Family Engagement is a shared effort of families, schools, and community leaders to advance programs, practices, and policies that empower every parent/legal guardian to make their child’s potential a reality.
Ways we can assess family engagement include:
- The awareness and quality of efforts by school districts to seek input from all parent groups in decision-making
- The awareness and quality of family engagement programs, policies, and family resources created to better connect families with schools
- The percentage of schools demonstrating inclusive outreach to all families, in home languages, and easy two-way communication between home and school (Goal is to move closer to meeting the U.S. Department of Justice’s view of translation/interpreting for parents, read more)
- The awareness and quality of parent education activities to support student learning and success in school and beyond
- The percentage of parents who know how well their children are doing in class and how their school plans to improve student outcomes
- How safe and connected (relational trust) parents feel with school –particularly during this pandemic
- …HAVE YOU SURVEYED YOUR FAMILIES LATELY? Are you setting up opportunities to listen & engage?
Seeking Transformative Family Engagement
The Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships
- Dual Capacity – Educators’ and Families’ path to true family engagement only works when both understand and agree upon the goals and capacity outcomes
Engage for Your Child’s Success! …What is Success for Your Child(ren)?
- Challenge Success Program
- Tips to Help Your Child Thrive English | Spanish | Chinese
- A Different Kind of College Prep
- Playtime, Downtime, Family Time for Healthy Development
Additional Resources
- National PTA Family Engagement Center
- California State PTA Family Engagement Guide
- Staying Relevant During this Pandemic 4th District PTA Flyer
- NEW! IUSD Virtual Parent Center
- IUSD Family Engagement
- NEW! IUSD Continuous Improvement Efforts 2020-21
- California School Dashboard
- IUSD Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP)
- PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships (Assessment Guide)
- California State PTA’s School Smarts Parent Engagement Program
- California Department of Education Parent Portal
- WestEd Family Engagement Framework
- EdSource’s The Power of Parents
Gain Confidence Learning More
- Ed100.org – Things you never knew about public education in CA
- Gifted Education – Parent Resources
- Special Ed Handbook – Coming Soon!
- Educator Family Engagement Toolkit – A must-do for educators who have no Family Engagement Training
- Learn from your Families: Making PTA Surveys – Top 10 Rules
Male Engagement
- Read More
- Ready-to-Use: Father-Specific Engagement Survey
Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI)
- Social Justice Standards – What they look like broken down by grade
- Equity Walk Data Tool – Your school’s demographic info may surprise you! Are you supporting all of your families?
- English Learner Family Engagement During Coronvirus from Immigrant Connections
- Engaging Immigrants & English Learner Families in a Virtual World: 10 Lessons Learned
- Promoting Equity- The Influence of Unconscious Bias – OC Human Relations
- Learning Lab Equity Conversations Webinar Series
Middle School – Family Engagement Is Critical
- Middle School Transition Research Brief
- MS Transition Infographic: English | Simplified Chinese | Spanish | Arabic
What’s Happening this Year?
- National Parental Involvement Day is held on November 18, 2021
- Strides Towards Social Justice at IUSD Webinar
Implementation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Practices Throughout IUSD
Wednesday, April 7th, 2021 7-8PM
>Recording - The SPOTLIGHT Monthly Newsletter – Each month look for tips on engaging your families and reading about success stories and happenings at a featured school. View Archives and/or Subscribe here.
- Our Current Book List
>Beyond the Bake Sale – Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, and Davies
>How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
>Middle School Matters by Phyllis L. Fagell
IUSD Parent Education Program for October
| Title | Date/ Time | Registration Link |
| Supporting Student Success at Home (Elementary)We will be discussing tips and strategies to support student learning at home for TK- 6th grade. | Oct. 8th at 9am | Register here |
| Meet and Greet with Ms. Kim (in Korean)편하게 놀러오세요! | Oct. 11th at 1pm | Register here |
| Latino Children’s Meeting with Ms. Anaya (in Spanish)“Celebrando el Mes de la Herencia Hispana” (Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month) | Oct. 14th at 3:30pm | Register here |
| 的小学资优教育 GATE & APAAS: IUSD (in Mandarin) | Oct. 18th at 1pm | Register here |
| African American/ Black Parent Community Meeting We will be discussing various opportunities for parents to provide input to IUSD around materials and funding (LCAP, LCFF, School Site Council, etc). | Oct. 19th at 4pm | Contact Shalonda Abubakar for link |
| Latino Parent Meeting with Ms. Anaya (in Spanish)“Cómo Navegar por el Sistema Educativo de EE. UU.” (How to Navigate the US School System) | Oct. 21st at 3:30pm | Register here |
| Attendance Awareness VideoResearch shows families are essential partners in promoting positive attendance at school. Join Michelle Walsh, the new Coordinator of District Attendance Recovery and Engagement, as she shares the research and data on the importance of having students in class each day. | Releasing Oct. 22nd at 4pm | View video here on Oct. 22nd! |
| Welcome to IUSD (Meet and Greet) (in Japanese)IUSDへようこそ（日本語コミュニティ第一回交流会） | Oct. 25th at 1:30pm | Register here |
| Tea with Ms. Farjadi-Parent Engagement (in Farsi) چای با خانم فرجادی-مشارکت والدین | Oct. 29th at 10am | Register here |
| Early Childhood (ages 0-5) Resources | ongoing | Monthly Newsletter School Readiness WebsiteResource Folder |
Important Events This Month
National Bullying Prevention Month (all month long)
National Italian American Heritage Month
Filipino American History Month
No School- Staff Development Day- October 11th
Community Survey – please provide input about how we can better support you and your students.
If you have any questions please contact Erin Timberman, Coordinator or Parent and Family Engagement, at erintimberman@iusd.org or 949-936-8618.
You can also join our Bloomz App group to get reminders about upcoming events.