Healthy family–school partnerships benefit students, parents, teachers, schools, and the community. Developing these partnerships is essential for student success and crucial to PTA’s work to positively impact the lives of children and families.
The Family Engagement Commission is dedicated to building inclusive, equity-based family engagement practices among PTA units, councils, and districts to improve educational excellence throughout California. We seek to motivate PTA leaders and empower PTA members to take action to meet the specific needs of their own children and support the comprehensive needs of all children. To achieve success for students, parents (and all adult caregivers) should work with schools as full partners, with inherent rights and responsibilities and acknowledging that there is expertise among both educators and families about what’s right for kids.
True family engagement isn’t about simply checking a box for compliance purposes; it signifies a shared effort between teams of adults working in partnership to make each child’s potential a reality.
Helping You Build Strong Local Family Engagement
The California State PTA Family Engagement Commission (composed of volunteers from across the state) supports local PTAs and promotes meaningful family engagement efforts through statewide programs and policy advocacy.
Some of our work includes:
- Promoting collaboration and engagement of families and educators in the education of children and youth;
- Encouraging participation in decision-making through appropriate input into each Local Education Agency’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).
- Writing articles for PTA publications, including regular “Family Engagement Friday” blog posts (read them here).
- Making recommendations to the California State PTA Legislation Action Committee on legislation about issues such as before-/after-school programs; child care; early childhood education; family engagement policies; financial literacy; literacy; parent education/skills development; and some issues related to foster families, family planning, and undocumented immigrants.
- Participating in state-level task forces and special committees that address parent involvement and family engagement issues.
- Reviewing PTA position statements pertaining to Family Engagement for continued relevance, for the purposes of advocacy and informing policy makers, the public, PTA members, and the media.
The Family Engagement Commission supports local engagement efforts in many ways; from educating local PTA leaders and educators about practices that work to taking part in state level activities that raise the visibility of those practices everywhere in California. We help our local PTAs build the ability and willingness of school employees and parents to join forces in making the best decisions for children. (Click here for more information.)
Commission Members
The Family Engagement Commission for the 2021-23 term consists of the Vice President, nine members of the California State PTA Board of Managers, and two consultants. This dedicated and diverse group of PTA leaders brings considerable experience and a wide range of expertise to our efforts this term.