The Importance of Family Engagement

What is Family Engagement?

At Start Early, we define family engagement as “partnering with families to build mutually respectful, goal-oriented relationships that support strong parent-child relationships, family well-being and ongoing learning and development for both parents and children.”

Generally, family engagement focuses on the importance of positive, interactive relationships between program staff and parents – relationships that enhance and support children’s learning.

More recently, family engagement efforts are being co-designed along with families to promote equity and parent leadership, which is in line with how we at Start Early approach and define the concept.

What is Start Early's Family Engagement Approach?

Our approach to family engagement involves a new way of thinking for families, staff, and program leaders. We support methods that encourage and support parent involvement –  where parents partner with program staff in creating nurturing and supportive learning environments for young children.

The Benefits of Family Engagement

Family engagement in early education is important for all children. It helps create consistency between home and school environments and shows that engaged, involved parents produce positive outcomes for their children!

Research shows that increased support for children’s learning at home, empowered parents, and improved family well-being lead to benefits like:

• Improved cognitive development
• Improved academic performance
• Better social-emotional development
• Improved health outcomes

It is no surprise, then, that family engagement is an essential component of high-quality early childhood care and education.

Engaging families as partners early in the educational journey allows parents to establish strong home-school connections that support their children’s achievement long-term.