A 15-Hour Professional Learning Experience with Laura Gardner

Strong family engagement doesn’t happen by accident—especially for immigrant and refugee families navigating unfamiliar school systems.

The Family Engagement Pathway helps educators build the knowledge, awareness, and skills needed to create authentic partnerships with English learner and immigrant families, grounded in research and community-responsive practices.

articipants will:

• Understand the Dual Capacity-Building Framework and other key theories of family engagement

• Gain insight into the journeys, strengths, and challenges of immigrant families in their interactions with schools

• Learn how to welcome families and provide meaningful language access

• Understand how to orient English learner and immigrant families to the U.S. educational system

• Discover strategies for increasing the capacity of both families and school staff to engage in partnerships

• Apply the Dual Capacity-Building Framework specifically to English learner and immigrant family engagement

Why This Pathway Matters

Family engagement initiatives are most effective when they:
✔ Recognize families as leaders and partners
✔ Build mutual capacity—not one-way communication
✔ Address language access and cultural responsiveness
✔ Connect family engagement to equity, leadership, and community organizing