This document discusses the importance of family partnerships in early childhood education. It notes that building strong relationships with families requires overcoming obstacles through various approaches, including effective communication, viewing parents as partners rather than just parents, and collaborating with families. The document emphasizes that family engagement is an ongoing process, not just an event, and recommends allocating time, energy, and resources to strengthen relationships with families in order to support student achievement and development.

1. Working With Parents –
Key to Achievement
Bev Schumacher
ECE Consultant
The Source for Learning, Inc.
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives

2. Today’s objectives
Consider
Obstacles that
challenge Family
Partnerships
Importance of Family
Partnerships
Discover Embrace
Variety of
Approaches to
building stronger
Family Relationship

3. The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Name obstacles or hurdles that challenge
Family Partnerships?
Discover

4. Who are we?

5. Professional
V/s
Unprofessional

6. The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
What demonstrates your program’s professional status?

7. • Delivering what you promise…….
• Staff doing professional work
• Environment
• Correspondence
• Organizational skills
• Trainings/degrees/qualifications
/experience
What demonstrates your programs
professional status

8. The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
What is the Importance of Family Partnerships?
Consider

9. What is family engagement?

10. Engaging families is not
an event it is a process.

11. The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Variety of approaches to building stronger Family
Relationships
Embrace

12. Achievement
Communication
Partnership
Collaboration
Third Base First Base
Second Base
Home Base

13. Communication
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Communication

14. What does effective
communication
look like?

15. Family
Communication
Menu Inventory

16. Partnership
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Partnership

17. P A R E N T S
P A R T N E R S
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Parents or Partners--what is the difference?

18. PARENTS
PARTNERS

19. You
“R”
How “R” (are) you building
Relationships that are partnerships?

20. Collaboration
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Collaboration

21. How you would like to be involved in your
child’s education? - Research Project
Families reported
being involved
What practices are effective in engaging parents in supporting learning at home?
Research project coordinated by:
Bev Schumacher; Data Analysis completed by:

22. What practices are effective in engaging parents in supporting learning at home?
Research project coordinated by:
Bev Schumacher; Data Analysis completed by:
When asked: “How else would you like to be
involved in your child’s education?”
Over 1/3of those responding said,
any way possible/whatever the
teacher recommends.

23. Summary Findings
When resources were
provided families:
Were more likely to do the activity
Spent more time engaged
Did the activities more often
Involved more members of the family

24. How does your organization collaborate with families?

25. How do you define achievement?
How do parents define achievement?
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Achievement

26. How does your
program measure
achievement?

27. …parents give far more importance to the emotional well-being of their children
over their academic achievement. This emphasis on happiness over academics
is not surprising. More than three out of four parents say their child is getting a
good education and two-thirds believe their child is above average
academically. Indeed, for the second year in a row, nine in 10 parents believe
their child is at or above grade level in reading and math. All in all, that is a
sobering misperception considering that the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) shows fewer than two in five students nationally
are keeping up with 4th and 8th grade-level goals.
SURVEY REPORT AUGUST 2017; Commissioned by Learning Heroes; Parents 2017: Unleashing
Their Power & Potential
What do parents really want?

28. SURVEY REPORT AUGUST 2017; Commissioned by Learning
Heroes; Parents 2017: Unleashing Their Power & Potential

29. SURVEY REPORT AUGUST 2017
Parents 2017: Unleashing Their
Power & Potential

30. What do we need from parents?
• P Play
• A Adjusted
• R Read
• E Healthy Social/Emotional Skills
• N Nurture
• T Talk
• S Sing

31. 1
Time
2
Energy
3
Resources
Investing in Stronger Relationships with Families
We allocate these in the way that we value them.
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives

32. The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives
Revisiting our earlier slide: Name obstacles or
hurdles that challenge Family Partnerships?
Discover

33. How do we take
back information
from this session
to impact our
work with
families?
Action Steps:
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives

34. Address a postcard to yourself-
On the opposite side write
goal(s) and measure(s) to
reach outcome(s) that would
benefit relationships with
families.
The Source for Learning, Inc. | ECE Initiatives

35. Questions?
Need to connect with us regarding these
Early Childhood Education Initiatives?
Email: ece-pd@sflinc.org
www.sourceforlearning.org/ecei
www.sourceforlearning.org/vaecap
www.preschoolfirst.com
Phone: 866-584-2900