The Office of Head Start National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement will identify, develop and disseminate evidence-based practices that are positively associated with the development of children from birth-to-five and the strengthening of families and communities. The National Center will create a framework and related tools for implementing a comprehensive, systemic and integrated approach to parent, family and community engagement in Early Head Start and Head Start (EHS/HS) that is culturally and linguistically relevant and strengthens and solidifies parents’ role in the early years, empowering them for ongoing advocacy for quality education as their children advance through public education.
The National Center will work in partnership with the Office of Head Start (OHS), the Regional and State T/TA network and the other National Centers to uplift and refresh current practices with respect to parent, family and community engagement, putting children on a positive trajectory for school readiness and student achievement.
In September 2011, OHS launched the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework. Learn more here.
Goal of the National Center
The National Center will implement a professional development and communications approach that will lead to the adoption and sustained use of research-based and research-informed practices for promoting integrated, systemic parent, family and community engagement in EHS/HS programs. In addition, the National Center will model for the early childhood and school-age community strategies for embedding parent, family and community engagement from birth to career/constructive citizenship.
Parent, Family and Community Engagement
Research confirms that meaningful parent, family and community engagement is:
- a shared responsibility in which programs are committed to engaging families in meaningful ways and families are committed to actively supporting their children’s learning and development;
- continuous across a child’s development and educational experiences, spanning from prenatal services and supports for parents to college and career;
- carried out everywhere that children learn – at home, in early learning programs, in pre-kindergarten, in school and after-school programs, and in community programs and activities; and
- a systemic program-wide initiative embedded in all aspects of quality programs — from program design and climate to teaching and learning, transition, community partnerships, professional development, management and finance, and research, evaluation and continuous improvement.
Guiding Principles of the National Center
The following principles will guide the way the National Center shapes its work and communicates with the field.
- Celebrate and uplift that which EHS/HS has been doing for decades to involve parents and extend that work with the integration of research-based and research-informed practices that promote systemic, integrated approaches to embedding parent, family and community engagement in all that programs do and represent.
- Listen and learn from parents, families, programs, T/TA providers and communities to ensure materials and tools bring about innovation in practice at the local level.
- Use a holistic approach that communicates respect, acknowledges rich diversity of all and resilience for great accomplishment, even in the face of adversity.
- Foster a climate that supports a love for learning and accomplishment through partnerships that actively acknowledge and respect families as capable and parents as competent partners in their children’s development.
Key Activities of the National Center
- Assess the needs and current resources available through individual and group conversations with parents and programs, site visits, and a literature review.
- Develop guides and related tools to enhance capacity for systemic parent, family and community engagement.
- An Organization Readiness and Progress Guide will help programs establish a baseline of their practices and identify different pathways programs can take to integrate and strengthen parent, family and community engagement.
- Parent, Family and Community Engagement materials will capture a family’s level of engagement on several dimensions and support the co-construction between family and program staff of actions that can be undertaken to support family development and children’s learning. These materials will provide definitions, roles, research-based practices, and capacity building models.
- A Family Well-Being series will address the multiple challenges faced by families as a result of income insecurity and outline promising strategies for how community resources can best support child and family well-being.
- Engage in planning and resource development with the other National Centers.
- Identify and support the development of communities of practice model of systemic and integrated parent, family and community engagement.
- Conduct on-going training at state, regional and national events.
- Provide support and expertise to Regional and State T/TA staff and consultants.
- Convene an advisory group to provide guidance to the National Center.
The Office of Head Start National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement is a partnership between the Brazelton Touchpoints Center at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Harvard Family Research Project, with the Council of Chief State School Officers, National PTA, and Save the Children as active members of the leadership team.
For further information, contact:
Sue Heilman, Director (ncpfce@childrens.harvard.edu).
