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Parents as Allies

Parents as Allies is transforming education systems through family-school collaboration in Pennsylvania, USA. The work is done through 22 school districts implementing different kinds of family school engagement hacks and strategies to build trust within the school community. HundrED's work in the project is based on the Spotlight on Parental Engagement.

Kidsburgh, Brookings CUE and Learning Heroes. Supported by The Grable Foundation.

Download Report Spotlight on Parental Engagement

Overview

In early 2021, Parents as Allies (PAA) began a journey of collaborating with school teams in a design sprint process to develop creative and innovative solutions, or “hacks” that would address the specific needs of their communities. Their initial, two-month design sprint in 2021 centred around the question: “How might we build stronger engagement between families and schools for the benefit of all students?” Almost one year later, in April 2022, PAA began a second iteration. Parents as Allies 2.0 narrowed its focus to 22 Western Pennsylvania school districts. Joined by design sprint guides, the participating school districts’ Design Teams started with empathy interviews as the main source of inspiration to co-develop the hacks aimed at increasing and strengthening family-school engagement. Following human-centred design structure, the 22 districts participating in the initiative documented their learning journeys, from their practice mini-hacks, to fall and spring hacks and onto the new future of Family School Engagement (FSE) outlined in their sustainability plans.

The challenge

We have to help teachers to find ways to engage parents and teachers in the learning process. How might we build stronger engagement between families and schools for the benefit of all students?

The solution

In this project we collected impact data on different family-school engagement models. Family-school engagement can be incredibly powerful as it creates relationships where people have faith that they are looking out for each other. Based on the Brookings Institution research, schools that have strong relational trust are ten times more likely to have really good educational outcomes. Parental engagement is an incredibly powerful tool to help children learn.

Important dates

Keep up-to-date on this project and its key dates

HundrED Check-ins with Participants

1.12.2022

Brookings Institution Presentation

12.12.2022

Fall Hacks Completed

31.12.2022

Second Mini-Grant Application

9.1.2023

HundrED Report Published

12.12.2023

Report

Journeys in Family School Engagement

View & Download Download

Case Stories

The selected interventions were trialled across Pennsylvania school districts.

Implementation of Hi Neighbor!

Avonworth School District

Our main hack was the “Hi Neighbor!” events and then the expansion into the Family Ambassador program. "Hi Neighbor!" is a way to learn about and celebrate important cultural events like Día de los M

Avonworth Primary Center

Implementation of Fireside Chats

Burrell School District

We needed to work on building trust, internally and externally, and on strengthening relationships to break down barriers at many levels. We have a supportive, small, close-knit community but struggle

Burrell High School

Implementation of Welcome 4th Graders!

Shaler Area School District

Post-COVID, it felt like there was a disconnect with the community. The teachers felt it too. We wanted feedback to spark positive change and started with a survey to 4th grade families that began wit

Shaler Area Elementary School

Implementation of Two-Way Postcards

New Brighton Area School District

Our theme at school is "Embrace the Hub," an encouragement to families and students to see the school as a hub in the community. To alleviate new school year worries, we hosted a "Back to School Bash"

New Brighton Area School District

Implementation of Donuts with Grownups

Charleroi School District

Some parents did not have a great school experience as a child and therefore are hesitant to engage with their child's school. We wanted to change this and remove as many barriers as possible. We host

Charleroi School District

Implementation of Revamped Open House

Deer Lakes School District

Middle school is a tough time for any student and family. And, oddly, this is when we see parental engagement decrease. We wanted to turn this around by reimagining our traditional Open House into a d

Deer Lakes School District

Implementation of Fall Open House Energizes Middle School Transition

Grove City Area School District

We reimagined the Open House for middle school families with the goal of parents and teachers connecting in a relaxed atmosphere and students feeling pride and excitement to show their school to their

Grove City Area School District

Implementation of Night to Unite

Keystone Oaks School District

Middle school can be a particularly hard transition for students and their families. In order for parents, students and teachers to connect, we reinvented the Open House experience to create more inte

Keystone Oaks School District

Implementation of Welcome Bags

Brentwood Borough School District

As demographics in our community were changing, we intentionally created programs that helped welcome our new families, especially our English Language Learner families. As we listened, we learned tha

Brentwood Borough School District

Implementation of Dinner & Dialogues

West Allegheny School District

With new families moving into our community, we wanted to offer school support, make connections, and build trusting relationships. Many of our families did not speak English. We needed to find new an

West Allegheny School District

Implementation of Kindergarten Fall Festival

Woodland Hills School District

We wanted to engage our transient population and keep students and families in our district rather than seeing them leave for a charter school or another school district. Our focus was on kindergarten

Woodland Hills School District

Implementation of Get Connected @ Crawford Central

Crawford Central School District

We felt we had great involvement by parents at athletic events but we wanted better engagement overall with school. Our parents wanted to engage but they felt they couldn't. We learned that one of the

Implementation of Holly Day

California Area School District

We saw many of the same parents attend our events and knew there had to be a way to expand our reach. Not everyone in our community has had a positive experience in school though. Thinking about that

California Area School District

Implementation of Resource-Full Fair

Duquesne City School District

Since 2021, Duquesne City has joyously celebrated the return of its 7th and 8th grade students, out-placed in 2012. Rebuilding trust with families has been ongoing, and the principal can envision the

Duquesne City School District

Implementation of Let's Tailgate!

Ambridge Area School District

The middle school sits 20 minutes from downtown Ambridge but there is no public transportation. We asked ourselves: What can we wrap our hack around to reach families we don’t hear from? A tailgate at

Ambridge Area Middle School

Implementation of RIASEC-ing With Parents

South Fayette School District

We needed a reminder that we can do amazing work together and that we don't have to stick with what doesn't work. We’re not all the same but that doesn’t mean we can’t all work together to achieve a c

South Fayette Middle School

Implementation of Data with a Twist

Butler Area School District

Parents shared unsettling memories of the closure of Broad Street ES. Their preconceived notions were a challenge and led to concerns for the school team. Our hack intended to build a bridge between s

Implementation of Hot Diggity Dog

Bentworth School District

We want to build trust, a relationship and rapport with the community. How to get parents to engage given barriers like transportation, working and other activities is the challenge. Our goal is to re

Bentworth Elementary School

Implementation of Relationship Building Through Shared Fun

Franklin Regional School District

We wanted to be deep listeners to our parents. It felt like our communication was one way and we didn’t want to be guessing what parents wanted out of engagement. We wanted to know how to build a two-

Franklin Regional School District

Implementation of Parents & Caregivers: New Maker Teachers

Northgate School District

The goal of the "Maker Coaches" program is to engage parents in a meaningful and purposeful way. Parents trained and learned about maker learning. Upon completion, parents then assisted teachers in th

Northgate School District

Implementation of Family STEAM Night

Hopewell Area School District

The goal was to find a way to bring the community back into the school (beyond sports). We wanted families, not just students, to participate and interact with school people. We designed and held a Fa

Hopewell Area School District

Implementation of A National Celebration, the Path to Connection

New Castle Area School District

We wanted to welcome these families to our school and community. Through different events, like "Movie Night Out," we were able to connect with our families in informal spaces. Teachers and families w

New Castle Area School District

Implementation of Back-To-School Block Party

Pittsburgh Public Schools/Pittsburgh Promise collaboration

Parents want the school to hold their children to a high enough standard to become the respectful, intelligent, successful adults they want them to be. And parents want to trust other parents to be re

University Prep

Implementation of Table Talk - FASD Welcoming Dinner

Freeport Area School District

As the Freeport Area School District continues to grow, our team wanted to ensure that even our newest members of our school community felt engaged, supported, and included. Our empathy interviews hel

Freeport Area School District

Implementation of Meet the BFMS Staff

Big Beaver Falls School District

The Big Beaver Falls School Area team wanted to find ways to involve families more and promote parent engagement among middle school parents and staff. We learned that families didn’t feel wanted nor

Big Beaver Falls Area School District

Implementation of Fairview Family Night

Fox Chapel Area School District - Fairview Elementary School

Our team wanted to build relationships between staff and parents and create opportunities for teamwork. Many parents desired stronger connections to the school, but didn’t know how or what was availab

Fox Chapel Area School District

Implementation of Unite and Ignite!

Baldwin Whitehall School District

We wanted to open lines of communication between home and school and broaden our network to involve more voices, partnerships and collaboration as a “CommUnity.” Our relaxed, parent-focused hack aimed

Baldwin-Whitehall School District

Implementation of Tailgate Party

California Area High School/Middle School

California is a tight knit community with about 60 families per grade level. Our elementary school focuses on parent engagement through various activities. The high school families are similarly invol

California Area High School

Implementation of Fall Festival

Butler Area Center Township Elementary

The school district is building teams across several of our elementary schools. Our team desired to build relationships between staff and parents and create opportunities for teamwork. We also wanted

Center Township Elementary School

Implementation of Highland, Let’s Bridge The Gap

Ambridge Area Highland Elementary School

The Highland Elementary School team needed to bridge the gap between teachers/staff, parents and students. Our school had previously hosted an ice cream social that brought out many families. We wante

Highland Elementary School

Implementation of Spirit Tailgate

Frazier School District

The team believes that teachers and parents share a commitment to their children's learning and wellbeing, although this may not be enough—especially if miscommunication and misunderstanding have le

Frazier Elementary School

News

'Journeys in Family-School Engagement,' Showcasing the Impact of Parents as Allies Initiative

HundrED is thrilled to announce the release of the report, 'Journeys in Family-School Engagement: Parents as Allies.' This publication is a significant addition to our growing repository of resources

20.12.2023 Karin Metsäpelto

Parents and Schools are Connecting - Our New Spotlight Project is Helping those Connections Grow

At this moment where parents and caregivers are becoming increasingly engaged with education, HundrED, together with Kidsburgh, the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at Brookings, and IDEO seek to

15.2.2021 Melissa Rayworth