During this webinar, Roberto Rodríguez of Teach Plus moderated a conversation with Maria Paredes and Meaghan Wells as they described innovative new approaches to increasing family engagement in children’s learning.

Paredes of WestEd shared how her experiences in the classroom and as director of family and community engagement in her previous school district informed the development of Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT). This family engagement framework supports communication, data sharing, extended learning and stronger relationships between educators and families. APTT replaces the standard two parent-teacher conferences held each school year with three 75-minute team meetings with all classroom families invited — one in early fall, one in the winter and one in the spring —and one 30-minute individual session. During the team meetings, teachers share information about foundational grade-level skills and data on student achievement and model practice activities that families can do with their children. The teachers also help families set goals for their child, based on their current academic progress and grade-level standards. This approach creates a pathway for teachers to share actionable grade-level information, tools and strategies that families can apply at home and in the community to accelerate their child’s learning. A team of APTT coaches and trainers — all of whom have been teachers, principals and/or instructional coaches — is helping schools, districts and state departments of education implement this research-based framework that is currently underway in more than 1,800 schools in 26 states.

Wells described how PowerMyLearning works to strengthen the “triangle” of learning relationships between students, teachers and families with a focus on student learning. Drawing on its technological expertise, PowerMyLearning developed Family Playlists® as a tool to help operationalize that triangle, helping students increase their mastery and improve social-emotional learning skills. Family Playlists are based in research showing that weekly interactive homework assignments lead to enhanced family engagement in schools, improved family attitudes about schools and increased student achievement. The mobile-friendly, multilingual homework assignments are designed to overcome challenges posed by language, technology and resources barriers. Family Playlists reach families where they are, through mobile phones without requiring any app downloads or special passwords. Recognizing that families can feel intimidated by the course content, especially as children progress in age, Family Playlists position the students as the teachers, explaining the concepts and assignment to their family members. Family Playlists resources are available in 12 different languages and, by integrating Google Translate into the platform, the assignments and parent feedback can be automatically translated into more than 100 different languages. This innovative tool also provides schools with the ability to measure and understand family engagement, beyond tracking attendance at school events.