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Process Conditions
Research on promising practice in family engagement, as well as on adult learning and development, identifies a set of process conditions
that are important to the success of capacity-building interventions. The term process here refers to the series of actions, operations,
and procedures that are part of any activity or initiative. Process conditions are key to the design of effective initiatives for building the
capacity of families and school staff to partner in ways that support student achievement and school improvement. Initiatives must be:
LINKED TO LEARNING
Initiatives are aligned with school and district achievement goals
and connect families to the teaching and learning goals for the
students. Far too often, events held at schools for parents have
little to do with the school or district’s academic and developmental
goals for students. These events are missed opportunities to
enhance the capacity of families and staff to collaborate with one
another to support student learning. Families and school staff
are more interested in and motivated to participate in events and
programs that are focused on enhancing their ability to work as
partners to support children’s cognitive, emotional, physical, and
social development as well as the overall improvement of the
school.
RELATIONAL
A major focus of the initiative is on building respectful and trusting
relationships between home and school. No meaningful family
engagement can be established until relationships of trust and
respect are established between home and school. A focus on
relationship building is especially important in circumstances where
there has been a history of mistrust between families and school
or district staff, or where negative past experiences or feelings of
intimidation hamper the building of partnerships between staff
and parents. In these cases, mailings, automated phone calls, and
even incentives like meals and prizes for attendance do little to
ensure regular participation of families, and school staff are often
less than enthusiastic about participating in these events. The
relationship between home and school serves as the foundation for
shared learning and responsibility and also acts as an incentive and
motivating agent for the continued participation of families and
staff. Participants in initiatives are more willing to learn from others
whom they respect and trust.
DEVELOPMENTAL
The initiatives focus on building the intellectual, social, and human
capital of stakeholders engaged in the program. Providing support
to communities is important, but initiatives that build capacity
set out to provide opportunities for participants (both families
and school staff) to think differently about themselves and
their roles as stakeholders in their schools and communities. In
addition to providing services to stakeholders, the developmental
component of these initiatives focuses on empowering and
enabling participants to be confident, active, knowledgeable, and
informed stakeholders in the transformation of their schools
and neighborhoods.
COLLECTIVE/COLLABORATIVE
Learning is conducted in group rather than individual settings
and is focused on building learning communities and networks.
Initiatives that bring families and staff together for shared learning
create collective learning environments that foster peer learning
and communications networks among families and staff. The
collective, collaborative nature of these initiatives builds social
networks, connections, and, ultimately, the social capital of families
and staff in the program.
INTERACTIVE
Participants are given opportunities to test out and apply new
skills. Skill mastery requires coaching and practice. Existing family
engagement strategies often involve providing lists of items
and activities for teachers to use to reach out to families and for
families to do with their children. This information dissemination
strategy is an important but insufficient condition of learning and
knowledge acquisition. During learning sessions, staff and families
can receive information on skills and tools, but must also have
the opportunity to practice what they have learned and receive
feedback and coaching from each other, peers, and facilitators.
Organizational Conditions
As organizations, LEAs and schools struggle to create family–school partnership opportunities that are coherent and aligned with
educational improvement goals, sustained over time, and spread across the district. Research on the conditions necessary for educational
entities to successfully implement and sustain family engagement identifies the following organizational conditions that support fidelity
and sustainability. Initiatives must be:
SYSTEMIC
Initiatives are purposefully designed as core components of
educational goals such as school readiness, student achievement,
and school turnaround. Family–school partnerships are seen
as essential supports to school and district improvement and
are elevated to a high priority across state, district, and school
improvement plans.
INTEGRATED
Capacity-building efforts are embedded into structures and
processes such as training and professional development, teaching
and learning, curriculum, and community collaboration. A district
or school’s efforts to build the capacity of families and staff to
form effective partnerships are integrated into all aspects of its
improvement strategy, such as the recruitment and training of
effective teachers and school leaders, professional development,
and mechanisms of evaluation and assessment.
SUSTAINED
Programs operate with adequate resources and infrastructure
support. Multiple funding streams are resourced to fund initiatives,
and senior-level district leadership is empowered to coordinate
family–school partnership strategies and initiatives as a component
of the overall improvement strategy. School leaders are committed
to and have a systemic vision of family engagement and family–
school partnerships.