Flamboyan Foundation Celebrates First Anniversary of Family Engagement Assessment Tool

First-of-its-Kind Tool Strengthens Family Engagement through Personalized Recommendations for Educators  

One year ago, Flamboyan launched the Family Engagement Assessment Tool, a first-of-its-kind Tool for PreK-12 educators that helps them assess their practice and provides customized resources for targeted improvement. 

We’re excited to share that since its launch, more than 2300 educators have taken the tool from nearly all 50 states, plus DC and Puerto Rico! These numbers mean that in addition to supporting educators with their practice, the Tool is also helping us gather valuable information from the field about what educators need to sustain REAL Family Engagement.  

Here are a few of the things we’ve learned in the last year: 

• Tool takers are predominantly elementary school teachers at a public school with over 10 years of experience. 
• Tool takers predominantly self-identify as white and women, and most likely work in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, Washington state, or Nevada. 
• The strongest domain was Asset-Based Beliefs about Families, with respondents strongly agreeing with the statement, “I believe there are numerous ways in which families can support their children’s learning.” 
• The domain with the greatest growth potential was Ongoing Communication Methods, with respondents only slightly agreeing with the statement, “I share extra resources and tools with families that they can use to help their child reach their academic goals at least once a month.” 

“Not only has the Tool provided educators meaningful results to understand and improve their family engagement practice, but it’s given Flamboyan critical information from the field about how we can better support educators,” said Patience Peabody, Executive Director of Flamboyan’s Washington DC office. “The popularity of the Assessment Tool across this year leaves us encouraged that educators find REAL Family Engagement compelling, and that they are committed to meaningful relationships with students and families.” 

Developed with and for educators, the Family Engagement Assessment Tool supports strengthening academic and socio-emotional outcomes for students, particularly those most impacted by inequity. It helps educators understand how their practice embodies the mindsets, beliefs, and actions critical to REAL Family Engagement by measuring educators’ practice across four domains that build upon each other:  

• Asset-Based Beliefs About Families 
• Relationship Building and Establishing Trust 
• Ongoing Communication Methods 
• Academic Partnering 

The Tool is intended to be taken more than once, and we recommend you retake the tool every couple of months to see how your practice has grown and continue building your skills. 

To learn more about the Family Engagement Assessment Tool, visit www.engageyourfams.org.