The importance of strong family partnerships has long been considered essential to supporting the success of students with disabilities. Special educators are uniquely positioned to enhance school-wide family engagement strategies. The focus of this practitioner-based presentation is to provide building-level school administrators and other school personnel with planning tools to implement culturally sustaining family-engagement for families with children with disabilities.

Learning Outcome:

Educational leaders and educators will deepen their understanding of students’ communities, families, and lived experiences to support meaningful and inclusive family engagement practices.

Participant Outcomes: By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Distinguish between family involvement and family engagement.
2. Identify school-wide strategies to build trust and maintain consistent, culturally responsive engagement with culturally and linguistically diverse families.
3. Design/apply strategically designed school-wide surveys that increase teachers’ and family members’ commitment to collaboration.