Family Engagement Partnership

Supported by the Flamboyan Foundation, the Family Engagement Partnership (FEP) helps school leaders and teachers engage families in ways that benefit student learning. Participating schools have seen significant academic growth, along with more active and engaged school communities.

A Johns Hopkins University study shows that families and teachers feel that FEP activities were helpful in improving student and school outcomes, and participation in FEP activities was positively associated with parents’ confidence to help their children in school, as well as parents’ perceptions of schools and teachers. Students whose families received home visits were more likely to attend school and to achieve or exceed grade-level reading comprehension than students whose families did not receive a home visit. 

The Partnership includes these components:

Relationship-Building Home Visits

Teachers and parents form trusting relationships through home visits.  In teams of two, teachers visit families in a location of their choosing and focus on getting to know the family and child. Teachers and families both share their hopes, dreams, and expectations for the student. In the 2016-2017 school year over 11,000+ DCPS Families in FEP schools received a home visit from their child’s teacher.

Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT)

The APTT is a new style of parent-teacher conferences with an emphasis on how families can support their child’s academics at home. These meetings take place three times throughout the school year in place of traditional Parent-Teacher Conferences.

Regular and Positive Communications

As part of the FEP, teachers receive ongoing training and support to help them establish regular and positive communications with the families of students in their class. School staff learn how to build relationships with families and work with them to set high academic expectations, monitor their child’s progress, and encourage and support learning at home.

Family Engagement Collaborative

The Family Engagement Collaborative (FEC) is a yearlong fellowship and professional learning community for teachers. The FEC gives educators in schools not currently partnering with Flamboyan Foundation an opportunity to bring strong family engagement skills to their classrooms. Teachers come together six times throughout the school year to learn and share about a variety of family engagement topics while working to complete a designated number of Relationship-Building Home Visits.

Launched in 2013, the FEC has served more than 300+ teachers representing more than 60 schools and all 8 wards over the past five years. Here are what some Family Engagement Collaborative teachers had to say about their experience with home visits: 

“I honestly didn't know P's family very well before this home visit, but I left feeling like I'd known them for quite some time. We had so much fun chatting with P's mom, dad, as well as her older and younger sisters.” Teacher, Peabody Elementary School

"The mom loved the visit and the fact that we came to her at the beginning of the year."- Teacher, Noyes Elementary School

“My buddy and I visited with a student and his mother asked about her child’s goals for this year which included getting to school on time, being prepared, making the football team, and doing his best in school. We talked about strategies to reach those goals. His mom would like us to stay in communication; it was a very positive meeting.” –Teacher, Jackson-Reed High School