Principle 1: Programs invite families to participate in decision making and goal setting for their child

What it means: Programs invite families to actively take part in decision-making opportunities concerning their children’s education. Programs and families collaborate in establishing goals for children’s education and learning both at home and at school.

The programs NAEYC recognized for their family engagement practices consider the needs of the children in their care as inseparable from the needs of their families. They understand the necessary role families play in making decisions about their own children and include families in shared decision making about and goal setting for their children’s education and learning. Programs use the following strategies.

Intake questionnaire. Many programs begin with an intake questionnaire so teachers can learn about each child and family and begin some mutual goal setting.

• At The Family Schools, families act as advocates for their children and participate in decision making when they complete an individual education plan for their child. This written plan documents parents’ goals for their child’s learning. The plan is updated when goals are accomplished. Parents and teachers collaborate on observation reports, discussing observational benchmarks in the January and June reports.
• At the YWCA of Minneapolis Downtown Children’s Center, parents complete a Family Engagement Goals checklist, which helps articulate ways in which families can get involved in their child’s early learning.

Primary caregivers. Several programs assign a primary caregiver to establish and maintain strong family–school connections.

• At Iowa State University Child Development Laboratory School, when a child first enters the program, he or she is assigned a primary caregiver. Although this teacher has the overall responsibility of assessing and planning for the child, the teacher encourages families to collaborate in the development of the child’s educational goals. Within the first 30 days of enrollment, teaching staff ask parents to help complete the child’s developmental screening. Over time, parents become more and more comfortable making and contributing to decisions related to their child’s experience in the program.
• Primary caregiving is integral to the YWCA of Minneapolis Downtown Children’s Center, as well. According to Clare Sanford, the YWCA’s Early Childhood Education Enrollment & Nutrition Manager, this practice is “one that prospective parents are always excited to hear about. Being able to build that close relationship between child and caregiver puts families at ease and increases the quality of communication and engagement between teachers and parents.”

Parent-teacher conferences. Each program conducts parent-teacher conferences on a regular basis (usually twice per year), in part to initiate a joint goal-setting process. During conferences teachers and families discuss goals for children both at home and at school.

• At the CRT Locust Street Early Care and Education Program, the information teachers gather both formally and informally helps them plan and implement a curriculum in which each child’s individual development and growth is supported and advanced.
• At parent-teacher conferences at Children’s Village Child Care Center, teachers and parents exchange information about what the child did at school or at home and set mutual goals. A parent explains, “We work together…Children’s Village has a great impact for my family” [translated from Chinese].

Developed for NAEYC's Engaging Diverse Families Project through a generous grant from the Picower Foundation.
© National Association for the Education of Young Children.