Educators and families are partners in promoting children’s academic, social, and emotional learning. Working together, they maximize children’s opportunities for successful development. Family involvement has been shown to have a multitude of positive effects on children’s educational and social development; research demonstrates higher rates of attendance, homework completion, grades and test scores, as well as more positive attitudes toward school, behavior and self-esteem. Although there is no single recipe or model for successfully engaging families, common components include enhanced respect and understanding regarding the roles of families and educators, ongoing and dynamic communication, and varied and flexible opportunities for family involvement both at home and school.
Horizons GFA’s 2017-2022 Strategic Plan called for the development of a Family Engagement Initiative that would (1) strengthen parental capacity to support student learning at home and at school, and (2) strengthen Horizons GFA’s relationships with parents, enhance their role in our organization, and increase their voice within the Horizons GFA community.
Bridgeport community members are now involved in all aspects of our programming. Our family engagement initiative deeply involves the families of HGFA students through workshops and town hall meetings. Increased family involvement has had a positive impact on student attendance and retention. Communication and cooperation in both directions has increased dramatically. Organizational leadership now includes multiple parents on our Board of Directors and a Family Partnership Committee composed of HGFA staff and family members of students that meets monthly to provide programmatic feedback and elevate urgent student needs. The HGFA student council, a group of Horizons in the High School Program, provides further feedback. Many of our high school students return to the PreK-8 Program as volunteers and teaching interns throughout high school and college.