8 Regional Highlight: When Less is More
When More is Less: Unintended Pitfalls of Greater Engagement
One of the most common pitfalls within this work is thinking of family partnership/ engagement as more instead of different/ improved. Well-intended educators and clinicians add more events to the school calendars, increase the number and length of communications, solicit feedback through longer surveys, and generally ask more and more of families. We urge you to consider what unintended impacts this may have. Beyond the financial hardship of transportation costs to and from home to schools or centers, we are asking for more of their time. Time is precious and families need to balance the need to plan and prepare meals, support learning at home, and consider multiple childrens’ needs. Some families are caregivers for older generations, as well as children. Balancing all of these needs alongside their work schedules and basic tasks, such as cleaning their homes, is challenging. Let’s take a look at an education center whose staff acknowledged these competing priorities and reallocated resources to engage families more effectively!
Regional Highlight: The Roberta Webb Early Education Center
Parent and community involvement is at the heart of the Roberta Webb Early Education Center, a non-profit agency that serves children ages 2-5 in Harrisonburg, VA. The mission of the center is to support families with limited financial means and to provide inclusive access to high quality early childhood education. Tuition at Roberta Webb is on a sliding scale, meaning that tuition is determined based on the annual income level of each household each year. There are two programs funded by multiple agencies that provide early childhood education free of charge.
The majority of the parents and families whose children attend Roberta Webb have a busy work schedule and are unable to participate in school activities. Knowing that shopping for food, preparing meals, and taking time to eat the meals are all daily demands on adults’ time, the center leadership found creative solutions to provide more time. They provide gift cards that families can use for groceries of their choice, but they also provide a recipe and all ingredients for meals on virtual family nights. A family liaison organizes these virtual events where families can collaboratively prepare their assembled ingredients by following the instructors’ direction and modeling through a web-based conference. In addition, families receive food for meals twice a week so they can spend time engaging with the center staff and one another instead of preparing a meal.
