VISIT OUR PARENT SITE AT FCSN.ORG

We have begun exploring initial results, but there’s still time to respond to the 2021 Statewide Family Engagement Survey!

map of MAWe hope to hear from a broader range of communities before the end of the school year. Of the 1,381 responses received so far, the majority of family and educator responses come from Bristol, Middlesex, and Worcester Counties, as depicted in the image to the right, where darker shaded regions represent more responses.

Initial results suggest a need for increased support for family engagement during the pandemic recovery period. For example:

  • There is room for improvement when it comes to involving families in planning and making decisions. When asked to consider if schools involve families in efforts to develop family engagement priorities and activities, only 48% of families and 59% of educators agree that families are involved. The remaining 52% of families and 41% of educators disagree to some extent that families are involved or are not sure. 
  • Educators feel pressured to meet academic standards, but do not feel supported in efforts to build and sustain relationships with families. For example, in one of the open response questions, we received this comment:  

“Teachers need more time to connect with caregivers. The state puts a lot of pressure on teachers to deliver academic content and hours on learning but does not provide time to connect and call families.” — Educator Respondent 

  •  Families have felt the effects the pandemic has had on family-educator relationships and are looking forward to routines and processes that support relationship building. The quote below demonstrates how important small interactions can be in relationship building. 

“Family engagement has been negatively impacted by [the] pandemic. Time spent talking to teachers and staff before and after school has essentially been eliminated.” —Family Respondent 

Since 2019, MASFEC has collected feedback on family engagement practices directly from families and educators through this survey, providing a unique opportunity to help inform changes and improvements to family engagement programs. The survey will remain open until the close of the school year so we can hear from as many of you as possible.

MASFEC hopes to work with schools, districts, and organizations across the state to remind families and educators of their chance to share their voices and opinion through the feedback survey. Just 10 minutes can help direct the work of the Center to support relationships of families, schools, and districts.  

 

Download update report here

 

WestEd employees Ryan Miskell and Karen Melchior are leading the feedback survey efforts with the MASFEC. WestEd is a nonpartisan, not for profit research, development, and service agency that works with education and other communities throughout the United States and abroad to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults.