Parent/Family Engagement: Adult Support

Big Picture Learning believes that parent/guardian engagement in a child’s learning is essential to student success. Big Picture does not only enroll students, we enroll families – and involve them in all aspects of student learning. By bringing students out into the community and bringing the community into the school, Big Picture schools become community assets and positive, learning-rich contributors to their surrounding neighborhoods, towns, and cities.

Parents and families are essential to the success of Big Picture Learning schools from the process of start-up through day-to-day operation. Most importantly, we are intentional about engaging families in their children’s education by asking them to regularly participate in learning plan meetings and attend exhibitions. Families serve as resources, providing information about their child’s strengths, weaknesses, and lives outside of school. They also serve as resources to the school community by connecting the school with potential LTIs and mentors; many parents and family members serve as mentors themselves.

Families play an active role in the school community including political support of the school, participation in celebrations and social gatherings, and the support of new parents and students. They are also viewed as life-long learners who need support to learn how to play a proactive role in the school lives of their children through high school, on to college, and in the professional world.

Essential Elements of Parent/Family Engagement include:

• Families are actively involved in the education and school life of their children
• Parental voice is vital in school organization and culture
• Families attend and participate in learning plan meetings and exhibitions
• Parents are involved in recruitment and enrollment processes
• Families are engaged in the college search process
• Families play an important and proactive role in garnering political and community support for Big Picture Learning schools