A dozen ways to engage parents and families

Today, everyone is overwhelmed with information, and many people have trouble listening to any message closely. Experts say that it often takes eight reminders or notices for someone to say finally, "I've heard of that." When spreading the word about the Parent Engagement Pledge and encouraging people to support it, be patient: you can count on having to remind people many times. A Parent Engagement Pledge marketing effort designed to reach all parents/caregivers — several times — will raise awareness about your school's Parent Engagement Pledge drive. 

​

Face-to-Face Contact

• Parent-Teacher Conferences: Discuss student progress during parent-teacher conferences. Explain the school's high academic expectations for all students.  The process can begin with the distribution of the Parent Engagement Pledge at parent/teacher conferences. Parent/teacher conferences and meetings must include the Parent Engagement Pledge Compact as it relates to the child’s achievement as required by Title I, Section 1116, (Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. Parent/teacher conferences shall occur at least annually, during which the compact shall be discussed as the compact relates to the individual child’s achievement. 

​

• Teacher home visits: Research has found evidence that teacher home visits could increase student performance, jumpstart parent engagement, reduce discipline problems and increase overall positive attitudes toward school. If done correctly, a home visit program can give teachers, parents and students a better opportunity for connection, communication and collaboration.

 

• Reach out to groups at the right meetings, events and venues: Aim to reach lots of people, especially those who family members who might not be ready to be involved at school or home. 

​

• Events: Schools are encouraged to host a new event on — or move an existing event to National Parent Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week to honor parents. This is the perfect opportunity to ask parents and families to take the Parental Involvement Pledge. At school open houses parents can take the Pledge on-line through any school computers connected to the Internet.

​

• Groups: Coordinate with organizations already doing parent and family engagement in your school community, such as your school’s parent groups like the PTA/PTO. Touch base with all the school’s stakeholders to let them know your plans, provide them copies of the Parental Involvement Pledge, and ask them to attend any offered family engagement meetings or trainings.

​

• Community: Churches neighborhood gathering places, community colleges, technical schools, vocational/alternative schools. Community/sporting events

 

• Door-to-door canvassing: This tactic involves volunteers knocking on doors and asking parents face-to-face to show up and volunteer in school. Some volunteers shy away from this kind of engagement, but it’s proven to be more efficacious than phone campaigns.

​

Telecommunications

• Text messaging: In the era of cell phones, text messaging has proven to be a notably effective way of reaching people. It’s a particularly popular way of connecting with younger parents, who may actively prefer texting as opposed to speaking on the phone. According to Child Trends 2021 research revie, several studies noted that parents found informational texts to be helpful and a good way to receive information from a trusted source). Despite being a light-touch support, evaluations of text blasts found that exposure to text messages could impact some parents’ beliefs, for example, about their preparedness for motherhood and even increase parent engagement in activities with their child at home.

​

• Phone calls: Volunteers can call families and remind them of their volunteering options. This is a popular tactic because it allows volunteers to participate from anywhere there’s a phone. However, it’s considered increasingly ineffective in the era of caller ID and unlisted cell phone numbers. 

​

Online Outreach

• Email: Emailing families to remind them of goals or upcoming meetings, provide suggestions, tips, or prompts to try out an activity, or just check in can be used to supplement in-person or virtual interventions keep important information on parents’ minds and encourage best practices.

 

• Online forums and virtual group meetings: Online forums and virtual group meetings were engagement strategies used to supplement several online learning and virtual coaching programs identified in our review. Virtual “bulletin boards” or forums were common and enabled participants to share their experiences and participate in discussions, sometimes in response to prompts posted by staff, as they completed training programs. In addition to online learning programs, monthly group videoconferences was also used as a strategy in one-on-one virtual coaching programs to allow opportunities for families to connect and support one another.

 

• Social Media: Many parents are already on Facebook and Twitter, so it makes sense to communicate with them about the Pledge on platforms with which they are already familiar. Online GOTP efforts often seek to educate them about the process.

​​

Media

• Contact local media: Reach out to your local media to let them know when and where you’ll be distributing the Pledge. Ask the local newspaper to reprint the Parental Involvement Pledge as part of Newspapers In Education.