This guide can be used to engage program leaders, staff, families, and community partners in conversation and collaborations to support lasting change for children and families. Teams can use this exercise to learn from one another by sharing questions, successes, and challenges related to family engagement. Use this resource with the Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework to inspire a renewed spirit of collaboration as programs identify and take next steps to engage families and communities to achieve better outcomes for children and families.
This resource may be used to:
- Develop a shared understanding and common language for family engagement
- Find examples of strategies programs and families can use to make progress toward each of the seven family outcomes in the PFCE Framework
- Identify opportunities and priorities for using PFCE strategies to make progress toward family and child outcomes
- Many of these strategies can be used to promote progress in several family outcomes at the same time
- Build on effective practices and identify practices that may need to be enhanced
- Inform five-year strategic planning, program design and management, continuous learning and improvement activities, professional development, and program governance
- Strengthen coordination and service delivery
After completing the exercise, your team may consider several options for next steps depending on your program's goals and priorities. For example, you might want to:
- Share new insights and opportunities for improvement with colleagues and families
- Prioritize and tailor the list of strategies for each outcome used in your program
- Choose an outcome and related strategies to focus on throughout every aspect of your program
- Educate community partners about family outcomes and how these strategies promote family and child outcomes
- Use Beginning a PFCE Assessment to take a closer look at current engagement strategies
- Assess and create an action plan to enrich current engagement strategies using Markers of Progress
Whatever the next step, exploring family outcomes and related strategies can help programs prioritize PFCE strategies and clarify how they connect. As program leaders, staff, families, and community partners discuss family engagement, they can build the trusting partnerships needed to take steps to strengthen families' well-being and children's development and learning.
Last Updated: June 7, 2022