Turnaround Principal #8: Effective Family & Community Engagement
Increase academically focused family and community engagement. An LEA might conduct a community-wide assessment to identify the major factors that significantly affect the academic achievement of students in the school, including an inventory of the resources in the community and the school that could be aligned, integrated, and coordinated to address these challenges. An LEA might choose to establish organized parent groups, hold public meetings involving parents and community members to review school performance and help develop school improvement plans, use surveys to gauge parent and community satisfaction and support, implement complaint procedures for families, coordinate with local social and health service providers to help meet student and family needs, provide wraparound services for students, or provide parent education classes (including GED, adult literacy, and EL programs).
Strategies must be included for the following:
- Families are engaged in academically related activities, school decision-making, and an open exchange of information regarding students’ progress in order to increase student learning for all students.
- Community groups and families of students who are struggling academically and/or socially are active partners in the educational process and work together to reduce barriers and accelerate the academic and personal growth of students. (Anderson Options)