The Power of School and Family Partnership in Alaska – This is a guide for school staff to integrate family partnership practices. This offers core building blocks, school-wide family partnership planning tools, and additional ideas on how to support family partnerships at a distance.
Stronger Together Framework
Source: Association of Alaska School Boards
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Building Block 1: Mindset
Successful family engagement starts with a mindset that families are equal and essential partners in their children’s education. Part of this mindset is a view of family engagement as a continuum, with true partnership as the ultimate goal.
Building Block 2: Relationships
Building trusting relationships can help families and school staff to authentically work together. These connections help each partner value the other and develop a shared understanding of how to work as a team. Relationships are critical for addressing mistrust some families experience toward the educational system and serve as a foundation for solving problems and resolving conflict.
Building Block 3: Cultural Responsiveness
When school staff value family and community ways of knowing, families can bring their full selves into the school and can use their knowledge and strengths to support their students and schools. Respect for family and community cultures, languages, histories, and values is foundational to any successful partnership.
Building Block 4: Links to Learning
Successful family partnerships are a lever for student achievement and school improvement. When teachers, school staff, and families have shared expectations for students, they can work together to support student learning, goal-setting, and a sense of shared mission.
Building Block 5: Skills and Confidence
Families and staff often want to work together more effectively but don’t know how. Successful partnerships build the skills, confidence, and capacity of both partners. Through training and specific opportunities, staff and families can build the skills and confidence they need.
Building Block 6: Co-Regulation
Emotional self-regulation, or managing our emotions and behaviors, is a critical factor in success at school and beyond. Co-regulation is when one person helps another manage their emotions through warm and responsive interactions. Helping caregivers learn and practice co-regulation can help build healthier communities for our students and families.
Tool to Help Assess & Build Relationships with Families
Building relationships intentionally and consistently is an important step in building trust between families and school staff. Educators can assess their current knowledge of their students’ families by using the following worksheet as a guide. The additional questions provide a starting point for educators to talk with families and fill in any gaps in knowledge or understanding, and can help foster more trusting relationships.
