Epstein’s Parent Engagement Model: How To Make an Impact

Introduction

Anyone working in school communication and fostering positive school cultures should familiarize themselves with Joyce L. Epstein and Associates’ impressive (and cohesive) book, School, Family, and Community Partnerships – Your Handbook for Action.

Epstein’s practical school-home partnership action plan, backed up with an educational research, is a gold standard of building partnerships with families and bridging the gap not just between school and home, but also between the school and community. What is powerful about the Joyce L. Epstein’s model is how the three spheres -school, home, and community- influence child, overlapping and supporting each other’s work.

The three interconnected spheres work seamlessly in the child’s life without divisiveness. Epstein (2009, p. 11) gives tangible examples of how school should feel more like home, homes should feel more like school, and communities should provide enriching educational experiences for families. Consider it a triple effect when school, home, and the community sync together in a partnership to benefit students’ learning and academic outcomes.  Here are the key takeaways from the Epstein model reflected in the framework of school communication design and planning.

Schools Must Unlock Both Institutional and Individual Levels of Communication

Joyce L. Epstein identifies two communication levels: the institutional level, which includes communication to all families, and the individualized level, which encompasses communication between a parent and a teacher. Both levels provide opportunities to connect with families. Schools must make sure in their communication action plan that communication is easy and engagement effective not just between a teacher and a parent but also school-wide. 

The problem of using multiple siloed platforms and apps is that they not only divert attention and are hard to keep up with, but they also dilute the messaging from official to unofficial, making it hard to know which communication represents the school’s voice. 

Children Have a Role in Connecting School and Family

Epstein brings up the vital role of a student in the school-home communication. She regards students’ role highly valuable in connecting school and home. Students are not just messengers, but they actively navigate between school and home, bridging the gap. While modern school communication methods via apps and various direct notification methods remove some of the traditional messenger role from the student, we should keep students in focus when planning communication models. After all, schools are about students, and keeping students at the front and center is essential. For example, the recent student-led parent-teacher conference model suggests that students proudly showcase their work and enjoy being active members between the school and home.

Language Translation Is Essential

Epstein repeats the need for language translations and sees it as a benchmark of an inclusive school community. Translation tools and community support is essential for families who do not speak English and/or don’t have community connections to help them navigate a school system that is somewhat foreign to them. Read how to build connections with ESL families.

Translating communication to a recipient’s language is a clear and, quite frankly, straightforward benchmark of an inclusive school community. Today, thanks to AI technology, translation solutions are very accessible and can be integrated as part of the school communication solution. When schools form a communication plan, it’s vital to check on the language translation needs and ensure that any school communication application that the school adopts has adequate translation tools.

All Parents Belong to the Partnership

Epstein emphasizes in her research that school communication and parent volunteering must be inclusive and reach the whole parent community. The author underlines that volunteer opportunities shouldn’t be limited to school hours but should extend to community partnerships and off-school hours to get all parents involved. Additionally, volunteer opportunities should be culturally inclusive, and all families’ knowledge, including those who are not as educated or come from other countries, should be valued. When families navigate the three spheres -school, home, and community- extending the opportunities to local community partnership programs makes sense.

Schools should recognize that just like in fundraising, where all contributions matter, volunteering is an effort valued in building the fibers of a positive school climate and culture.

Parents, including Parent Organizations, Must Be Involved in the Decision Making

Epstein writes, “Include parents in school decisions, developing parent leaders and representatives.” (2009, Epstein and Ass., p. 16) However, when it comes to operating parent-driven school engagement, many parent organizations communicate in a silo. They may self-organize a WhatsApp group or a text message thread. While this may be a quick approach to connect with a handful of parents, it misses several benchmarks, such as:

• Not connecting with the broader school community and being able to reach out to get new members.
• Not bridging the communication gap between school leaders and parents, and missing out on collaboration opportunities between teachers and staff.
• Not providing communication transparency in case of a dispute or conflict.

School leaders should recognize the critical interconnected work parents are doing, and support their efforts by selecting a platform that empowers parent-to-parent communication.

School Events Facilitate Positive School Communities. School Communication Includes Events Engagement.

With her framework of six types of involvement in creating school-family partnerships, Epstein reminds us to consider school events broadly as tools to facilitate partnership building. She sees parenting support as a cornerstone of school-home partnerships, and reminds that school events should include hosting parenting workshops, seminars, and courses. Likewise, schools can promote local community events that support parenting and education. (2009, Epstein and Ass., p. 16-17)

Parent Engagement and Its Impact Needs to Be Measured

Epstein suggests forming a one-year action plan for school-parent partnerships, and upon completion, measuring the successes of the program and identifying shortcomings. Feedback can be gathered throughout the year after school events and parent activities, and a larger evaluation may be conducted every few years district-wide. Since wide-scale surveying may take ample resources, Epstein suggests smaller-scale focus group interviews to gather parent feedback.

The Takeaway

In our digital era, we expect to be connected and informed. Yet scattered apps and fragmented channels have made it harder to achieve. Who is in charge? Who is included? How is communication coordinated?

Joyce L. Epstein’s school-home partnership model states that partnerships are strongest when communication is clear, shared, and steady across the three spheres of school, family, and community. Family Engagement Committees can support this work and make sure communication aligns with mutually shared goals.

School communication platforms that are designed per Epstein’s principles foster the school-home partnership. Students feel the positive difference when families and schools are rooted in the same conversations and the shared community.