Feeling at Odds
Differing Expectations: School and Home
Feeling at Odds
Special educators report feeling unequipped and unsupported when engaging with students and their families. They report particular difficulty with addressing challenging student behavior, integrating family input into the IEP process, and navigating language barriers and cultural differences that make it difficult to communicate with families and students effectively.
Principals play a key role in building the capacity of their staff to effectively engage with students and families. They can provide clear policies and practices regarding family and student engagement, take on the primary role of building relationships with families, and model meaningful and productive engagement strategies for teachers.
“Unfortunately, some teachers have negative views regarding families’ roles in children’s education and feel unprepared to effectively communicate with families.”
- Smith & Sheridan, 2019 Source
Principal Rivera: Mismatched Expectations at Home and School
Learn from Principal Rivera as he leads by example in strengthening partnerships with families of students with disabilities while building special educators' capacity for supporting effective family engagement.
Toolkit 5: Engaging Successfully with Students and Families
Explore strategies that research and best practices highlight, along with short, medium, and long-term solutions, as crucial for successfully communicating, coordinating, and engaging with students with disabilities and their families.
This tool was developed in partnership with the Collaborative for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR Center), a federally funded technical assistance center working to build the capacity of state personnel preparation systems to prepare teachers and leaders to implement evidence-based practices within multi-tiered systems of support.