Know

Family Engagement: What Is It?

你对家庭合作的感受是什么？你喜欢什么？看似困难的是什么？虽然您可能会感到有动力与家庭建立关系并支持家庭参与，但很常见的是，在关注您的教学实践和与学龄儿童的直接互动方面，越来越有成功。结合这些实践似乎似乎似乎似乎很简单。

Family engagement has different meanings for different people. In many cases, it relates to an ongoing partnership between you and families. School-age programs are committed to engaging and involving families in meaningful ways, and families are committed to actively supporting their child’s learning and development. The literature around family engagement highlights the following characteristics:

• Strong, trusting relationships between staff members, families, and community
• Recognition, respect, and support for families’ needs, as well as differences
• Strength-based partnership where decisions and responsibility are shared
• Activities, interactions, and support increase family involvement in their school-age child’s healthy development
• 家庭对孩子的学习负责yabo电子游艺
• Acknowledgment that family engagement is meaningful and beneficial to both families and the school-age program

重要的是要意识到家庭参与可以看起来不同，并采取多种形式。什么家庭参与手段和看起来依赖于独特的特征和个人舒适程度和对每个家庭的理解。

To help make sure that families are committed to their school-age child’s learning and engaged in the school-age program, families should be invited to participate at whatever level they feel most comfortable. Does participation mean monthly meetings or taking part in a parent advisory committee? Donating cookies for a bake sale? Going on a field trip with the program? It is important for families to feel supported and recognized for the ways in which they are able and choose to participate and engage—from bringing their school-age children to the program each day to sharing their concerns or serving on committees. See the handouts attached in this section for additional ideas and considerations to support family engagement.

The Importance of Family Engagement

家族在学龄程序可以benef订婚it children, parents, families, teachers, and program quality in various ways. Can you remember what caring adults in your family, community or school-age program did to help you grow and develop?

Families are their children’s first teachers, and this important relationship continues throughout the school-age years. Ongoing family engagement supports children’s ongoing academic and social success. When families are involved in the school-age program, they may also feel more vested in what happens there and more competent in their role as parents. Through these interactions and relationships, families may learn additional strategies from you to promote development and learning at home. Such strategies include helping with homework, engaging in conversations and problem-solving, and responding to the growing importance of friends and peers.

According to research conducted in 2002 by the National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, there is strong evidence to connect parent involvement with student achievement. In their research, authors Henderson and Mapp found specific benefits were found for children and youth from schools and programs that have opportunities for family involvement. Many of these benefits are important in a school setting, such as improved test scores or higher grade point averages. The benefits that may be observed in before-school, after-school or summer-care settings are:

• 更好的社交技巧
• Improved behavior at home and school
• 更好的出勤率
• 改善家庭关系

Family involvement not only increases child achievement, it also creates a high-quality learning environment. Programs that encourage and expect families to be involved should see benefits such as:

• Effective communication between staff members and families
• Feeling of community between the staff members, children and youth and their families
• Stronger activity plans that include families, make use of families’ unique and diverse backgrounds, and respond to families’ specific education requests

帮助家庭感到欢迎

The first step to creating a family partnership in your school-age program is to ensure that families feel welcome. Families do not need an invitation to visit the program. They should feel comfortable being in the learning environment, asking you questions about their child’s day, and knowing how to find information. As a staff member, you can create a welcoming environment by being kind, professional, understanding, and respectful toward the families of the school-age children in your care. The best way to make a family member feel welcome is to have an open-door policy, allowing family members to visit during any time of the day. Be sure to check with your trainer, coach, or supervisor for your program-specific policy on family visitation.

您可以执行以下操作来支持学龄龄计划的家庭：

• Invite families to tour the program prior to enrolling.
• Ask families about their school-age child’s interests, extracurricular activities, hobbies, and preferences.
• Encourage families to connect with other families from their child’s school or neighborhood. Ensure there is a space in the program for families to talk.
• Ask families to share their hopes, goals, and priorities for their child.
• Give families information about the different ways they can participate in the program.
• For children with special needs, provide information about how your program works with the school district, transportation, etc.
• 如果您需要联系他们的孩子，请确保您向家庭询问他们更喜欢的沟通方法。
• Display photos of families in the program.

Encouraging Families to Be Involved

有很多方法可以鼓励家庭参与学龄计划。如果父母觉得受欢迎，他们的经历，意见和感情受到重视，他们更有可能想要谋生委员会，协助项目，并参加特别活动。

Within your program, there should be a specific plan as to how to engage families throughout the year. Though families’ participation is voluntary, it is your job to make them feel welcome by actively encouraging involvement. Program activities should reflect families’ interests and motivate them to participate. Additionally, your program may have a family involvement committee. This committee is composed of family members who encourage communication and involvement with the goal of strengthening and supporting the well-being of children and families. This committee is a resource and asset to your program as families may discuss issues or concerns and suggest changes to improve family satisfaction and involvement. Collaborate with a trainer, coach, or supervisor to promote family involvement. In the table below, you will find are a variety of methods for involving families in your school-age program.

活动	Description
Parent Advisory Board (or your program’s equivalent)	邀请家庭成员加入定期举行讨论您的学龄计划的委员会。这些家庭成员可以共同努力，计划活动，员工升值日，外地旅行或儿童和青年的特殊经验。该委员会还将致力于为计划总监提供思想和目标。您的程序手册应指定所有父母可以访问董事会会议纪要的位置。
Family Movie Night	邀请家庭你计划去看电影nd share refreshments. It is a good idea to make the movies friendly for younger siblings as well. This is a great way to have the whole family participate in one event.
假日派对	Celebrate holidays throughout the year by hosting parties and events. These parties could include refreshments, crafts, games, activities and movies.
Fitness Events	Encourage healthy lifestyles by hosting fitness events at your program. There are many national days that celebrate fitness that you can tie into or create one of your own. You can host field days, mini-Olympics and other fun events.
Special Events	A special event could be just about anything! Have a dance, a birthday party for Dr. Seuss, vacation photo contests, science fairs, a potluck dinner, or any event that would bring family members into your program and allow them to spend time with their child.
Theatrical Performances	Plan a talent show, play, or musical performance for the families. School-age children will enjoy using their skills and talents, and this type of environment will take the pressure off, unlike a school performance that may be graded or scored.
Cultural Appreciation Events	Invite family members to share their diverse cultural backgrounds with the program. This could be done in a variety of ways, such as having cultural celebrations, potlucks, or presentations.
Family Show and Tell	Invite family members in to share their experiences and careers with the children and youth.
Service Projects	通过帮助有需要的人们为家庭创造家庭参与社区的机会。

Strategies to Promote Family Involvement

有时候您发现它挑战以参与您的计划中的所有家庭。由于各种原因，例如工作和社会承诺，时间限制以及文化惯例，家庭可能不会积极参与您的计划。继续邀请较少涉及的家庭到学校活动，以确保他们觉得欢迎来到他们的时候。哈佛家族研究项目提供了一些促进家庭参与的策略：

看

家庭伙伴关系看起来与计划不同。在自己和家庭之间建立伙伴关系应围绕您计划中学生儿童的具体需求。

The following videos will provide you with some insight on the importance of creating family partnerships.

First, listen as a staff member and parent discuss the importance of family partnerships.

Next, you will hear from a parent and staff members on the effectiveness of family advisory boards.

在最后一个视频中，您将听到并看到鼓励家庭参与的方法。

Do

以下是一些想法，帮助您继续聘请家庭，以增加他们参与该计划，并建立关系：

• Communicate随着家庭，花时间观察他们的肢体语言，帮助您在学龄计划中衡量他们的舒适程度。找到方法来询问他们是如何感受到该程序的感受，例如a家庭调查, and discuss any concerns they might have.
• 微笑andgreet families by name。
• Arrange the environment in a way that encourages families to spend time there. Keep the entrance area open and uncluttered with simple but attractive signs welcoming them. If possible, have a space for families' coats or belongings. Consider setting up a large board on a wall near the center of the program for parents to leave daily messages. Include some comfortable spots, such as pillows on the rug or a small sofa, so parents can read, watch a video, or relax with their children.
• Spend timeobservingfamilies as they interact with their children to learn strategies for supporting them while in your care.
• Include special materials or customs from afamily’s culture。
• 建立常规时间meet with families face-to-face并帮助家庭设计计划或创造活动，以实现他们为孩子的梦想和目标。
• Share observations以及其他基于力量的关于他们孩子的信息。
• Ask families questionsabout their children.
• Share something personal about yourself(e.g.,“我记得我从来没有想过放学后做作业。我们将为Carlos设置一个伟大的日常生活，并确保他放学后休息。总是帮助我。“).
• Offermultiple ways to communicate dailywith families (e.g., note home, phone call, newsletter).
• 邀请家庭分享what they see and hear their children doing at home or in the community.

为了探讨从事课程中的儿童父亲的重要性，请按照国家父亲（NCF）中心的这一联系：http://www.fathers.com/。