Introduction

America’s school system is an every changing and evolving component of the nation’s culture. As it continues to change to meet the needs of its inhabitants, schools continue to face the issue of meeting the needs of its student population. One component of the educational landscape is creating schools that encourage involvement and interactions with families, students, and community stakeholders as well as the school staff. In an effort to improve the education of students, schools seek to engage families in supporting their students, thus improving the odds of their student’s educational, and lifelong success. Traditionally, schools seek this engagement in the form of involvement, asking for parent volunteers with school projects, parent-teacher conferences, and daily help at home with student’s homework. More recently, involvement is being traded in for engagement. This blog seeks to explain the differences between involvement and engagement, share the purpose of engagement, as well as its affect on the student population that it serves.