Family Engagement Starts With Trust
Laurie King
Conventional family engagement activities such as back-to-school nights, conferences, curriculum nights, etc., are often unidirectional, tightly controlled, and aimed at short-term impact.
These types of activities (although important) can communicate that the school knows best and that "You need to trust us to know what's best for your child."
But many families (especially those on the margins) do not intrinsically trust education.
Asking parents for feedback, inviting their ideas, and acting on those ideas will create trust, which can then be leveraged to build strong family partnerships.
For more on this topic, you can check out this article by Jamila Dugan
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/co-constructing-family-engagement