The toolkit is designed to address the following questions and challenges: Family engagement activities are often isolated from other initiatives in districts; Family engagement staff in districts often work in a silo, not in collaboration with other district departments; Families of low-income students and families of students of color are often underrepresented in family engagement activities; Educators struggle with how to evaluate family engagement programs and activities, beyond tracking the number of participants attending events; While opportunities for family members to gain skills and knowledge are growing, building educators’ capacity to partner with families is not yet a focus in many districts.
The California Special Education Technical Assistance Network (CalTAN) is developed in association with California’s Statewide System of Support and funded by the California Department of Education.