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FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
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Building the Capacity of Families to
Engage in Children’s Literacy
According to Dr. Karen Mapp, “Parent participation is the leading predictor that supports
students’ academic success, regardless of family race, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or cul-
tural background.” Research has consistently demonstrated that when families are engaged,
children benefit. In spite of the research, schools continue to struggle with building and sus-
taining effective family-school partnerships because the stakeholders have not had the op-
portunity to develop the capacity to partner effectively. Dr. Mapp worked with the US Depart-
ment of Education to develop the Dual Capacity Framework for Family-School Partnerships
to help schools and districts create initiatives that build both the capacity of its educators
and its families through partnership, with the mutual goal of student achievement and school
improvement. The Framework includes a set of five process conditions, which must be present
to achieve a successful family engagement initiative.
Scholastic Literacy Events (SLE) are one tool to engage families with students in grades PreK-5
and empower them to support their children’s academic achievement. The ready-to-use kits
align with the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships and feature
engaging activities and strategies focused on developing reading and writing skills while fos-
tering a culture of literacy at home.
The SLE is more than just about family participation; it’s the collaboration between schools
and families to execute programs that successfully promote learning. By empowering families
with quick and easy learning strategies, we can help all children become passionate readers
who achieve real, lifelong results!
Research Linking Family Engagement to Learning:
• Parent participation in school-based workshops is linked to greater gains in school by their
children (Shaver and Walls 1998).
• Increased family involvement in activities at school has a positive impact on literacy achieve-
ment (Dearing, Kreider, Simpkins, and Weiss 2006).
• The enhanced vocabulary that your children acquire through read-alouds aids their ability to
comprehend texts as independent readers (Biemiller and Boote 2006).
• Interactive read-alouds with meaningful conversations about text result in student gains in
vocabulary (Beck and McKeown 2001), comprehension strategies (Pinnell and Fountas
2011), and concept development (Wasik and Bond 2001).