Module 3: Building Relationships with Families at the School Level

Empathy in Family Partnerships - Preparing for Interviewing

Learning Objectives

Reflect on inequities that exist in your school community, particularly among families with children with exceptionalities.
Leverage families’ funds of knowledge.
Learn how to create an open, ongoing dialogue with families.

Parents know their children the best, so educators and parents must be equal partners in enhancing child well-being. Therefore, it is essential to build trusting and open relationships with families. Families that have been historically marginalized by the educational system (e.g., families of color, families of children with exceptionalities, families with linguistically diverse backgrounds) face additional barriers when partnering with educators. For these families, it is particularly important that educators appropriately partner with families in a supportive and child-centered manner. Inequities and barriers for families exist in every school community. When partnering with culturally and linguistically minoritized families, reflect on the inequities that exist in your school community that may create challenges for historically marginalized/minoritized families. Ask yourself questions such as:

How does my school proactively communicate with families? Is this communication culturally relevant for historically minoritized groups?
How are families able to communicate with the school system?

How does my school demonstrate active partnership with historically marginalized families?
How might having a marginalized identity influence a student’s learning experience in my school? Specifically, how might having a marginalized identity influence their experience in the MTSS and special education processes?
How does my school community incorporate voices and opinions of families? Are these methods equitable for families from historically marginalized backgrounds?

Reflecting on these areas will help you gain an understanding of the perspectives of diverse families and the challenges they face when advocating for their children. You can also utilize a self-assessment checklist to gauge your partnership with families.

Creating an inclusive culture for families begins at the universal level. Communicate proactively about child strengths and needs with families in culturally relevant ways (e.g., take into account preferred communication method and preferred language). Effective communication will be specific to the families with whom you work, so ensure that you are incorporating data from families in your school community by providing welcoming, family-centered opportunities for families to provide feedback (e.g., allowing for flexible timing outside the traditional workday or phone/video call meetings, opportunities for childcare). Read CDE’s website “Understanding Others” page to gain a deeper understanding of methods to communicate with families from diverse cultural backgrounds. Complete the associated reflection worksheets to reflect on barriers faced by minoritized families in your school community and the strengths of your school community related to including families.

The CDE provides a family communication and partnership plan to guide improvement of family-school partnerships. Using such a tool will guide you in equitable assessment and implementation of family-school partnerships.

Reflection Questions

What strengths does your school district, and you personally, have, related to building relationships with families? In what areas is your school lacking related to building relationships with culturally minoritized families and families of children with exceptionalities?
What challenges do historically marginalized families face when advocating for their children in your school community? How can you address barriers for these families and promote family-school partnerships?
How can topics of equity be continuously integrated into multidisciplinary processes among school team members?

Other Resources

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