Research supports what we know to be true: we make better decisions when the people affected by those decisions are involved in the process. But how do you make space for the voices and concerns of very busy families?
At Kaxdigoowu Héen Elementary School in Juneau, Full-Service Community Schools Coordinator Deborah Cordero has been working hard to provide a variety of opportunities for families to be involved in the decisions that impact their kids and their community.
Building Relationships: It all starts with relationship building. This Title I school provides ample opportunities for families to connect with the school community. They found that it was easier for families to attend events during the day rather than in the evening and have made that a regular practice by inviting families to join classroom events and assemblies on Fridays.
Collaborative Leadership: The school has developed consistent collaborative leadership structures, which include weekly team meetings and monthly site council meetings with families.
Two-way Communication: The person that families tend to trust most at the school is their child’s teacher. Principal Koski provides teachers with weekly tips, coaching, and reminders on fostering two-way communication using their Class Dojo app, and reminds teachers about the school’s expectation of making two or three positive contacts home each week – especially to the families of their toughest kiddos. The school also provides postcards to make it easy for teachers to celebrate kids in a variety of ways.
Identifying Opportunities & Amplifying Voices: Deborah doesn’t speak for families so much as she identifies and connects families with opportunities and amplifies their voices. That might be sharing when an important budget comment deadline or school consolidation meeting is happening. And because not everyone will be able to attend a meeting or write a letter, she surveys the school community to understand their priorities. Last year, school breakfast turned out to be one of families’ biggest budget priorities. Kaxdigoowu Héen’s Site Council shared their priorities via a thoughtfully written letter from the school to district leadership and school board members.
Building Capacity: Rather than having one person in charge of family engagement, Deborah has sought to build capacity throughout her school by connecting teachers with family engagement training opportunities (and helped ensure staff got paid for the extra time).
Building Agency & Community: A seemingly simple question, like asking which kindergarten intake form families preferred and voting on it via a marble jar, has helped families build a sense of agency (and helped the school pick the best form). Another example Deborah tried was using a Google Doc to collect feedback on a proposed attendance strategy. Creating and responding to the doc took less time than organizing a meeting and, because commenters could see each other’s ideas, did more to build a sense of community than an anonymous survey might have.
For more examples from Kaxdigoowu Héen Elementary School, check out this Canvas Presentation or the 26-minute recording from the January 15th Family Engagement Coffee Chat. The next Coffee Chat is February 19th at noon and will focus on how to build staff capacity for family engagement.