Webinars

This presentation is centered around providing strategic and various ideas for engaging families from distinct backgrounds. Challenges arise in truly engaging families around the academic environments. With the familial dynamics constantly shifting, practitioners need to be able to adjust how they communicate with families to ensure connection. Through a composition of focus groups, interviews and information sessions, the results on how to effectively communicate and engage families were derived. Differential engagement ensures that we adjust how we communicate with families. Seniors raising children prefer phone calls and mailed items. Working families need information that can be easily navigated. Tech-savvy families appreciate apps, social media, and/or text messages. Truly understanding the make-up of the family resolves the challenge of effectively engaging with families.

Schools underutilize three community entities within the Black American community: the Black Church, salons and barbershops, and Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs). The Village Model of Community Engagement© uses cultural wealth and multitiered systems of support (MTSS) as frameworks for making these connections to further cultivate Black American student achievement. This presentation will demonstrate how to leverage the Black Church, salons/barbershops, and Black Greek letter organizations as community partners, utilizing cultural wealth and multi-tiered systems of support to enhance connections and cultivate Black American student success through The Village Model of Community Engagement©. Research shows creating partnerships with local Black churches enhances Black student achievement, helps to provide resources (e.g. school supplies, monetary donations, food/clothing drives, etc.) to struggling families and can offer community input for school counseling programs. Hair salons and barbershops have always been invested in its young Black patrons’ education and are willing to partner with schools to ensure their success. Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) provide mentorship, culturally relevant safe spaces and examples of representation in higher education. The Village Model of Community Engagement© uses Cultural Wealth Theory and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) as frameworks for meeting the needs of Black students utilizing these three community entities. Schools must examine the school’s quantitative data (grades, discipline referrals, test scores, etc.) to concretely show what is inherently known: Black American students’ success depends on the involvement of the community in which they are nurtured and loved. Quantitative data will not only show which students need to be placed in Tiers 2 and 3, it will also highlight which interventions may be prioritized. Once community organization involvement is integrated into the school counseling program, both qualitative data (student/teacher interviews, student focus groups, etc.) and quantitative data will demonstrate the effectiveness of the interventions.

Our current understanding of the science of family engagement is shaped by developmental theories and decades of research. The resulting evidence-based practices for engaging families are taught to educators in pre-service programs. By the time new teachers enter the classroom, they understand the value of family engagement, which some may even describe as common sense. However, the practice of high-quality family engagement is much less commonplace. Barriers exist, and, as with instructional evidence-based practices, a research-to-practice gap exists. Before long, many new teachers struggle to engage families. Parents and caregivers then often report a confusing, frustrating, and overwhelming experience as those who want to be engaged with their school community don’t know how or, worse, feel unwelcome. Technological advances have the potential to make family engagement efforts easier and more efficient for administrators, teachers, and families. This session provides valuable insights into how modern technological tools can support family engagement in schools while saving valuable time for everyone.