School Communication Plan vs Family Engagement Plan: What’s the Difference?

Introduction

As a new school or district leader, you need to deliver on school communication and family engagement planning and implementation. You will also be expected to improve parent engagement as part of strengthening school culture. Perhaps your school has had lower attendance rates, or parents are not showing up for curriculum nights or parent-teacher conferences in the same numbers.

Achieving a transformation in school culture includes building strong partnerships between home and school. It includes creating a plan for how to:

• Communicate clearly with families.
• Involve families in school life and student learning.

The Difference Between Communication and Engagement

Communication and engagement are closely related, but they serve different roles. Communication is about delivering information, whereas engagement is about activating families to take part and get involved.

The Example of Parent-Teacher Conferences

Consider parent-teacher conferences. These responsibilities show up differently:

• A school communication plan outlines the methods and timing for communicating with families about the conferences, as well as how families are directed to sign up.
• A family engagement plan lists parent-teacher conferences as a family engagement event. It outlines how family partnerships are built before, during, and after the conference with two-way dialogue and feedback.

The teams behind these plans analyze feedback and refine their approach; however, the day-to-day experience depends on how staff carry this work out in practice.

While both communication and engagement planning are interconnected, different teams within the district and the school may be involved in planning and formalizing strategies, one to outline a communication plan and practices, and one to create a family engagement plan (required under Title I in school districts).

Communication Plan

Creating a consistent school communication plan is essential for sharing responsibilities internally and ensuring that all necessary communication and parent engagement occur. A school communication plan should include details on who is responsible for communication, when communication should take place, the purpose of the communication, the communication channels to be used, and how feedback will be enabled. Here are the key areas to get your communication team started.

Form a Communication Team

To get buy-in for the communication plan, as a school leader, you should not develop it on your own. Form a small communication team of about 5 to 8 members at the school level to represent how communication actually happens in practice.

Invite the team members from office staff who are responsible for day-to-day parent communication, teachers, who are at the center of two-way parent dialogue, the athletics director, who needs to efficiently update families on changing schedules and practice times, and communication managers, who bring technical and operational knowledge. Consult your school’s PTA/PTO parent leaders to coordinate communication around events and volunteering. With a focused team, you can ensure that the plan is practical, coordinated, and addresses all communication.

Define the Message and Its Purpose

The communication plan should address all stakeholders and institutional levels, both formal and informal, to ensure families are proactively engaged and that dialogue and trust are built.

Districts and schools have important news and updates that need to reach the parent community. School closures due to inclement weather may require sending critical alerts. Invitations to school events, such as back-to-school evenings, curriculum nights, and parent-teacher conferences, must reach parents effectively. These institutional-level updates and events are high-priority updates that cannot be missed.

But connecting with families and building relationships takes more than one-way announcements. Personal, positive messages to parents about their child’s progress and learning are golden for building trust between school and home. Parent organizations also have a lot to communicate, from fundraisers to volunteer opportunities.

Establish Clear Communication Roles

Check carefully that all aspects of school communication needs are covered, and that there are clear expectations and a clear division of responsibility for any specific communication aspect.

• Who will be responsible for announcing events?
• Who communicates the school’s and the community’s values?
• Who will conduct surveys for effective decision-making?
• Who will respond to parents’ feedback and questions?
• Who will announce important news that needs to reach the community as soon as possible, for instance, a school closure due to bad weather?
• Who will communicate the curriculum?
• Who will communicate volunteer opportunities?
• Who will drive the fundraising communication?

Consider dividing responsibilities by audience or a feature, such as a school-wide update vs. an event announcement. Name a support team that can double-check any information to be shared for accuracy.

Download School Communication Plan Template (.xlsx)

Set Expectations Around Timing and Frequency

Set expectations for school communication frequency, the day of the week, and the times when specific communication goes out. For instance, it would be recommended to send the newsletter at the same time each week so the community knows to anticipate it, look for it, and take any necessary action.

Set also rules on how quickly questions or comments should be responded to. For instance, you may create a 24-hour rule and require the entire community to adhere to it. A parent who contacts the school should not have to worry about when they will receive a response; they should rely on the knowledge that all inquiries and comments are responded to promptly, regardless of who they contact.

Establish a Consistent Tone of Voice

Together with your team, ensure they use a tone and style that reflect your school’s values. For instance, you may decide how parents are greeted and how the school communication should be signed. Consider clarity, conciseness, and consistency as key parameters in communication style, and review the principles of proactive communication strategies. Consistent email signatures and consistent use of the school’s identity collateral belong to this category, too.

Choose the Right Communication Channels

Consider different communication methods and their pros and cons. In the framework of media richness theories, identify in which cases lean channels are sufficient and in which cases reach channels, such as face-to-face meetings, are optimal.

• Evaluate the pros and cons of the use of social media in communication.
• Examine how communication is tracked: Is it tracked and permanently stored on a digital platform for reference?
• Examine the oversight for the communication: How do school leaders access communication to ensure it is aligned and intentional?
• What do you know about parents’ communication preferences? Do they prefer to use an app on their phone?
• Is communication provided in languages that ESL families can understand?

Using conferences as an example, your team needs to:

• Share dates and expectations
• Send reminders
• Keep families informed of any changes.

During evaluation, a school communication team might note that:

• The school needs to communicate the sign-up method clearly to all parents.
• Parents need enough time to sign up.
• Teachers should all send out invitations to families at the same time.

How to Structure School Communication Plan

Lasswell’s 5W Communication Model

A communication plan can be created by asking questions based on Lasswell’s 5W Communication Model: “Who Says What In Which Channel to Whom with What Effect?”

Lasswell’s 5W communication model frames communication through five essential questions:

• Who is responsible for sending the message?
• What is being communicated?
• In which channel will the message be delivered (e.g., app, email, meeting)?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What is the desired outcome or result?

This longstanding model provides a straightforward way to think through communication flow and be intentional about delivery, audience, and purpose.

School Communication Template

The example template below, based on the Laswell’s model, provides a practical approach to creating a communication plan. A table format works well for the plan and allows it to expand. The plan is created using seven columns:

• Column 1: Communication Type. Note that you might want to dedicate a separate tab to school events and reference them only on the main page.
• Column 2: Who is responsible? Use roles to ensure that the plan is structurally sound. You may add another column to define the person’s name.
• Column 3: Audience: Who is the receiver of school communication? Consider outlining communication practices for internal teacher/staff communication, too.
• Column 4: When the communication takes place. List exact dates if applicable.
• Column 5: Frequency. Is the need for communication annual or recurring
• Column 6: Channel. List all the channels that you will be using to communicate the information. Be consistent with the approach so families can learn to expect communication within certain channels.
• Column 7: Explain the reason for communication.

Your communication team can add additional columns to the template, such as a Resources column to approved communication templates, or a column for Support team members who don’t own the communication but will support it.

Download School Communication Plan Template (.xlsx)

Download School Communication Plan Template (.xlsx)

Share the Communication Plan with the Staff

Once your plan is ready, make sure all members who are expected to communicate with families are aware of and understand it. Share the plan with all staff members who communicate with families. Consider hosting a communications meeting with staff members who were not part of the communications team when the plan was put together, to review and discuss it, and make adjustments if needed.

Monitor Communication and Review the Plan

Monitor and review school communication, both its quality and quantity, and be ready to review the plan if you notice that families are asking the same questions, they are missing messages, or that engagement has dropped. Especially if you notice signs of families being reactive, it is time to take a deeper look to see whether they stem from poor communication.

When crafting the communication plan, decide with your communication team beforehand on a schedule for reviewing communication, such as mid-year. Check why the communication is not working: is the question technical (such as the channel is hard to use), or related to time (teachers state they don’t have allocated time), confusion (unclear communication roles), or lack of support and direction (staff member doesn’t know what to say and how). Work to strengthen the communication by clarifying the plan and supporting your staff.

Family Engagement Plan

A family engagement plan is often required and documented. If your school or district receives Title I funding, a family engagement plan is not optional. Under Section 1116, school leaders and staff are required to:

• Involve families in school planning and improvement.
• Provide opportunities for families to participate in their child’s education.
• Share information in a format and language that families can understand
• Build ongoing communication between school and home.
  
  

Form a Family Engagement Team

Family engagement requires partnership building and collaboration; all stakeholders should be represented, bringing their knowledge and insight to support family engagement planning.

At the district level, the California Department of Education recommends forming a balanced family engagement team with defined representation, such as:

• State and federal program staff
• Site administrators (principals)
• Teachers and counselors
• Parent leaders
• Community partners (e.g., after-school programs, faith-based organizations, business leaders)
• Support staff

The model recommends approximately 18 members to ensure a range of perspectives.

The Tennessee Department of Education outlines a similar family engagement team structure at the school level, including:

• School leaders
• Teachers
• Support staff
• Family representatives
• Community members
• Students (when appropriate)
  
  

Assess Family Engagement

To move beyond mandatory reporting and create a plan that yields real results, family engagement teams and committees should consider assessing the school climate and/or the status of family engagement.

Depending on the identified goals for engagement, family engagement teams can reach out to families with tailored engagement surveys to get information, feedback, and ideas.

Family engagement surveys should ask parents about several core areas: whether they feel welcomed and connected to the school’s mission; how clearly school policies, curriculum, and expectations are communicated; how accessible and easy the school is to communicate with; whether they have meaningful opportunities to contribute feedback or participate in decision-making within the appropriate scope of their role; and whether the school builds strong partnerships with community programs that support student learning.

You don’t need to come up with the questions on your own; you can use questions from established family engagement surveys, and/or contract consultation from these organizations or independent consultants.

During evaluation, a family engagement assessment team might take note that:

• Families receive information about when conferences take place, but the attendance is low.
• Teachers may not have guidance on how to structure the conversation.
• Families may not be invited to share their perspective.
• The meeting may focus on reporting information rather than discussion.

The team might recommend:

• Preparing teachers to lead meaningful conversations
• Making space for family input
• Ensuring families feel comfortable participating