School is back in session, and all of the summertime planning, policy updates, and PD have you well-positioned for a fantastic year. 

The start of the school year is the perfect time to connect with families to share goals, academic plans, and partnership opportunities for the year ahead. Implement these four Back-to-School ideas to set your school up for successful family engagement events during the first months of the school year.

Prioritize Accessibility 

Despite best efforts, there will always be families that you don’t reach with engagement opportunities. Keep trying to cast as wide a net as possible anyway. Connect with as many parents as  by offering a variety of “welcome back” events for families, prioritizing accessibility. 

In practice, this could mean hosting in-person meetups, virtual sessions, making house calls, setting up office hours, calling on the phone, or using text-based communication to start having meaningful conversations with parents. Provide childcare and transportation for in-person events, and offer different hours to accommodate families with varied work schedules.

Call on Community

When it comes to planning family engagement activities, your community is your superpower. Strengthen ties with community leaders and local organizations to explore partnership opportunities for events throughout the year that facilitate connection and community building.

Create a community calendar with important dates, holidays, local events, and religious celebrations, so you can schedule family engagement activities accordingly. Dr. Marcia Russell from the Santa Cruz County Office of Education shares that a calendar like this is a non-negotiable for her event planning. “I handwrite on that calendar in color-coded marker, every major student event, every family event, every professional development, and all of these larger community events. 

That really helps to ensure that you’re not actually overlapping with other important events that are happening in the community. It also helps me to really try and make sure that I, as a leader, am attending as much as possible.”

Make Meaningful Connections

Getting to know your students, their families, and their lived experiences is crucial for every school leader. Draft a list of authentic, genuine questions to ask your students’ families, and really listen to the answers you hear. Give caregivers the opportunity to write in their answers, anonymously if they prefer, if they’re uncomfortable with face-to-face conversations.

Home visits, which can be scary, are also extremely beneficial for getting a glimpse at each student’s life outside of school. “I learned so much with my families when actually visiting with them and being invited into their homes,” Dr. Russell shares. 

By prioritizing opportunities to talk with families, you’ll naturally uncover the realities, cultural barriers, and hidden beliefs that could be hampering your outreach efforts. At one school, a highly involved grandfather avoided joining an English Learner Advisory Committee because in his culture it was disrespectful to tell teachers what to do, since they’re the experts. At another, parents confessed to feeling social anxiety and a fear of being judged by other families. Addressing actual barriers starts with honest, vulnerable communication.

Lean into Creativity

Connecting with parents and students from the start will only be possible if you create events that families are enthusiastic about attending. Use your community calendar to identify local clubs that might be interested in partnering up for a dual event, like the school who invited a local lowrider club to host a show on the football field during Back-to-School night, and broke attendance records.

These beginning-of-the-year activities give families and teachers a low-stakes way to get to know each other and chat. Brainstorm event ideas that will generate buzz from your community, based on your outreach and conversations with students and parents. Find a date that doesn’t coincide with any big local celebrations, then start reaching out to the community. Partner with your local library branch to share Back-to-School information alongside library card sign-ups, learning about public library resources, and book information from the school librarian. Create a drawing where attendees are entered to win prizes donated by local businesses, or creative experiences, such as a science lab sleepover or lunch with your teacher.

Back-to-School Ideas for Year-Round Family Engagement

The energy and enthusiasm that teachers, parents, and students have at the beginning of a new school year means this is the perfect time to host events that draw in families eager to make connections, ask questions, share information, and get to know the school community. By channeling Back-to-School energy into community partnerships, accessible events, thoughtful conversation-starters, and creative prizes, you’ll cast as wide a net as possible and create an engaged parent community who feels welcome, understood, and empowered to co-create learning experiences for their children all year long.