is National Parent Involvement Day? It's a day to reflect on the profound impact parent and family involvement has on student success.

Why does increasing engagement matter?

Family engagement involves listening to families and engaging in two-way communication about their child's education. Encouraging families to share their opinions and be involved in their child's learning, builds relationships and promotes an equal partnership between school and home. Research from the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education shows that “no matter their income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior and adapt well to school."

This infographic from the Family Run Executive Director Leadership Association highlights the key elements to effectively engage families. 

If you are tasked with reducing learning loss, increasing parent and family engagement is one of the best ways to boost student success.

Here are 5 ways to Successfully Engage Families 

1. Create an environment with open communication: Having a welcoming environment clears the path for effective communication and involvement from families. 
2. Seek volunteering and participation: Provide opportunities for parents/guardians to participate in their child's classroom. 
3. Keep contact data up to date: Making sure you always have the most recent contact information for families allows you to always be able to reach them. 
4. Make your communication accessible to individuals of all abilities, no matter what language they speak. 
5. Provide opportunities for parents and families to communicate back: Provide a specific channel for 2-way conversations where parents can ask questions and have their voices heard. 

One of the simplest ways to increase engagement is to upgrade your communication tools. The integrated communication suite from SchoolInfo makes school-to-home communication personalized, safe and secure, and simple. With a parent communication app by SchoolInfo, you can easily accomplish each of the items in the list above. Having an app gives families a centralized location where they can learn about what is going on around the school and participate in conversations with the teachers and staff. In our most recent blog post, we discussed the importance of a school app from a parent's perspective. 

 Set a meeting with someone on our team today to learn more about all the ways your school or district can connect with families through an app!