There is widespread recognition that increasing family engagement within schools and in their child’s education benefits student achievement enormously, in addition to improving teacher morale and school-home communications. This course is designed to teach participants how to engage families in meaningful ways regardless of circumstance or parent population, and is founded on the mindset that all parents ultimately want to partner with teachers in supporting their child’s education and overall success.

The course covers such topics as building strong relationships, establishing trust, employing effective communication systems, and planning and executing conferences effectively. Additionally, the course covers more sensitive topics such as engaging parents whose child has experienced trauma, is involved in bullying or harassment, has a disability, or is an English language learner. Participants will learn how to have difficult or “crucial” conversations in order to appropriately address scenarios in which emotions are strong, opinions vary, and stakes are high. The Safety, Order and Rights® value set is presented as one framework for clarifying classroom expectations and school goals, and is generally a framework that everyone can buy into -- including parents.

This course will also walk participants through the steps of creating a plan for cultivating meaningful family engagement in their own practice. Participants will be prompted to compile best practices and key ideas throughout the course, which will culminate in the writing of an action plan for implementing these important components.

Participants complete this ONLINE course at their own pace. NOTE: All CE Credits classes must be completed by August 31, 2019. After registering through PD Enroller, email kaylal@ncesd.org to receive an email with an enrollment code and instructions on how to register. Upon completion of your course, email your certificate of completion to kaylal@ncesd.org. NCESD will mark you attended so you can go to your PD Enroller account, complete an evaluation and then purchase your clock hours.

When an individual enrolls in a course it stays at the Not Started status until they select “start”. On their initial click to start their course they are asked if they are ready to start and are required to read that they have 180 days (a semester) to complete their course. They then check “yes” they are ready to start. If they do not finish within 180 days they can request and pay a $30.00 fee to extend their course for an additional two weeks. This option can be selected from the “student homepage”.