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what is Family Engagement in Education?
Washington Family Engagement defines family engagement in education as the equal partnership between educators and families built on mutual respect, shared power, shared responsibility, and centered on students’ healthy socio-emotional development and successful academic progress.
Engaged families are key to their students’ academic success. Over 50 years of national research demonstrates that when schools and families work together as equal partners, student attendance, academic scores, and high-school graduation rates increase, and school dropout rates decrease.
We believe that to form strong partnerships, educators, families, and community organizations must learn skills to work together. We all play critical roles in the future of Washington children.
WHAT WE DO
Washington Family Engagement offers capacity-building programs and training opportunities for families, educators, and community organizations to learn best practices and develop new skills to support the success of children and youth.
WHAT WE DO
Washington Family Engagement offers capacity-building programs and training opportunities for families, educators, and community organizations to learn best practices and develop new skills to support the success of children and youth.
FREE CLASSES FOR FAMILIES
Prime Time: Family Reading a two-generational children’s literacy program
Prime Time Reading is a free, online, two-generational program for elementary school children ages 6 to 10 and their parents. The program empowers families to read and discuss books and ideas together, improving literacy and critical thinking skills. Families receive free books, and during a series of six weekly sessions, they experience storytelling and book discussions modeled by a skilled scholar-storyteller team. Together, parents and children learn how to discuss ethical and cultural themes and how to connect big ideas in children’s literature with their own lived experiences.
PTR virtual in English - Six online sessions
April 14 to May 19
Tuesday, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
PTR virtual in Spanish - Six online sessions
September 24th to October 29th
Wednesdays, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
FREE CLASSES FOR FAMILIES
Guiding Good Choices – a free, 6-session, online youth drug prevention program for parents
Research shows that child-rearing practices, attitudes, values, and behaviors of parents influence whether their children will use drugs. There is also clear evidence that engaging parents in prevention is a critical factor in the choices children make. This free, 5-session virtual course teaches parents of children ages 9 to 14 how to reduce the risk that their children will use alcohol, tobacco, or legal and illegal drugs.
Guiando Buenas Decisiones (in Spanish)
Six online sessions
September 26th to October 29th, 2025
Mondays 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Guiding Good Choices (in English)
Six online sessions
October 28th to December 2nd, 2025
Tuesdays 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Washington Family Engagement Professional Learning Community
A learning forum for educators and Family Engagement professionals working in schools
Are you a teacher or a family engagement professional? The FEPLC is for you. We have created a learning forum for family engagement practitioners and educators from around Washington State that meets to learn from each other and from experts in the field. The meetings address best practices, problem-solving, and new family engagement strategies and also include guest speakers from the field.
Share your passion for engaging families and learn how to do it better as you interact with your colleagues! 2 Clock Hours are available per session for certificated teachers.
2026 Winter PLC Meetings
Topics:
- The mystery of family engagement in middle school
- Presented by Adie Simmons
- Wednesday, February 18th.
- 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
- Engaging Millennial parents in their children's education
- Presented by Adie Simmons
- Monday, February 23rd.
- 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
- Technology - your best family engagement friend
- Presented by Adie Simmons
- Wednesday, March 4th
- 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
FAMILY ENGAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES
Re-structure your school and school district to better partner with families and increase your school and district staff engagement skill. Bring our dynamic, effective consulting services, online and in-person, to your workplace.
Our work helps district and school leaders, educators, and other professionals acquire competencies and learn new strategies that contribute to collaborative school-family partnerships and increased student achievement. We customize our services to meet school districts and school needs and help educators build their professional practice. We offer technical assistance and customized professional development webinars, workshops, seminars, coaching, and consultations.
- We help school district leaders create family engagement departments, classified Family Engagement Coordinators or similar positions, and develop professional accountability systems.
- We train Family Engagement Coordinators/ Liaisons/ Specialists and other school personnel to better engage families.
- We help school administrators embed family engagement strategies into school improvement plans.
- We train school staff to design, plan, and implement parent Academies and Universities.
- We develop and train parent advisory councils/committees for schools and districts.
- We conduct School buildings’ walk-throughs.
Bring our consulting services to your school or district. To find out prices and availability, please contact us!
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