Here's How HMH Family Engagement Aligns to Recommendations from Current and Confirmed Research^*

Increase opportunities and skills for school personnel to engage parents directly through regular one-way and two-way communication and parent-teacher conferences.

HMH Family Engagement professional learning augments educators’ skills in effective one- and two-way communication with families. With an emphasis on an asset model, educators are able to work with families through the lens of their existing strengths and their potential, and can focus on best practices for partnering with them.

Increase opportunities and skills for parents to interact directly with school personnel.

The five Learn Together Workshops that HMH Family Engagement helps districts deliver throughout the school year systematically engage and coach English learner families in how to navigate their children’s schooling and how to advocate for them.

Recognize and accommodate challenges experienced by various minority groups in the design and implementation of learning at home and school/home communication activities, as these activity areas show special promise for supporting achievement for these groups.

HMH Family Engagement is designed specifically to focus on English learner families who are in the minority in U.S. schools. Training provides educators with insights into the challenges non-native speakers face in U.S. schools and also uncovers issues particular to specific cultural groups. Educators also receive training and materials that together empower them to deliver the Learn Together Workshops, strengthening bonds between the school and the minority families it serves.

Provide parent and teacher training and education to enhance the effectiveness of learning at home and school/home communication activities.

Each Learn Together Workshop is a topic-based, interactive 90-minute session between educators, families, and their children. Family Guides written in accessible English provide hands-on activities, role-playing, and informational sessions. These guides equip families with the resources they need to confidently navigate their children’s schooling, engage with teachers and administrators, and follow through at home with their children.

Provide parent training and education in instructional strategies and specific content areas, empowering parents to reinforce classroom instruction, either in the home or in the classroom.

Learn Together Workshops train families in the foundational aspects of navigating their children’s schooling. These include understanding qualities of good scholars, assessments, uses of technology, school policies, and effective communication. The workshops also build trust and honest communication, and establish the processes that enable the district to focus additional training on specific content objectives.

Increase opportunities and skills that enable school personnel to engage parents directly through regular one-way and two-way communication and parent-teacher conferences.

The Learn Together Workshops bring families and their children together with educators. This process sets the tone and expectation that a scholar’s learning involves a partnership between the school and family working toward multiple positive outcomes. The result? English learner families gain the confidence and knowledge they need to communicate with the school, ask questions as needed, serve as advocates, and implement focused involvement in their children’s education at home.

Download the Research-Based Approach Brochure

*Family Engagement Framework, California Department of Education, 2014.