Engage Families in Inclusive Technology Systems
Get Started with Leadership Practices:
The research is clear. Implementing strong, authentic family engagement practices has a positive impact on educators, families, and learners themselves. Classroom educators aren’t the only educators interfacing with families these days. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory suggests that layers of educators and education services impact the way the learner is able to experience and interact in their learning environment. These layers also impact the way families are required to advocate and make decisions to best support their children and youth.
Each area of the CITES framework can elicit barriers for learners and families, particularly learners with disabilities and their families. It is with this concept in mind that the CITES Family Engagement practices are elevated as a critical element of the CITES framework.
CITES family engagement practices across the framework areas include:
- Engage families in leadership
- Engage families in infrastructure
- Engage families in teaching
- Engage families in learning
- Engage families in assessment
Investigate District Family Engagement Practices
Watch this video to take the first step toward designing inclusive ecosystems by defining inclusive technology. Visit the rest of our video series: Building a Foundation for Inclusive Technology Systems.
Grab your team and get started with the CITES Self-Assessment: Family Engagement Practices
The CITES framework family practices went through a robust knowledge development process. The process started with a literature review, then a landscape analysis that surveyed over 300 family members of students with disabilities. And finally, our team conducted focus groups with families and interviews with district teams that focused on quality family engagement.
Download our Literature Review on Family Engagement.