Parent and Family Engagement Guides & Resources

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

NAEP is the nation's only ongoing representative survey of student achievement in core subject areas. NAEP provides useful information about student academic achievement at the state and national level.

Our library of downloadable publications will help parents and families understand school improvement; how Title I, Part A works; what to expect from the school and district; and how to encourage academic achievement.

Whole Child Initiative | OSPI

Jumpstart your Whole Child initiative with the Family & Community Engagement Modules and the Powerless to Powerful leadership framework. Build a solid foundation for whole-child programming by strengthening relationships between staff, students, and families. 

Multilingual Families Toolkit

The Multilingual Families Toolkit | Spanish is designed to help Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) create and maintain effective strategies with multilingual families. We explore and model best practices for the use of technology in teaching, as well as for assessing and communicating with diverse adults. The toolkit is applicable for face-to-face, blended, and online instruction. In addition, it includes a section on state and federal allowable costs and technology resources for adult computer literacy training.

Parent Guide Infographics

Title I, Part A, Your Child Infographics

Title I, Part A Your Child poster: English | Spanish | Russian | Vietnamese

What is Title I, Part A? Infographics

What is Title I, Part A infographic: English | Chinese | Korean | Punjabi | Russian | Somali | Spanish | Tagalog | Vietnamese

Parents Right to be Informed Infographics

Parent's Right to be Informed infographic: English | Chinese | Korean | Punjabi | Russian | Somali | Spanish | Tagalog | Vietnamese

Interpreters & Translators

Schools must communicate with all parents in a language they can understand. This includes notifying limited-English proficient parents - in a language they can understand - about all programs, services, and activities that are called to the attention of other parents.

Master Contract for Phone Interpretation Services

The Department of Enterprise Services has a contract for phone interpretation that schools or districts can arrange to use. Once a school or district has set up an account, users can access interpreters in more than 170 different languages, 24 hours a day, every day of the year (no appointment needed). The interpreter can even listen and identify the language that the parent is speaking. With a phone interpreter, school staff can communicate with families who need assistance through an interpreter on the phone. This service can also be used for in-person meetings with the interpreter on speaker phone.

Master Contract for Written Translation Services

The Department of Enterprise Services has a contract for written translation that schools and districts can arrange to use. 

Qualified, Competent Interpreters and Translators

Schools must provide language assistance to limited-English proficient families effectively with appropriate, competent staff-or appropriate and competent outside resources. It is not sufficient for the staff merely to be bilingual. For example, some bilingual staff and community volunteers may be able to communicate directly with limited-English proficient families in a different language, but not be competent to interpret in and out of English (e.g., consecutive or simultaneous interpreting). Schools should ensure that interpreters and translators have knowledge in both languages of any specialized terms or concepts to be used in the communication at issue. In addition, schools should ensure that interpreters and translators are trained on the role of an interpreter or translator, the ethics of interpreting or translating, and the need to maintain.