Creating Family Friendly Schools: Strategies that Support Family Involvement in Diverse Communities
Welcoming families into their children’s schools is everyone’s responsibility. Understanding diverse cultures and ways to support family involvement are central to this workshop designed for teachers, administrators, and school personnel. Both new and seasoned professionals will acquire information, resources, and strategies that can be used to support family involvement initiatives within their schools and district. Participants will learn the characteristics of family-friendly schools and explore challenges related to implementing these practices within diverse communities. This workshop focuses on practical strategies for enhancing communication between schools and families, developing a welcoming school climate, and building working relationships with community partners.

Outreach to Families from Diverse Communities
The values, cultures, and languages of families from diverse backgrounds should shape the outreach strategies community organizations use. This workshop is designed to support faith-based, community-based, and other organizations in their efforts to support family involvement in education in their communities. The elements of culture, cross-cultural communication, working with speakers of English as a second language, and the needs of immigrant families as they effect family participation in education are all discussed. Workshop participants receive assessment tools and strategies designed to help them develop effective outreach plans for their communities. This workshop also presents concrete strategies for reaching and informing parents with limited-English proficiency about their role in the educational process.

Parental Involvement: A Catalyst for Change
Studies have shown that the greatest improvement in student performance and school achievement occurs when parents are actively involved in the schools. But how do schools engage parents in their children’s education? What motivates parents to become involved? What can parents really do? This workshop is designed for school personnel to explore what research has shown to be the impact of family engagement of student attitudes, skills and behaviors. Participants discuss their own experiences…both successes and challenges…in partnering with families to support their children’s education and success in school.

Supporting English Language Learners: Increasing Family Involvement
How can teachers and families of English Language Learners work together to support children’s education? What does it mean to be culturally sensitive and aware? How can teachers engage non-English speaking families? What are some of the barriers and misconceptions of what families really want and need to support their children’s education? This workshop addresses these questions and many others. It provides concrete tips for how families can provide a rich learning environment outside of school and ways they can forge powerful, productive partnerships with teachers to support their children’s academic success.