What Educators Can Do To Engage Families In School-Based Education

This qualitative study, utilizing phenomenology, focuses on the role of educators in creating a strong home-school connection. The increasing number of students living in poverty requires educators to implement effective strategies for engaging parents and guardians in their students’ schooling. Three significant themes emerged from the study as a result of data analysis. These identified themes are Educators and parents see the importance of building positive relationships, increased connections are wanted by all and technology has helped to increase modes of communication, and events that highlight student achievement increase parent involvement. The data allowed for several conclusions to be drawn regarding family engagement, including the following: the need for educators to increase the amount of communication to parents regarding their specific student(s), the need for school staff to increase the number of opportunities for families to come into the school to participate, and the need for educators to better equip parents with content specific information to allow them to better assist their children at home