Family Engagement Plan

Crandall ISD’s Pre Kindergarten program will implement the following family engagement plan in accordance with TAC 102.1003(f) to assist the district in achieving and maintaining high levels of family involvement and positive family attitudes toward education. Legislation requires districts to create a specific family engagement plan for prekindergarten programs. Family engagement is defined as, “The mutual responsibility of families, schools, and communities is to build relationships that support student learning and achievement, family well-being, and the continuous learning and development of children, families, and educators. Family engagement is fully integrated into the child’s educational experience, supports the whole child, and is both culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate.”

The family engagement plan includes the following six components outlined for a High-Quality prekindergarten program.

1. Facilitate family-to-family support

• Create a safe and respectful environment where families can learn from each other as individuals and in groups.  Flexible meeting times would be available throughout the year to accommodate schedules and promote involvement. Parents will have the opportunity to attend four parent trainings throughout the school year.  (Possible Topics: Developing  Cognitive Flexibility and Impulse Control at Home, Creating a Language-Rich Environment at Home, Transitioning to Kindergarten, Social Emotional )

2. Establish a network of community resources

•  Establish and maintain partnerships with businesses, faith-based organizations, and community agencies.
• Build strategic partnerships. Leverage community resources. Monitor and evaluate policies and practices to stimulate innovation and create learning pathways. Identify support from various agencies, including mental and physical health providers Partner with local community-based organizations to create a family-friendly transition plan for students arriving from early childhood settings. Providing and facilitating referrals to family support or educational groups based on family interests and needs. Communicate short- and long-term program goals to all stakeholders. Identify partners to provide translators and culturally relevant resources reflective of home language.

3. Increase family participation in decision making

• Develop and implement identified goals within the annual campus improvement plan targeting family engagement.
• Provide each family with an opportunity to review and provide input on program practices, policies, communications, and events in order to ensure the program is responsive to the needs of families.
• Use appropriate tools such as surveys or focus groups to gather family feedback on the family engagement plan.

4. Equip families with tools to enhance and extend learning

• Design or implement existing home educational resources to support learning at home while strengthening the family/school partnership. Families will be able to attend Family Engagement Nights where hands-on activities tied to curriculum instruction, literacy, and meaningful purposeful play.
• Provide complementary home learning activities for families to engage in at home with children through information presented in newsletters, online technology, social media, parent/family-teacher conferences, other school center-related events. 
• Assist families to implement best practices that will help achieve the goals and objectives identified to meet the needs of the child and family.
• Collaborate with families to appropriately respond to children’s behavior in a non-punitive, positive and supportive manner.

5. Enhance staff skills in evidence-based practices to support families in achieving      children’s learning benchmarks

• Develop staff skills to support and use culturally diverse, culturally relevant, and culturally responsive family engagement strategies to support student success
• Promote and develop family engagement as a core strategy to improve teaching and learning among all educators and staff

6.  Assess and improve family engagement efforts continuously.

• Use data to ensure alignment between family engagement activities and district/school teaching and learning goals for student success
• Teachers will play a role in the evaluation process to ensure there is alignment between family engagement activities and learning goals for student success

 

Parent and Family Opportunities

Crandall ISD encourages parents and families engagement in a variety of ways as it strives to develop and maintain an optimum learning environment for all students in pre-kindergarten:

• Parents and families may contribute through volunteer programs.
• Parents and families may contribute by creating a supportive home environment.
• Parents and families are invited to participate in parent-teacher conferences.
• Parents and families may participate in school meetings. (Ex. Title l, planning sessions)
• Parents and families may serve on campus and/or district committees. (Ex. Campus Improvement, District Committees)
• Parents and families are surveyed to get their input about school.
• Parents and families are invited to eat lunch with their children on Monday or Friday.
• Parents and families have access to the CISD Resource page.
•  Parents and families can attend various evening and weekend activities at campuses or district wide. (Ex. Science Night, Math Night, Family Fun Night, Multicultural Event)
• Parents and families can participate in parent workshops and trainings to support student achievement in Pre-Kindergarten!