The Early Childhood Family Engagement Framework: Maryland’s Vision for Engaging Families with Young Children

Chair: Margaret E. Williams, Maryland Family Network

MSDE Liaison and Project Officer: Linda Zang

MSDE Staff Specialists: Wendy Baysmore and Cynthia LaMarca-Lessner

Broad statewide membership (public and private):

Maryland Ready At Five CentroNia

Judy Center Partnerships Public Library Assoc.

UM School of Medicine PTA

MD Coalition of Families School Districts

American Association of Pediatrics Head Start

Maryland Child Care Assoc. MSDE

Dept. of Health and Mental Health Dept. of Human Resources

Why Develop the Family Engagement Initiative?

Proposed as Project 8 of Maryland’s RTT–ELC grant, it was developed to highlight the importance of family engagement as a core area of early childhood that promotes

school readiness The MD Family Engagement Coalition was formed to:

Bring together representatives of family and child serving agencies to oversee the Family Engagement Initiative

Better coordinate the state’s family engagement initiatives, and to create a set of common goals for the allocation of family engagement resources across the early childhood system

Support family and child serving agencies to improve how families are engaged in their child’s early care and education

Promote family engagement strategies at the program and provider level and to highlight available resources that support the implementation of those family engagement strategies

The Coalition started its work by examining national Family Engagement practices

Definition of Family Engagement

Definition of Family Engagement Family Engagement is:

A shared responsibility of families, schools, and communities

Continuous from birth into the school-age years Sustainable, operating with adequate resources to

ensure meaningful and effective strategies that have the power to impact student learning and achievement

Definition of Family Engagement Family Engagement Means:

Supporting family well-being, strong parent-child relationships, and the ongoing learning and development of parents and children alike

Family Engagement Encompasses: Beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and activities

Head Start Partnership (HS & DOE)

Head Start Framework

Department of Education

Alignment (DOE & HS)

Organization of the MD Framework

Organization of the Framework Articulates a common definition of family engagement Outlines common goals for family engagement

applicable to the state and to programs/providers Offers general strategies to support the goals Includes resources to support the implementation of the

strategies Provides examples of family engagement practices in

Maryland

See Next Slide

MD Framework Uses the 7 Goals of the Head Start Framework

The Framework Provides Strategies

Providing Strategies for the Framework

The document will outline several strategies organized by program foundation area and program impact area Program Foundation Area (How they are

affected)

Program Impact Area (Who was affected?)

Strategy- Program Foundation Leadership

Develop relationships with community members and community organizations that support families’ interests and needs

Professional Development Provide training on multicultural principles,

leadership development, and advocacy for staff and families

Strategy- Impact Area Environment

Include family-friendly spaces with pictures and materials that affirm and welcome all families

Teaching and Learning Consistently gather child information from families

and ask parents about their child to inform teaching Exchange information with parents about their

children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, and talk about the importance of the home language

Next Steps

Implementation Use Framework to inform other parts of Maryland’s early childhood

system (e.g. EXCELS) Develop supporting strategies/materials to provide guidance on the

Framework to parents and various types of service providers (child care, Head Start, home visitors, etc.)

Develop a timeline: Outline to Final Develop training and technical assistance around key strategies Explore innovative uses of technology in communicating and

meeting goals (e.g., sharing assessment data)

The Early Childhood Family Engagement Framework: Maryland’s Vision for Engaging Families with Young Children

http://marylandpublicschools.org/msde.html

http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/child_care/challenge/engagement.html