Identifying and Examining School Approaches to Family Engagement Within Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

Abstract

Family engagement is a critical component of children's academic and social development (Fan & Chen, 2001). Through bringing together the primary contexts that affect child development (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001), families and school staff can set and maintain a shared trajectory of progress that has implications for children's education and behavior (Lucyshyn, Albin, & Nixon, 1997; Sheridan et al., 2012; Stormshak, Connell, & Dishion, 2009). Unfortunately, engaging families with empirically validated practices in a systematic manner remains largely elusive. Family engagement is a term used to describe active, interactive, and dynamic ways that families support their children (Sheridan, Knoche, Kupzyk, Edwards, & Marvin, 2011). Support for engaging families is derived from ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) as well as research examining the positive impact family and home supports has upon children's academic performance and behavior. Ecological systems theory identifies the influence key systems have on children's development. Microsystems (e.g., home, school) as well as the interactions between the systems are critical to promote positive outcomes for children (Garbacz, Sheridan, Koziol, Kwon, & Holmes, 2015). Children who struggle behaviorally and academically frequently experience difficulties across these microsystems, which indicates a need to incorporate an ecological approach to prevent and address children's concerns (Crosnoe, 2015). Research examining family engagement has shown favorable links with children's academics and behavior across elementary (Dearing, Kreider, Simpkins, & Weiss, 2006) and secondary (Fan & Chen, 2001) settings. Specifically, family engagement is associated with increased academic achievement (Fan & Chen, 2001), higher attendance (Simon, 2001), and fewer behavior problems (Domina, 2005). Furthermore, family engagement is positively associated with school engagement and academic motivation (Fan & Williams, 2010). Randomized controlled trials of family engagement interventions identify positive and meaningful outcomes for youth in early childhood (Dishion et al., 2008;

Increasing Parent Collaboration in the Implementation of Effective Practices

“…This lack of trust can lead to lower parent engagement (Santiago et al, 2016) and can undermine school outreach to families (Garbacz et al, 2020). In addition to a lack of trust, schools have often not invested in family-school collaboration and have low expectations for families, which can negatively influence later efforts schools may make toward collaboration (Garbacz et al, 2018).…”

A Framework for Building Safe and Effective School Environments: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

“…Schools succeed best when educators, students and families each participate in shaping the social culture of the school. Establishing highly ef icient and functional ways to both inform and listen to families is an emerging process in the ield, and one we anticipate will have high value (Garbacz et al, 2018).…”

Enhancing Family Engagement in Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

“…Sources of evidence for family engagement include assessments of the family engagement components, valued outcomes, usability, and acceptability of procedures. To assess family engagement in PBIS, the objectives of family engagement could be included on a self-assessment that includes other school approaches to family engagement in PBIS (Garbacz, McIntosh, Vatland, Minch, & Eagle, 2018). Each school will have different valued outcomes.…”