Learn about our Improving the Odds for Young Children project.
Family engagement is now recognized by early childhood educators as a critical component of early care and education (ECE) programs. This recognition stems from a body of research showing the important role of family engagement in children’s early learning and development. While classroom quality assessments can help programs identify teaching practices in need of improvement, there are few practical tools currently available that can help ECE programs gauge the strength of supports for family engagement that matter most to family wellbeing and children’s early learning, and identify steps needed to improve these supports. This brief presents information about a new tool, The Family Engagement Assessment and Planning Tool (FEAP-T), designed to help ECE program staff engage in these tasks.