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Family and Community Engagement To Improve Student Learning
Provide a summary of the data collected to
know if the plan made an impact.
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Component I: A detailed description of the family/community need that was chosen to
positively impact student learning.
In our first faculty meeting this school year, we discussed how mental health is impacting
our students and how we can help address this problem. Our school counselors reported
significant increases our high school students in having persistent feelings of sadness or
hopelessness, having seriously considered attempting suicide, and having attempted suicide.
Before the pandemic, youth mental health was already a concern in our school but has
worsened during the pandemic as it was affected by the school closure, social isolation, family
economic hardship, and fear of family loss or illness. In the last two years, there were 3
reported student deaths due to suicide. In my own classroom, I am currently dealing with a
student who is experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties due to changes in
family dynamics. The student is demonstrating persistent feelings of hopelessness, frustration,
loss of interest in most activities, suicidal thoughts, and aggressive behaviors that are
significantly affecting his performance at school and at home. I have consulted with our
district’s behavioral specialist, school administrators, counselors, and our social worker to help
address this problem. The team is currently working with the student’s family to address mental
health implications primarily caused by changes at the student’s home environment to reduce
further distress or secondary crises.
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Component II: A detailed description of how I chose the small working group of staff,
family, student and/or community, including how the group equally represents the
diverse school community.
For the last 19 years, DF, a 20 year old student with Autism, has been used to his daily
routine which includes going to school in the morning and going home to mom and dad. Mom
takes him shopping and dad takes him fishing on the weekends. They watched movies and ate
pizza every Friday night. That all changed a little over a year ago when his parents separated.
At first, his parents hid it from DF by still living in the same house but staying in separate areas
in the house, mom living in the basement and dad staying in the bedroom upstairs. When the
school year ended in June last year, the divorce was finalized. Dad took in a new friend and
mom got kicked out of the house. DF shuffled between two homes for about a half a year until
mom remarried and moved to a different state.
DF thrives on predictability and structure. Any changes, big or small, trigger behaviors.
The once jolly and happy kid is a totally different person. He has been showing persistent
feelings of hopelessness, frustration, loss of interest in most activities, suicidal thoughts, and
aggressive behaviors towards himself and others that have been significantly affecting his
performance at school and at home. He constantly blames himself for breaking his family. His
teachers called home and requested for a parent conference to discuss their concerns. During
their first meeting, emotions were heightened and issues were not addressed or resolved.
As DF’s case manager, I reached out to the district’s secondary Special Education
instructional specialist to help me with the situation. She came in to observe DF for a week
during structured and unstructured times. We also reviewed his BIP, behavior notes, and reports
from teachers. One of her recommendations is to work with the family.
To better understand and help DF, I decided to create a team not just to help DF but
also his teachers and his parents, behavior specialist, occupational therapist, social worker,
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counselor, his teachers, and paraeducator. J.F. receives behavior consultation services on a
monthly basis. Dr. D. is a behavioral specialist consultant for the school district. He sees
students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. Dr. D. has been working closely with
D.F. and his parents since D.F. was in middle school. D.F. demonstrates extreme sensory
overload and Mrs. F., an occupational therapist, provides sensory diet for D.F. To better
understand the changes in the family dynamics and its effects on D.F.., I sought help from our
school’s social worker and D.F.’s counselor. Also, helping D.F. on a daily basis at school is his
1:1 paraeducator. She has been working with D.F. for less than a year and has been struggling
getting D.F. to perform his daily tasks. Since the beginning of the school year, J.F. has refused
to do any of his school work and also stopped going to his on-the-job training.
As we have just seen, the crisis caused by a divorce might be a dangerous period for
students by compromising their desire to learn, their concentration, their energy to face the new
and in particular their whole attitude towards school. Throughout D.F. 's development, schools
hold a unique position, along with his family and his community as a whole. He spent a large
part of his life in the school system, and the school is the place where he learns, the most
important task in his phase of his life. Any interruption in this learning process, however
temporary, has become a serious problem for D.F.
A diverse school community includes all those stakeholders who partner to facilitate
students' education. Partnerships between the school, family, and community lead to a
reciprocal process of shared responsibilities whereby the school, the family, and the community
engage in culturally appropriate ways of supporting the learning and development of a student.
The school makes an effort to listen to the parents and bring in specialists who work to enhance
the student's education. “To promote student growth and school success at every grade and
age, well thought out parent-community school partnerships, linked to school improvement
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goals, are needed in every community” (Van Roekel, 2008). Partnerships make it easy to
identify a student's needs, including those features that need support.
The case of D.F involves a special needs student with autism whose parents go through
a divorce. He starts thriving on predictability and structure, and his behaviors keep changing
with small triggers. He loses interest in most activities, feels frustrated and hopeless, and
blames himself for the divorce. I decided to engage a diverse school community to help solve
the issues facing D.F. This includes the district’s secondary Special Education instructional
specialist, behavior specialist, occupational therapist, social worker, counselor, paraeducator,
the student, and the parents and their extended families. This team is meant to help not only the
student but also the parents. After observing D.F for a week, the Special Education Instructional
Specialist advises that the parents must be involved. The parents work with the behavior
specialist to help D.F control his emotions. The occupational therapist helps regulate the
student's sensory dynamics through an effective diet. The social worker and the counselor help
in counseling the family.
This diverse school community is partnering to enhance the education of D.F. Teachers
alone cannot manage to help the student overcome the challenges in his life and participate
actively in class. “Meaningful parent engagement through two-way conversations supports
shared decision-making and developing a shared vision for positive change” (Cook et al., 2017).
The partnerships and diversity in handling the needs of the student enhance efficiency and
effectiveness in solving his educational problems.
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References
Cook, A. L., Shah, A., Brodsky, L., & Morizio, L. J. (2017). Strengthening
school-family-community engagement through community dialogues. Journal for Social
Action in Counseling & Psychology, 9(1), 9-37.
Van Roekel, D. (2008). Parent, family, community involvement in education. Policy Brief.
Washington, DC: National Education Association.
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Component III: A detailed description of how I collaborated with the working group to
identify the need.
The team scheduled monthly meetings to include Dr. D. who travels from out of town.
Usually during Dr. D.’s visits, he would spend a day observing D.F. at school. At the end of the
school day, the team meets. The team first met in the last week of October. First, each member
was given an opportunity to talk about their own personal values and positions on the student’s
situation to better assist the student in need without having this communication colored or
distorted by individual biases. At the end of this exchange of thoughts, the team acknowledged
their responsibility and obligation to intervene to prevent the development of more unfortunate
outcomes. Prior to the meeting, I gathered information from D.F.’s teachers, his 1:1
paraeducator, and from classroom logs and reports. I presented to the team data based on the
information I gathered. Dr. D. shared his observation notes with the team. The team identified
problem areas, student needs, and came up with possible solutions. The team agreed to
schedule a meeting with parents in a week. Dr. D. shared his report and recommendations to
the team and D.F.’s parents in the next meeting. The school social worker and counselor called
parents and scheduled a home visit before the next meeting. At the start of the second
semester, our team collaborated with our school’s ISF Leadership Team that focuses on
providing a multi-tiered system of support for all our students, especially students like J.F.
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Component IV: A detailed description of the district policies and building programs that
encourage equitable and culturally responsive family engagement.
The school administration and governance are responsible for creating a conducive
atmosphere that purposefully engages parents in school activities and promotes partnerships in
a culturally responsive way. According to Jacques and Villegas (2018), the school leadership
sets the tone and the rhythm for parent engagement that promotes student success and
positively influences the school, the district, and the community. The Richland School District
promotes effective and culturally responsive family engagement through policies and building
programs that encourage a positive environment for partnership between families and the
district. This is essential because it provides a base for readiness to engage parents, teachers,
education directors, and community members and be partners in enhancing education. The
Richland School District policies encourage equitable and culturally responsive family
engagement in various ways.
The district commits to the involvement of parents in activities and decisions that
enhance the welfare of schools. The policies indicate the steps taken by the district to ensure
parents participate in the decisions that influence the quality of education offered by schools.
For instance, Title 1 of parental involvement recognizes parents' importance in participating in
school programs and the achievement of the set academic standards. As a result, the district
has created a policy that guides the engagement of parents in the development of school
programs. For example, policy B states that “The District will provide the coordination, technical
assistance, and other support necessary to assist and build the capacity of all participating
schools within the district in the planning and implementing of effective parent and family
involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance”
(4130). The district is willing to provide technical assistance and the necessary support for
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parents to develop the capacity to contribute positively towards the education of students. This
will promote equitable participation in education activities by all stakeholders.
The district has nurtured a culture where parents and the community are seen as critical
partners in the success of schools. Rules and regulations govern community partnerships,
commercial activities, and vending contracts. These include other activities such as
“sponsorship, partnerships, fundraising, institutional advertising, vending contracts, and
commercial sales to students and staff” (6023). These rules and regulations recognize the role
of businesses and other commercial organizations in supporting schools while ensuring that
students and staff members are not subjected to manipulation for commercial purposes. In
fostering commercial and non-commercial partnerships, the rules and regulations ensure that
each stakeholder understands their role and responsibility toward the district and the schools
within the district. Contracts and proposals must be reviewed to protect the integrity of
educational processes, which is culturally appropriate.
Richland School District also recognizes the role played by parent groups, PTA, and
booster clubs. These are non-profit organizations that contribute towards the positive
development of the school. To ensure equitable participation of these organizations in school
programs, the laws, rules, and regulations governing them are the same. These organizations
also include other agencies such as trade organizations, charitable organizations, civic
organizations, and social welfare groups. One of the policies guiding the participation of these
organizations in school programs is that the funds raised by these organizations cannot be
deposited into school accounts because school funds are public while the funds raised from
these organizations are private. Any activities by PTA must also involve school personnel to
enhance transparency and accountability. This promotes purposeful engagement in school
activities and programs.
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Among the policies for promoting equitable and culturally responsive family engagement
is the training and education of parents, including using technology to enhance their ability for
effective engagement. According to Rodriguez et al. (2008), school districts must “ensure that
the quality of engagement is high and focused on the anticipated outcome of success for every
student.” Therefore, training the parents is a critical way of ensuring quality participation for
quality educational outcomes.
Moreover, the school district recognizes the cultural differences among parents,
including language diversity. Schools send surveys to parents in different languages to ensure
each parent can understand and respond effectively to the survey. The parents have to give
their suggestions on how they think a school should spend engagement funds. This develops a
sense of responsibility among parents and motivates them to actively participate in the
education of students.
The building programs at Hanford High School focus on creating a strong and inclusive
community, known as the “Falcon Family,” among staff, students, and families. The school
prioritizes building relationships and providing excellent customer service, with a focus on
making sure all members of the community feel safe and welcome. One key aspect of family
engagement at Hanford is the use of “administrator crews.” Each family is served by an
administrator who is responsible for all students in that family, regardless of their grade level.
This allows for a more personalized and integrated approach to serving families. Additionally,
teachers are members of “crews” that allow them to build relationships and share ideas across
departments. This includes both department-specific meetings for PLC work and school-wide
meetings for the entire staff.
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The school also prioritizes spending time with students, both in and out of the classroom.
Administrators have designated positions to be with students before and after school, during
lunch and passing times, and at the door. This allows for opportunities to build relationships with
students and welcome them to the school community. Additionally, the school has “student
crews” that provide designated time for small groups of students to build relationships and learn
soft skills. The school also offers several programs to support students' social and emotional
well-being, including counseling services and 8th-grade parent night to help familiarize incoming
9th-grade students with the school. Furthermore, the school has a “Link Crew” program where
9th-grade students are assigned to an upperclassman peer mentor team to help them integrate
into the school and support them throughout the year.
One important aspect of Hanford High School's approach to family engagement is its
emphasis on addressing the social and emotional needs of students. This includes offering
counseling services and assigning each student a counselor to help with school integration,
graduation preparation, and other issues they may face. The school also has a “High School
and Beyond” program that helps students plan for their future, including college or career
options. These programs aim to support students in developing the skills and self-awareness
they need to be successful in school and beyond. Another important aspect of Hanford High
School's approach to family engagement is its focus on building relationships and creating a
sense of community among staff, students, and families. This includes programs such as “Four
at the Door,” where staff members are present at the entrance of the school to greet students
and build relationships, and “Student Crews,” where small groups of students are brought
together to build relationships and learn soft skills.
To encourage equitable and culturally responsive family engagement, the school has a
number of initiatives in place. For example, the school has a “student ambassadors” program
where student volunteers help integrate new students who transfer in after school has started.
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Additionally, the school's attendance policies are designed to remove barriers and provide
assistance to students who struggle to attend school. This includes real-time attendance
tracking through PowerSchool, automated calls to students' homes, attendance agreements
with administration, and attendance matters presentation with Community in Schools. Lastly, the
school has an “In Class and On Task” goal of 99% on-time attendance, with the administrative
team and security working together to encourage students to be on time for class. Once the
goal is reached, students will vote on how to celebrate the accomplishment.
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References
Hanford High School. (n.d.). About Our School – Hanford High. Hanford High School.
https://hanford.rsd.edu/school/about-our-school
Jacques, C., & Villegas, A. (2018). Strategies for equitable family engagement. State Support
Network.
Richland School District. (n.d.). Policies. Richland School District.
https://www.rsd.edu/district/school-board/policies
Rodriguez, R., Del Bosque, L., & Villareal, A. (2008). Creating Culturally Responsive Parent
Engagement – Principal Shares Strategies for Success. Intercultural Development
Research Association.
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Component V: A detailed description of the plan developed by the working group to
address the identified opportunities, including citations of research used to determine
the actions taken.
After meeting with team members and parents, the following action plan was developed based
on current concerns:
(1) Previous interventions incorporated task prompts within preferred activities (i.e.,
interspersed requests). His educational context consisted of a workstation in the calm room. His
physical size is simply too large to serve him in an isolated calm room. Therefore, we need to
develop a schedule that can be carried out in common areas (classrooms, hallways, office). Dr.
D. suggested developing a daily schedule using preferred activities his team, his parents, and
DF select. The team agreed to generate a list of activities and have a team meeting to discuss
what activities will be included on the schedule. It is essential that the activities/tasks be
acceptable to DF.
(2) Transition teacher suggests allowing DF to engage in activities he chooses to do via
appropriate communication. For example, today he requested to complete a shredding task.
(3) Unfortunately, DF’s decreased skills include a loss of compliance to simple prompts.
Nothing teachers and paraeducator prompt him to do is responded with task compliance.
Previous success has included the delivery of immediate tangible rewards contingent upon
on-task behavior. The team agreed to generate a reinforcement menu that provides small
tangibles that can be delivered immediately following compliance of verbal prompts.
(4) DF appears to be entering the building previously agitated. The agitation appears to occur
either while preparing him to get on the bus, on the bus, or transitioning from the bus to the
classroom. Nevertheless, each context needs to be evaluated. A clear pattern of behavior when
staying at either mom’s or dad’s house has not been established. The team recommends that
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data be collected on the effect of these environmental events. First, data needs to be taken
regarding behavior based on where he spends the night. We may need to do direct
comparisons. Specifically, we may need to arrange for which home he spends the night.
(5) Provide all choices in an approach/avoidance format. Specifically, preferred versus
non-preferred activities/tasks.
(6) When DF requests someone else do his work (i.e., art), the team suggests that his
paraeducator pull out work for themselves and engage in a Parallel Activity.
(7) Once a list of activities is selected for his school schedule, the team suggests that a
three-column activity schedule be put in place. Column A will provide tasks to be completed.
Column B will allow him to indicate the task is done. Column C will indicate the reinforcement he
will receive.
(8) His daily schedule should be decided upon with JF’s input. Specifically, begin the day with a
blank schedule. Let him choose the order the tasks will be completed at the beginning of the
day.
(9) The team believes DF can learn from social stories. Thus, the team agrees to generate a
social story to teach him about why he is now learning new tasks.
(10) The team will actively participate in ISF Leadership Team meetings and training sessions.
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Component VI: A completed action plan to implement the plan in your building or setting that will increase family and/or
community engagement in the school. (the action plan can be a piece of evidence also).
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Component VII: A detailed description of how the plan was implemented.
The action plan developed by the working group to address JF’s was first presented to JF’s
IEP team. Dr. D. also spent an entire day with the classroom team to make appropriate
modifications to JF’s learning environment (physical set-up, schedule, routine, activities) and
teach specific interventions to the adults who closely worked with him at school. Throughout the
school year, the teachers and staff underwent PD training to better understand behaviors of
students with Autism and how to effectively address them. Dr. D continued to observe JF
bi-monhly to monitor F’s progress and work with his parents. With Dr. D’s recommendation, JF
also started to see the school counselor once a week. Parents also agreed to work with the
school and outside counselors to help them better understand JF and provide for his needs
with their new family dynamics. Data was collected to determine the effect of environmental
events (e.g. transitioning from one parent’s house to another). The school team met at least
once a month to look into student data and progress, address concerns, and review and make
appropriate changes to strategies and interventions being implemented. The team continues to
participate in the district- and school- wide efforts in collaboration with the ISF Leadership Team.
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Component VIII. A summary of the data collected to know if the plan made an
impact.
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Component IX: An explanation of the cycle of inquiry timeline for the project and your
continued role in the plan.
The cycle of inquiry for this project started at the beginning of the school year with my
collaboration with all special education teachers at HHS to identify “at-risk” students with
disabilities who are affected by environmental and behavioral factors and achievement
measures that negatively impact their educational performance or threaten the likelihood of
promotion or graduation. Early detection means early intervention. With the support of our
school psychologist and the district’s behavior specialist consultant, we were able to look into
different assessment tools, review last year’s data, observe and examine selected students’
classroom behaviors and routines, understand environmental factors including their home
environment, and collect new data in the first quarter of the school year. Using the information
gathered, the teams were able to come up with the action plan, train teachers and staff, and
implement the plan by the second quarter. Teachers and staff continuously monitor and assess
progress and undergo PD training. Families and community members were involved. At the
beginning of 3rd quarter, the team collaborated with the school’s ISF leadership team, which I
am also working with, in order to expand our resources and outside support. I plan to continue
working with the special education and ISF team, specifically in providing training and support
for teachers and staff and having a continuous relationship with the families.
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Component X: A detailed reflection on how the implementation of the plan went and the
results of the data you collected to evaluate the plan.
Working together with all the stakeholders involved in the education of special needs
students was a good experience. The collaboration of the parents, teachers, doctors, school
psychologist, and the district’s behavior specialist consultant provided a wide platform to discuss
DF’s problem and implement solutions easily. Implementing special education cannot be done
by one person, collaboration and coordination are essential to achieve the desired outcomes.
Dotson-Blake (2016) asserts that the family, school, and community learn from each other to
meet students’ needs.
The different suggestions from different team members made it easy to solve the problem.
For instance, the parents were willing to provide all the required information to ensure doctors
and special education teachers have what they need to implement the plan. The transition
teacher suggested allowing DF to engage in activities he chooses to do via appropriate
communication. Through different suggestions, the whole team came up with a conclusion that
DF can learn from social stories. They agreed to generate a social story to teach him about why
he is now learning new tasks. This explains the efficiency and flexibility achieved in special
education when the family and the community are engaged. The integration of the family in the
student’s learning and progress made things even easier. They understand their child better and
this provides an advantage to special education teachers, consultants, and doctors.
From the implementation of the plan, one can detect the important role of the community in
fulfilling the needs of students and their families. Lo (2022) asserts that sometimes teachers
don’t even understand the cultural needs of a student, but the family and the community do.
They serve as a bridge between the student and para-educators while facilitating
communication and partnerships in addressing the issues that students face.
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References
Dotson-Blake, K. P. (2010). Learning from each other: A portrait of family-school-community
partnerships in the United States and Mexico. Professional School Counseling, 14(1),
2156759X1001400110.
Lo, L. (2022). Engaging Community Support to Empower Diverse Families of Students With
Disabilities. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/article/engaging-community-support-empower-diverse-families-
students-disabilities/
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Component XI: List of Evidence
● Behavior Frequency Chart
● Weekly Behavior Frequency Data
● Tier 1 Building Leadership Team
● Team Operating Procedures
● HHS Weekly Meeting Agenda
● Training
○ PBIS Tier Practices 1/20/2023
○ PBIS Tier 1 Practices 2/27/2023
○ PBIS Tier 1 Practices 3/13/2023
● Action Planning
● Behavior Expectations Matrix Draft
