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Adapt, Advance, Achieve: Connecticut’s Plan to Learn and Grow Together
11. Family and Student Engagement
Reopening schools is an opportunity to deepen relationships and engage families in authentic
partnerships to support evolving models of teaching and learning.
Family Support and Communication
Requirements
• Comply with all state and federal family engagement requirements (e.g., School
Governance Councils and Title I requirements) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Prepare to provide families with clear and ongoing communication about what to
expect, during and prior to reopening. This includes, but is not limited to, guidance on
the school protocols related to health and safety guidelines.
• Continue to engage with families and students as the reopening moves forward to
ensure they are informed and have the ability to provide feedback.
• Make reopen plans available on the LEA website, accessible, and clearly identify the
school liaison.
Guidance
• Align the reopening plan with evidence-based family engagement and, importantly,
with families’ perspectives on partnering with schools. Connecticut’s Framework for
Family Engagement provides a definition of family engagement that was co-created
with families from across the state and is grounded in research and best practice:
Family Engagement is a full, equal, and equitable partnership among
families, educators and community partners to promote children’s
learning and development from birth through college and career.
• Provide training opportunities for families on device use and access to school
platforms. Plan ways to engage in person at the beginning of the school year,
following all health and safety rules, since the target audience may not be able to
access training online.
• Use Connecticut’s definition of family engagement to frame the objectives for an
effective approach to school-family partnerships.
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Create full, equal and equitable partnerships. View families as full partners in
education. Recognize that families bring valuable knowledge to the table and
involve them in advance planning and decision-making. Empower families
to work with educators, public officials, and community partners to remove
systemic, structural, and organizational barriers that perpetuate inequities and
injustice.
• Implement high-impact family engagement strategies by applying the guiding
principles in Connecticut’s Framework for Family Engagement.
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Build collaborative, trusting relationships. Recognize that all high-impact
family engagement strategies are grounded in trust and respect. Create a
welcoming atmosphere in school buildings and in all school communications.
Establish reliable systems for two-way, personal and ongoing communication
with families.