Family Engagement

Family Engagement

What Is Family Engagement?

Family engagement refers to the active and intentional partnership between schools and families to support student success. In the context of attendance, it means working with families — not just informing them — to identify challenges, build trust, and co-create solutions that improve student attendance.

It goes beyond sending letters or making phone calls. True family engagement is rooted in collaboration, consistency, and cultural responsiveness.

Why It Matters

Families are the first and most consistent support system a student has. When schools meaningfully engage families:

• Attendance improves
• Barriers are identified earlier
• Trust is built before escalation
• Interventions are more likely to succeed
• Students feel seen, supported, and connected

Family engagement is especially critical in addressing chronic absenteeism, where absences are often tied to complex, personal challenges.

How Schools Use This Term in Practice

Districts engage families in attendance strategy through:

• Welcome calls, check-ins, and back-to-school nights
• Two-way communication (calls, texts, emails in the family’s preferred language)
• Parent-teacher conferences focused on attendance goals
• Involvement in attendance success plans or contracts
• Family engagement liaisons or home-school coordinators
• Surveys and forums to understand family needs and perspectives

At the Tier 2 and 3 level, families may be directly involved in:

• SART/SARB meetings
• Creating attendance improvement plans
• Referrals to wraparound services

What’s the Difference Between Family Engagement and Family Communication?

• Communication is one-way (e.g., a letter home).
• Engagement is two-way — it means listening, collaborating, and building a relationship.

Many districts are moving away from a compliance mindset (“We sent the letter”) to a connection mindset (“We talked, we understood, we partnered”).

Related Terms and Concepts

• Attendance Intervention – Most interventions require family involvement to be successful
• MTSS – Family engagement is embedded across all tiers, especially Tiers 2 and 3
• Chronic Absenteeism – Strong family partnerships can reduce long-term absentee patterns
• Wraparound Services – Often delivered in collaboration with families
• Home Visits – A common Tier 3 engagement strategy when other methods have failed

Example Scenario

A student in Houston ISD has missed 6 days of school. The school’s early warning system flags the student for a Tier 2 intervention. A bilingual family liaison calls home and learns that the student is caring for younger siblings in the morning due to a family scheduling issue. Together, the school and family create an attendance success plan with a later arrival window and additional support. Attendance quickly improves.

How Family Engagement Impacts Districts

When done well, family engagement:

• Increases attendance across all tiers
• Reduces the need for truancy escalation
• Improves equity by building culturally relevant relationships
• Strengthens school climate and trust
• Improves intervention success rates by aligning school and home strategies

It also reduces burnout — schools don’t have to solve every issue alone when families are true partners.

How Are Schools Across the U.S. Strengthening Family Engagement?

Districts are rethinking how they partner with families to improve attendance:

1. Hiring Family Liaisons
Staff trained in outreach and culturally responsive practices help families navigate attendance issues early.

2. Personalized Communication
Instead of generic letters, schools use tools like Nudge to send custom messages tied to real data.

3. Hosting Family Events Focused on Belonging
Schools are building trust before problems arise — with welcome events, attendance celebrations, and resource nights.

4. Building Shared Ownership
Districts are involving families in solution design — not just informing them of the problem.

5. Language Access and Accessibility
Messages and meetings are offered in families’ preferred languages and formats to reduce communication barriers.

How Nudge Helps

Nudge helps districts turn family outreach into true engagement by making it easy to communicate clearly, track responses, and follow up consistently.

With Nudge, schools can:

• Send automated, personalized attendance updates across channels
• Track communication outcomes — who responded, who didn’t
• Assign follow-ups and escalate when needed
• Integrate messaging into broader MTSS and intervention workflows
• Ensure every family gets the right message at the right time

Family engagement shouldn’t depend on bandwidth or guesswork — and with Nudge, it doesn’t have to.

Want to Build Stronger Family Partnerships Around Attendance?

See how Nudge helps districts create personalized, proactive outreach that drives attendance and trust.