Family Engagement Resources for Family, Schools, and Communities

OSU's Family Engagement Page - Access tools and resources developed by The Ohio State University to support family engagement in schools and communities. These free resources may benefit both families and professionals. Topics include early literacy, parent-teacher partnership and team models, child behavior, positive behavior and intervention support, and statewide family engagement connections.

Mindshift: Helping Families Ask Questions - Learn more about the question formulation technique used to empower families to ask meaningful questions about their child’s education. QFT, or the question formulation technique, is an excersise tool used to practice asking, categorizing and reflecting within the context of a parent teacher conference. Users of QFT report higher engagement and more meaningful conversation.

Charting the Lifecourse Family Resource Network - The Charting the Lifecourse Framework is a unique decision making and planning tool for families. It provides users the opportunity to identify their ideal life and plan backwards to achieve their goals. Charting the LifeCourse framework was created to help individuals and families of all abilities, and at any age or stage of life develop a vision for a good life, think about what they need to know and do, identify how to find or develop supports, and discover what it takes to live the lives they want to live.

Collaborative Networks for Student Support and Family Engagement are Predictors for Success - View this short and simple Take 5 webinar to learn how to build strong support networks for transition age youth. These networks may include agencies, community members, and of course the family.

Helping Youth Develop Soft Skills for Job Success: Tips for Families - Family members can help their youth with disabilities by working with and encouraging them to develop soft skills, such as communication and decision making. By improving these soft skills, a youth can enhance his or her social life, do better in postsecondary studies, and be more successful at finding and maintaining employment. This document list several strategies that families can use to help youth develop soft skills.