Families In Schools offers customized technical assistance packages to schools, groups of schools, and community organizations. Teachers, administrators and staff receive training and coaching on how to engage parents effectively. The participants also develop “plans of action” which further enhance and build upon their current parent engagement strategies. 

The Power of Teacher and Parent Partnerships

This professional development program is designed to build confidence and knowledge in a group of teachers, out of classroom staff, and administrators as they learn about parent engagement, the needs of their particular parents, and as they develop a plan of action that will enhance the work already being done to bring parents into the life of the school and the academic-life of each student at the school.  The curriculum is customized to fit the needs of a particular school and can be delivered in various timelines.  The primary result of the training can be captured in the words of a teacher who attended one of the two-day programs, “I know that I need parents, but until now, I did not feel confident that what I was doing would work.  Now I am confident that when I spend time reaching out to parents, I will see results.”

A Welcoming Environment

The purpose of the program is to ensure schools receive adequate support and guidance that will enable them to create a welcoming environment conducive to ensuring quality customer service and fulfilling their school’s mission to serve the public good.  This professional development is delivered to a team of school staff and parents leaders from the school.  It is designed to help shift perspectives to a more inclusive view of the school community, learn a framework that makes assessing the environment at the school manageable, and begin the process of planning for needed changes. A Welcoming Environment addresses the needs of not only the parents but also the students, the community, and the school staff.   Everyone needs to feel welcome in a school and this professional development begins the process of making that happen at your school. 

Technical Assistance and Coaching

Our expertise in parent engagement and in using engagement as a tool for school reform allows Families In Schools to bring a unique set of knowledge and skills to any organization.  Projects vary from developing and implementing a series of learning opportunities for school staff, to working as a member of a school ‘parent engagement action team’ developing and implementing a plan for enhancing the parent center in the school, to bringing a group of community organizations together as they develop their policy goals and strategies for the coming years around the topic of education reform. To learn more about these special projects please click: Capacity Building.