Title: Engaging Families in Early Childhood Education | RTI Action Network
Headings: Engaging Families in Early Childhood Education
Engaging Families in Early Childhood Education
Why Engage Parents?
Parents as Partners in Response to Intervention
Key Findings about Parent-School Partnerships
Here are two studies that offer insight into the benefits of parent-school partnerships:
What Parents Want To Know
Engaging Parents
"To Draw Into and, To Attract..."
Tips on How Teachers Can "Draw and Attract" Parent Participation
Some additional suggestions for building productive parent partnerships are:
"To Involve, To Hold Onto"
Tips on How Teachers Can Maintain Parental Interest and Involvement
Hard Conversations
"Doing Battle" So That Everyone Wins!
Here are some tips when sharing concerns about a child's progress with parents:
Some Helpful Resources To Engage Parents
The Child Care Partnership Project offers a number of valuable resources:
A Parent Talent Self-Assessment Tool
For information about cultural competency, visit:
References

Content: These strides where found in children ages 3-5, and included progress in vocabulary, language comprehension, understanding of books and print and number concepts. In addition, these children also exhibited higher self-esteem in comparison to children of non-participating parents (Evangelou & Sylva, 2003). A study published in the Journal of Instructional Psychology reported that improving parental involvement in the classroom can also improve schools in general (Machen, Wilson & Notar, 2005). The authors describe how everyone within the school community can benefit when parents and teachers work as partners. What Parents Want To Know
In order to effectively engage parents, it is important to know their specific questions and concerns with regard to their child's learning and transition from home or day care to other educational settings. An article written by Pianta and Kraft-Sayre (1999) titled "Parents' Observations about Their Children's Transitions to Kindergarten" offers a number of insights: While two-thirds of the parents viewed their child's transition into kindergarten as generally smooth, nearly 35% of parents mentioned a disruption to family life" - marked by having difficulty adjusting to a new schedule and not having a playmate available for a younger sibling. 53% of parent responses contained positive feedback regarding their child's ability to adjust well, the benefits of prior experience to school setting, proactive transition planning by the school, positive qualities in the teachers, communication with the school, and the quality of the curriculum/program. Negative feedback shared by parents reflected the child's emotional/behavioral difficulties during transition (e.g., "not handled well by the school,"), family adjustment difficulties (e.g., sleep/work schedule), reluctance or refusal of child to attend school, unrealistic expectations of the school (e.g., curriculum too advanced), and communication difficulties between parents and school personnel (e.g., lost notes, missing money, skipped meals, hygiene difficulties)
Understanding parents' concerns and being proactive in addressing them (or circumventing potential problems) is a positive way to engage parents and establish productive home-school relationships. Engaging Parents
According to Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th ed.),