What is Family Engagement?

Family engagement. Parent involvement. Student achievement. As an educator, you hear these words on a daily basis, but perhaps you're struggling to find real solutions for improvement. You may have discovered that few student achievement programs offer a real, measurable family engagement process that brings results—until now. Family Friendly Schools is a family engagement process that provides a proven, clear path to success. And because Family Friendly Schools was developed by educators, we understand the challenges you face every day so that no child is left behind.

Dr. Steve Constantino is the nation's leading practitioner in family engagement. He elevated one of the lowest performing schools in Virginia to Time Magazine's High School of the Year. Now his practical, measurable approach to family engagement and parent involvement is being made available to education leaders across the country through Family Friendly Schools and the Engage! All Families Institute. Isn't it time for all children to start learning?


Parent Involvement vs. Family Engagement

Much has been written over the years regarding parent involvement. For many years, the terms parent involvement and family engagement have been interchanged. Both of these terms are meant to describe the relationships that are necessary between families and their children and families and schools in support of the educational and academic lives of children, as opposed to other definitions of involvement that connote volunteerism or a family role in the operation or governance of a school. In the past five years, the term family engagement has emerged in the research to expand the categories of adults responsible for the lives of children and to understand that engaging families means to provide specific educational information so that they may support and become a real partner in their children's learning.

Family Friendly Schools believes that the definition and focus of efforts regarding family engagement are clear: to engage all families in the educational and academic lives of their children to support strong learning outcomes for all students