Family and Community Relationships
What is tested
Family engagement, communication, cultural responsiveness, use of community resources, and the transition into kindergarten.
Engagement versus involvement
Epstein's six types of involvement are parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with community. Involvement is often school-directed (attend, help out); engagement is shared responsibility, with families treated as partners in decisions about their child.
Culture and funds of knowledge
Children bring funds of knowledge: household skills, languages, routines, and community networks. Cultural humility beats 'colorblind' claims - learn each family's preferences about language, religion, discipline, and food. Interpreters and translated materials are a right, not a favor. Avoid deficit framing of low-income or non-English-speaking families.
Communication
Keep it two-way, regular, and specific: positive notes first, newsletters, apps, phone calls, and conferences that open with the child's strengths. Ask families what they actually want to know. Handle disagreement with confidentiality and documentation.
Community and transitions
Partner with libraries, health departments, museums, food banks, and social services. Support kindergarten transitions with visits, shared records, and family orientation. Know your mandated-reporting duty: suspicion of abuse or neglect goes to the Oklahoma DHS hotline, and whether to inform the family is not your call when doing so could endanger the child.
Worked example
A family never attends afternoon conferences. Reasoning: the barrier is logistics, not apathy. Offer phone or video conferences, evening slots, and a written summary, and ask which format works before concluding the family is disengaged.
Traps
Equating attendance with support; using jargon in conferences; mistaking a language difference for a language delay; promising confidentiality you cannot keep.