Ms. Amy is a first-year special education teacher at ABC elementary school. She is passionate and fresh to face the challenges of her new job. However, quickly, Ms. Amy got worried once she learned that her 15 students' caseload included students with various disabilities and from diverse family backgrounds. For example, her caseload included a six-year-old Chinese student with autism spectrum disorder, a fifth-grade African American student with Down syndrome and ADHD, and a Korean American student with developmental and physical disabilities. Additionally, her load included three Hispanic students with significant developmental disabilities that affect their social and communication skills besides academics and four American, white, lower-socio-economic class students with various levels of learning disabilities, to name a few. At the beginning of this new journey, Ms. Amy felt her teacher preparation program did not fully prepare her. In addition, she was anxious to meet her students' families from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds. Alone in her classroom, Ms. Amy wondered how she could meaningfully engage families in their child's education and where she could find resources and learn how to collaborate with all families.
Family Engagement
Recent research points out that family engagement has positive impacts on children's educational outcomes and well-being, including improvements in the use of literacy skills, student involvement and engagement, social-emotional skills, attendance and behavior, increased graduation rates and employment (Francis et al., 2013; Reschly et al., 2014; Ross, 2016; Sheridan et al., 2019; Smith et al., 2021). Researchers also documented the value of enhanced family well-being associated with meaningful family-professional collaboration (Kyzar et al., 2016), such as in reducing maternal stress (Burke & Hodapp, 2014) or in improving parental advocacy (Burke & Hodapp, 2016; Burke et al., 2016). Furthermore, research has substantiated that collaboration benefited school communities (Tschannen-Moran, 2014) by generating positive cultural outcomes (Francis et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2008) and implementing better instructional techniques and efficacy (Haines et al., 2013).
The term “Family Engagement” has been referred to by various names such as parent engagement, parent/family involvement, family-professional partnership/collaboration, or family-school-community partnership/collaboration. Definitions given to family engagement also vary in the literature on education. Family engagement is a practice and an interactive process involving professionals, families, and children in developing and maintaining a positive goal-oriented relationship (National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement [NCPFCE], 2011). Appropriately, “families and professionals confidently build on each other's words, judgment, and wise actions to increase educational benefits for students and themselves.” (Turnbull et al., 2022, p. 9). Ishimaru (2019) further defined family engagement as “efforts to reach out and better integrate nondominant parents and families into existing systems” (p. 352).
Family engagement varies with diversity. The United States student population is growing in its cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2022a) identified 85% of students receiving special education services during the 2020-21 academic year under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities. The 85% comprise 19% American Indian/Alaska Native, 17% Black, 15% Two or More Races, 14% Hispanic, 12% Pacific Islander, and 8% Asian (NCES, 2022a). Furthermore, approximately 11.3 million (16%) children under 18 were living in poverty (NCES, 2022b). Correspondingly, the percentages of White public-school-aged students continue to decrease (NCES, 2022c). On the contrary, a majority (76%) of public-school educators were White and non-Hispanic females (NCES, 2022d). As a result, many of these educators’ experience increasing challenges when interacting and collaborating with families from diverse backgrounds (Irwin et al., 2021).