Family Engagement Toolkit

Oct 15, 2026

Family Engagement Toolkit provides customizable templates for facilities to engage families in a child’s education. It defines “family” inclusively, covering parents, guardians, educational surrogate parents, and other caregivers with parental rights. The toolkit explains NDTAC’s mission to support youth neglected, delinquent, or at risk of academic failure and outlines how schools and community agencies can use Tools 1–4 for families and Tools 5–7 for facility staff.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time1 h 21 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Purpose of the Family Engagement Toolkit

Overview of the Facility Toolkit

How the Facility Toolkit Was Developed

Tools for Families

Tool 1: Sample Letter to Parents

Tool 2: Contact List Template

Tool 3: Sample Education Questionnaire with Cover Letter for Families

Tool 4: Family Tip Sheet

Tools for Facilities

Tool 5: Faculty and Staff Tip Sheet on Engaging Families

Tool 6: Facility Self-Assessment Tool

Tool 7: Family Engagement Planner

July 2022 Washington, D.C. Family Engagement Toolkit About the National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk (NDTAC) This document was developed by the National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk (NDTAC), which is funded by a contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to Longevity Consulting in Washington, D.C. The mission of NDTAC is to improve educational programming for youth who are considered to be neglected, delinquent or atrisk of academic failure. NDTAC’s mandates are to: • provide information, resources, and direct technical assistance to States and those who support or provide education to youth who are considered to be neglected, delinquent or at-risk of academic failure; • develop a model and tools to assist States and providers with reporting data and evaluating their services; • serve as a facilitator to increase information-sharing and peer-to-peer learning at State and local levels. For additional information on NDTAC, visit the Center’s Web site at [https://neglected-delinquent.ed.gov](https://neglected-delinquent.ed.gov) What is the purpose of this Toolkit? This NDTAC Family Engagement Toolkit provides useful templates for facilities to use to Engage families in their child’s education. Tools 1–4 are intended for distribution to students' families, and tools 5-7 are intended for use by facility staff. All tool/templates are customizable to meet the unique needs of each facility and the families it serves. “Family” Note Federally funded school programs require the involvement of family members who have parental rights or an educational surrogate parent. For example, within the U.S. Department of Education’s statutory requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended in 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act, parents are entitled to take part in planning their child’s education services and overall program planning, which allows parents access to program plans, budgets, evaluations, and performance data. Throughout the toolkit, the word “family” is an inclusive term that includes parents, other family members providing care, legal guardians, and educational surrogate parents. Per the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), an educational surrogate parent is a trained adult whose job is to protect the educational rights of the child and to advocate for and make education decisions in the best interest of the child when a parent or family member is not available or does not have parental rights. The content of this document does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. This document was produced by Longevity Consulting through funding from the U.S. Department of Education, contract no. 91990020F0372. Permission is granted to reproduce this document. Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Purpose of the Family Engagement Toolkit............................................................................................................... 4 Overview of the Facility Toolkit ................................................................................................................................ 4 How the Facility Toolkit Was Developed .................................................................................................................. 5 Tools for Families ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 Tool 1: Sample Letter to Parents ...............................................................................................................

FAQs

What is the purpose of the Family Engagement Toolkit?

It provides useful, customizable templates for facilities to engage families in a child’s education and support learning and development.

Which tools are meant for families and which are for facility staff?

Tools 1–4 are intended for distribution to students’ families, while Tools 5–7 are intended for use by facility staff.

How does the toolkit define “family”?

“Family” is an inclusive term that includes parents, other family members providing care, legal guardians, and educational surrogate parents with defined roles in protecting educational rights.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Riley West