This article reviews practical family engagement tools and frameworks that help schools and planning committees measure family engagement, identify gaps, and create an action plan to strengthen school–home partnerships.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Today, due in large part to the influential work of Joyce L. Epstein and Dr. Karen L. Mapp, enhancing family engagement is now a common goal across schools and districts. Numerous studies demonstrate that meaningful partnerships with families help reduce absenteeism and strengthen student achievement.
To achieve any set goal, the school or district needs first to understand where it stands with family engagement. Is valuing family partnerships included in the school’s mission statement? Are parents invited not just to volunteer but also to shape the school’s policies? Do teachers communicate monthly with families and deliver positive updates? Is the role of homework communicated well to parents, and what steps has the school taken to support families as they raise their children in this digital era? Is the school connecting students and families with community programs? Does the school provide communication in the family’s home language? How do schools include and celebrate their students’ diverse cultures?
There is so much to assess, analyze, and pause on as schools look into their engagement practices. A systematic approach will help evaluate engagement, create an actionable plan, and implement it.
Practical Plans for Important Work
Improved school communication and family engagement do not have to be abstract concepts that are hard to measure or attain. Several family engagement assessment tools and frameworks have been developed by non-profit organizations, university programs, education departments, and private companies.
These guidelines help schools assess and measure their school-home relationship and chart a strategic plan of action to strengthen partnerships. The tools can be used as conversation openers or systematic ways to measure engagement and progress over time.
Before reviewing any of the tools below, I want to refer to Dr. Karen L. Mapp, who reminds us that school districts need to define the desired outcomes when designing family engagement surveys or choosing which existing survey to go with. Dr. Mapp states, “Design your questions based on the outcomes you want.” (Listen at 14:15)
1. MAEC: Family Engagement Assessment Tool (FEAT)
I’ve chosen MAEC’s Family Engagement Assessment Tool (FEAT) as the first tool because it is clear and thorough. The Family Engagement Assessment Tool (FEAT) is a self-assessment tool for schools and school districts to reflect on the role of family engagement. It is not a questionnaire for all parents, but rather for the Engagement Team to implement and analyze.
The tool includes 91 questions, divided into nine sections, ranging from how welcoming the school is to how families are provided with resources to support their child’s learning and development. The sections are:
- Self-Assessment on how welcoming the school is
- Self-Assessment on the usability and resources in the school/district website
- Self-Assessment on the inclusivity towards building trusting relationships with families
- Self-Assessment on how learning goals and support are communicated to parents
- Self-Assessment on parent communication: provided practices and opportunities
- Self-Assessment on communicating transitions to the next school year
- Self-Assessment on how the school supports families with knowledge of child development, behavior, and learning
- Self-Assessment on the extent to which families are being invited to school decision-making and policy
- Self-Assessment on how much the school collaborates with community programs.
The questions, thorough and rich, acknowledge parents’ role as caregivers, learning supporters, communicators, and partners with a voice and power to make an impact. A dedicated section of community partnerships aligns with Epstein’s home-school-community sphere model.
Even if your school does not want to assess every section, the tool includes worthwhile questions you may want to ask the parent body in person or via surveys.
The document does include one question that needs to be examined in a critical light:
Does the school/school system use various platforms to communicate with families (e.g., email, phone calls, newsletters, social media, face-to-face meetings, messaging apps, parent portals)?
This question highlights the need for parent communication and for ensuring parents receive it. However, through parent and teacher input, we at School Signals have learned that this approach often leads to fragmented communication and communication overload.
It is not always feasible to post the same message to multiple platforms, and some messages need to be omitted from specific platforms (such as social media) for privacy reasons. Scattered communication to various platforms makes communication unpredictable for parents. Additionally, the use of communication apps such as WhatsApp is often self-organized by a single teacher or a group of parents, without any administrative oversight of who receives the messages. A commitment to using a unified school communication platform, while providing support to parents who are not digitally literate, is a step towards controlling communication volume and understanding who receives messages.
How to Get the Family Engagement Assessment Tool (FEAT)?
MAEC is requesting that you fill out an online form. They will send an automatic email with a download link. Here is the link to the online form: https://maec.org/feat/#pdf
2. Flamboyan Foundation: Family Engagement Partnership (FEP) Program and Other Assessment Tools
Flamboyan Foundation is a family engagement advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, that offers a project-based approach to improving family engagement.
The organization’s flagship program, the Washington, D.C.-based Family Engagement Partnership (FEP), is intended to be implemented with Flamboyan coaches.
It includes 4 phases:
- Phase 1: Relationship Building
- Phase 2: Academic Partnering
- Phase 3: Leadership for Sustainability
- Phase 4: Graduation (completion of the project)
During these phases, schools examine their biases, focus on active listening, and develop strategies to include family voices in school-wide decision-making, all to build two-way partnerships with families.
The organization also offers consultation for schools outside its physical operational area. Additionally, I recommend checking out their website’s resources section. It includes multiple helpful free downloadable tools for family engagement assessment, such as:
- Beginning of Year Relationship Guide (for principals)
- Family Feedback Reflection Tool
- The School Leader Tool
- Ongoing Communication Reflection Tool (for teachers)
Additionally, you can take a digital assessment and access resources:
Reported impact: In 2025, a Johns Hopkins evaluation of the FEP across 12 DC elementary schools found that students whose families received a core engagement strategy (home visits within the FEP model) had 24% fewer absences and were more likely to read at or above grade level than comparable peers. Link
3. School Community Network by Academic Development Institute: Family Engagement Tool (FET)
School Community Network offers an online-based, two-year school improvement process for family engagement developed by the Academic Development Institute. The framework of the Family Engagement Tool (FET) presents the process as a principal-initiated, FET team-run program where the team meets to assess current policies and then set an action plan:
- The school principal first attends distance learning sessions.
- The school principal then forms the school’s FET team that includes staff and family members.
- The distance learning resources are shared with the FET team.
- School policy documents, such as parent involvement policies and homework guidelines, are reviewed by the FET team using the provided School Community Network rubrics.
- The FET team conducts a school community survey. Needs are assessed, and the team creates an action plan.
- Tools, workshops, and rubrics are utilized to plan improvement strategies to meet the set goals.
I suggest contacting the organization for more information, as sample assessment questions and assessment rubric examples are not available online. The info online indicates that the price of the two-year program has been $950. See source.
Reported Impact: Allen Elementary School in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, used FET to improve outreach to non-English-speaking families; the case story on the website notes greater family participation and more parents attending events after they acted on FET-identified needs.
4. Panorama Education with Dr. Karen Mapp: Family-School Relationships Survey
Panorama Education has an extensive survey to gather family feedback. The family-school relationships survey focuses on measuring families’ perceived capacity to contribute to their child’s learning. It was developed with Dr. Karen Mapp and later extended by other experts to specific question areas focusing on student cell phone use, the school’s cell phone policies and perceptions, and the use of AI technologies. The organization recommends selecting between 4 and 7 topics from the list of about 20. The survey is divided into the following sections:
- Family engagement
- School fit
- Family support
- Family efficacy
- Student’s learning behaviors
- School climate
- Student’s grit
- Barriers to engagement
- Roles and responsibilities
- School safety
- School-family communication
- Staff-family relationships
- School attendance
- Cell phones impact
- Cell phone policy impact
- Cell phone policy implementation
- Perception of AI
- Usage of AI
- Knowledge of AI
- AI Priorities: Foundations
- AI Priorities: Tools
- Free Responses
- Background questions
The survey is available for free, and it would work very well as converted to a digital format, such as School Signals online forms, where form filling can be set to anonymous.
5. California Department of Education: Family Engagement Toolkit
The California Department of Education developed a Family Engagement Toolkit in 2017 to help districts and schools have a strong resource to lean on when evaluating, reflecting on, and adjusting their family engagement plans and practices. The toolkit was developed specifically for California school districts, based on a review of 20 districts’ LCAPs, and is promoted by the California Department of Education as a resource “to help districts and schools.”
The toolkit defines strong family engagement as a type in which families can positively impact their children’s learning outcomes and school policies. While the toolkit does not provide exact questions or scales for evaluating existing family engagement, it offers ample examples of both weak and strong family engagement, making it easy to develop parameters and guiding questions. It is ideal for schools and districts that want to meet for reflective self-evaluation rather than a fixed scoring survey. I absolutely recommend downloading this rich resource to review with your school’s planning committee.
6. Tennessee Department of Education: Make the Connection: Creating an Effective School-Parent Compact.
Make the Connection: Creating an Effective School-Parent Compact by the Tennessee Department of Education (2018) includes parent survey ideas and a suggested timeline for the School-Parent Compact (Family Engagement Committee). It provides a detailed timeline for the family engagement compact, which extends over 20 months, of which 6 months are for planning work. If the goal of the committee is not just to set a plan but also to review and adjust engagement policies and practices, 1.5 years seems a realistic timeline. According to the guide, a school planning team should include:
• school leaders,
• teachers,
• school support staff (teaching assistants, school counselors, academic coaches, etc.),
• parent/family representatives,
• community members (not required, but best practice), and
• students (as appropriate).
Review this guide, especially if your district’s goal is to form a school engagement committee/team to evaluate and propose ideas and changes.
7. Communities In Schools (CIS): Family Engagement Survey
Communities in Schools is a fantastic non-profit with local chapters that support students and families in fighting absenteeism and providing grassroots support at the school level. In 2020, CIS, together with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), developed a Family Engagement Survey for schools to evaluate family engagement for planning and strategy.
The survey, available in both English and Spanish, includes 21 quantitative questions for families to complete and helps schools identify barriers families face in supporting learning and how inclusive the school feels across five domains (climate, leadership opportunities, communication, etc.). The survey’s multiple-choice questions would work just as well in an online format. I highly recommend this tool for parent-facing questions.
8. Leader Actions Rubric by National PTA
Leader Actions Rubric by National PTA is a thorough documentation and guide for school leaders to assess “their leadership actions toward cultivating a school culture that prioritizes strong family-school partnerships.” After reflections on vision setting, it includes assessing family-school partnership from several standards:
- Standard 1: Welcoming all families into the school community
- Standard 2: Communicating effectively
- Standard 3: Supporting student success
- Standard 4: Speaking up for every child
- Standard 5: Sharing power
- Standard 6: Collaborating with the community
The rubric provides examples of partnership building that look emerging, progressing, and finally excelling. With the plethora of examples, school leaders can use the tool as a quick assessment guide. This guide would work equally well as a reflection tool used in a school engagement planning committee.
How School Signals Powers Family Engagement Planning and Action
School Signals, an online digital school communication and engagement platform, can be used in multiple ways to plan and communicate a school’s family engagement plan and, later, to work towards actionable, authentic parent engagement and partnership.
During Family Engagement Evaluation
Forming a Committee — The engagement planning committee can work on the platform by creating a private group and adding members. The added members can be administrators, teachers, and parents. The committee has a private place to discuss topics, add meeting documents, and resources in one unified area.
Surveying Parents — The committee may create a parent engagement survey and announce it school-wide. The survey may be obfuscated for anonymous form filling. Parents may also fill out additional forms providing information on their interest in volunteering or the communication methods that work best for them.
Announcing Parent Events — The committee may create parent engagement events and workshops to hear directly from parents, and announce them in School Signals. The events may collect RSVP. An event integrated photo gallery is a great way to say thanks after the event.
After Forming Family Engagement Plan
Resources Area Provides Parents Information — The engagement team can add family resources to the School Signals Pages and Documents area. Parents have an easy-to-find place to access resources on homework support, parenting topics, children’s health curriculum, community organizations, and more. Parents can also access all school policy documents in one place.
Two-way Communication is Enabled — The School Signals platform enables parents to contact their child’s teacher, ask questions, or submit concerns. Multiple communication tools in School Signals support these goals: School Feed, Classroom News & Updates, private messaging a teacher, filling out an online feedback form, signing up for a parent-teacher conference, and looking up a phone number to call from the School Directory.
Strong PTA / PTO Supports Parent Engagement — Practical parent engagement takes place by empowering PTAs / PTOs to work effectively in an organized way: PTAs and PTOs have strong communication tools in place, so important parent communication is not siloed to WhatsApp groups or email threads, which may be entirely inaccessible for administrators and teachers.
Language Translation — School news and updates are automatically translated into the user’s chosen language.
In short, School Signals’ mission is to bridge the gap between school and home. Our digital platform is designed to provide school tools for unified, two-way communication while respecting families’ privacy and notification preferences. The system provides easy ways to invite parents to school events and volunteer opportunities, enables translation of communications, and offers a platform where resources and forms are easily accessible. All communication can be tracked, so schools understand how digital communication is received, unlike on social media, where schools cannot access these metrics.
The Takeaway
With family engagement measurement tools and guided frameworks, schools can first understand where they are with family engagement, form an engagement team, and create an action plan to be shared with families. Once the plan is implemented, there needs to be follow-up and readiness to adjust the plan.
Whether your school is looking for a step-by-step project implemented together with school-family engagement experts, educational online tools to help set the project planning, or sources for family engagement surveys and ideas for a plan of action, the above organizations have a lot to offer and open many doors.
Family Engagement FAQ
Why is family engagement important?
Karen Mapp defines family engagement as “full, equal, and equitable partnership among families, educators, and community partners to promote children’s learning and development, from birth through college and career” (Source, p.2)
When family engagement is understood at this deeper level, it becomes clear how much is at stake. Modern research consistently shows that strong family engagement — and the commitment it cultivates toward a child’s learning — reduces absenteeism and supports improved academic outcomes.
What are the member roles in a District level Family Engagement Team?
Family Engagement Toolkit – Continuous Improvement through an Equity Lens by the California Department of Education (p. 49) lists the following roles:
- District’s state and federal program staff – 3 members
- Site administrators – 3 members (principals)
- Teachers and counselors – 3 members
- Parent leaders – 3 members
- Community partners – 3 members (representing after-school program, faith-based organization, and business owner)
- Support staff – 3 members
The Tennessee Department of Education’s guide on School-Parent Compact (p. 10) outlines a school planning team members that should include:
- school leaders,
- teachers,
- school support staff (teaching assistants, school counselors, academic coaches, etc.),
- parent/family representatives,
- community members (not required, but best practice), and
- students (as appropriate).
How many members should be included to the Family Engagement Assessment team / committee?
The key is that the team / committee is balanced and represents a wide spectrum of voices. Given the number of different parties in a team, at least six roles, it is unlike that a team of under 10 representatives would have a diverse voice.
The Tennessee Department of Education’s guide (p. 6) reminds that “school/district employees who are also parents at the school cannot be counted as true parent representatives on any school team or committee.”
Family Engagement Toolkit – Continuous Improvement through an Equity Lens by the California Department of Education (p. 49) recommends 18 members for a district level team.
Should the Family Engagement Team/Committee survey parents?
Outreach and research methods may vary. A survey is an established way to get information and analyze trends but focus group interviews can be equally valuable if not more. The committee itself with its diverse body represents multiple voices and experiences.
Joyce L. 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. (source: School, Family, and Community Partnerships – Your Handbook for Action by Joyce L. Epstein and Associates)
What type of questions should family engagement survey ask from parents?
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.
What information do schools review beyond parent surveys?
Schools look beyond surveys when they try to understand family engagement. For example:
- Many schools track how families join school activities because this shows real participation. Some districts assess whether families attend meetings and conferences as part of their planning.
- Schools also pay attention to how communication works. Written guides for family engagement discuss the need to assess whether school messages and family response patterns are working.
- Across school improvement guides, analysts recommend examining attendance and participation data, as well as feedback, to understand where efforts are strong or weak.
In plain terms: Schools watch who shows up, how families respond to communication, and what patterns emerge over time.
What are the signs that a school’s family engagement approach needs to change?
Schools look for simple signals that something isn’t working well:
- If fewer families take part in events over time, that is a sign that current engagement is not reaching them. Official family engagement guides list attendance and participation patterns as key, observable indicators.
- Schools also watch for repeated feedback themes, like the same confusion or questions showing up again and again. Guidance for building engagement programs suggests using data and family feedback to identify areas that need improvement.
- If communication doesn’t lead to understanding or participation, this may also show where engagement needs adjustment, as described in practical school engagement resources.
Repeated low turnout, repeated confusion, and weak response patterns signal that schools may need to change their engagement approach.
How long does the family engagement committee/team work?
The Tennessee Department of Education’s guide (p. 18) provides a great timeline for family engagement compact that extends for 20 months of which is 6 months of planning work. If the goal of the committee is not just to set a plan abut also review and adjust the engagement policies and practices, 1.5 years looks to be a realistic timeline.
Does our school need to use family engagement consultants?
Family engagement consultants from community organizations can step in to help to kick start the planning and support the implementation steps. They may work with your district virtually or in-person.
How does School Signals empower the work of family engagement committees or teams?
School Signals provides a practical platform for committees and teams to do their planning work.
The platform can be used to post school-wide and targeted news and updates, create invite events, and reach out to families by private messaging, and foster unified, clear, concise, and regular communication. The platform is digital and should not replace but supplement and aid in-person conversations.
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