What is Culturally Responsive Family Engagement?
Culturally responsive family engagement redirects attention from what families lack to what families inherently bring to their child’s education. This means appreciating the diverse identities, lived experiences, and strengths of your students’ families, particularly those with marginalized or non-dominantidentities. A non-dominant social group is one that historically had and/or currently has less power, resources, or influence compared to others.
Culturally Responsive Family Engagement Begins with Your Mindset
view families as assets and focus on the contributions they make to their child’s education
honor families as the experts on their child and commit to learning from them
embrace diverse family structures
reflect on your beliefs about families and how implicit bias may influence your beliefs
check your blindspots and interrupt deficit thinking about families
Did You Know?
Blindspots can shape the assumptions and judgments we make about people and situations without realizing it. They can even influence how we perceive our students’ families, particularly across lines of difference. Checking your blindspots means thinking about the connection between your beliefs about families in your school community and how your beliefs impact your actions.
Pause & Reflect
What core beliefs do I hold about my students’ families?
How might these beliefs limit or empower me to build trusting relationships with them?
Ask the Right Questions
Sometimes, educators spend a lot of time and effort planning events for families at school but find themselves disappointed when attendance numbers at the events are low. This can lead to negative beliefs or mindsets about some families’ investment in their children’s education.
Well, I tried and families didn’t show up. What else can I do?
I planned a great event and families didn’t come. I guess they don’t care.
But a culturally responsive way of thinking is to take a stance of curiosity about why families didn’t attend the event. Culturally responsive practitioners ask themselves and their teams hard questions:
Is the topic of the event relevant for families?
Do they find it important?
Is it centered on their needs and priorities?
What’s going on in families’ lives that may have prevented them from attending?
Does the event need to happen at school at this time or is there a better way?
How can we reimagine our approach to family engagement so it’s responsive to families’ preferences and priorities?
Pause & Reflect
What are some questions you and your team can ask yourselves about your family engagement practice?
Strategies for Culturally Responsive Family Engagement
Approach partnerships with families with the belief that all families want what’s best for their child and allow this to be your starting point in building partnerships.
Get to know your students’ families. Invest time to build relationships with them. Make it clear that you want their partnership.
Make listening to families core to your family engagement practice. Learn about their identities, experiences, and perspectives—act from a place of curiosity and humility
Translate written materials into all of the languages spoken in your school community, and provide interpretation support when needed for conversations with families. Ensure that families have access to information in the language in which they are most comfortable communicating.
Practice perspective-taking and empathy. Think about how families experience their relationship with you and your school community. Strive to see things from their perspective.
Think about the narratives that exist about families, particularly those with marginalized or non-dominant identities, and challenge deficit thinking or biased mindsets about families.
Audit Instructional Materials
Review your instructional materials with a lens for inclusion. Consider whether the resources offer accurate representations of the experiences and histories of non-dominant populations in your school community. Invite families into the process! Families may have recommendations for books, authors, and other ideas to help ensure their identity and culture are represented in their child’s learning.
Nurture Student Talent
Data shows that females of color are underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. As an educator, you have a unique window into students’ innate interests and talents. Your communication choices can help to counter inequities in access and representation.
Make it a regular practice to reach out to families about their child’s strengths, particularly students with marginalized or non-dominant identities. Talk about your observations—what’s going well, where their child is thriving—and ask families for their perspectives. Build momentum for working with families to remove barriers by finding, creating and/or advocating for opportunities to leverage their child’s strengths and support their continued growth.
Closing Thoughts
The most impactful family-school partnerships communicate to families that they are seen, valued and respected. Culturally responsive family engagement means meeting families where they are with what they need! There’s not a singular “right way” for families to partner with you or the school. Each families’ unique circumstances and experiences will influence their partnership needs and preferences. Take the time to learn about your families and from your families. They are their child’s first teachers after all!