Design your school year

When it comes to engaging new and return families at the beginning of a school year, design thinking has a few secret ingredients you need to create a meaningful year. Check out a few essentials that will sustain relationships this year and beyond.

Choose from several options

Your approach to family engagement comes with many options. Brainstorm with members of your school board, parent volunteer groups and community members to hear their ideas.

Every person who comes into contact with your school is a stakeholder. They all have ideas about how they could be better engaged. Rather than making assumptions about their needs, get out and ask them. Leverage social media to post quick 3-5 question surveys. Social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow for easy sharing.

When creating your survey posts, pose one question each day. Have fun to draw the viewer. you can:

• Upload images or GIFs

• Embed videos and music

• Link to a meaningful podcast or news story related to the topic

Looks for patterns

Read the comments, having fun and taking any critical comments in stride. Collate the responses in a spreadsheet. Take note of any differences and similarities. Sort similar ideas together. Ask these questions:

• What stands out?

• What concerns you?

• What can we do now?

• What are our next steps?

Make small changes

The comments will serve as a beacon to guide your next steps. Design in family engagement means asking your stakeholders to help you see more perspectives. Design in family engagement means taking small steps to make small changes.

Ask the following questions as you forward:

• Who can do this now? How will they do it?

• Does this align with the school mission and vision?

• Is the outcome more engaged families?

Have fun, try a few new ideas and adapt as you go!