TRANSFORMING FAMILY ENGAGEMENT BY DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY OF SCHOOL LEADERS

Abstract

This qualitative study was guided by the Dual-Capacity Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships (Mapp & Kuttner, 2013) to explore how elementary principals led family engagement; provided insights into what additional supports school leaders need to lead their schools; and developed professional learning to increase the capacity of elementary leaders to able to lead the efforts in their schools. School leaders were essential in developing effective family engagement efforts, especially at the time of this study, as the context of family engagement changed due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. It became more evident that families were vital partners in their children's education as their roles required them to provide additional supports for learning at home. However, research indicated that school leaders might not have been trained historically on effectively partnering with families (Epstein, 2011), leading to this crisis. This study examined building the school leaders' capacity by examining how they led versus just strategies to engage families. There were limited recent studies focused on leadership for engagement. Common themes that emerged in this study included how principals led their school family engagement efforts by being intentional in their expectations for school staff by creating a shared responsibility; fostered welcoming environments by developing cultures that supported engagement; worked to challenge beliefs and prioritized clear and constant communication. These insights were used to create professional learning for other elementary school leaders within the same school district using The Dual-Capacity Framework for Family-School Partnerships (Mapp & Kuttner, 2013) as a guide. Findings revealed that professional learning within a local context about family engagement improved the efficacy and knowledge of how to lead family engagement efforts. Future study recommendations include more professional learning centered on culturally responsive practices that mitigate the new barriers caused by the pandemic COVID-19.