Small-group coaching: Building Strong Family Engagement in Special Education
What you'll get
Through a series of hands-on coaching sessions, your school or district team will create a clear, step-by-step plan to improve Family Engagement in Special Education. Each session includes practical support, time to solve real problems, and ready-to-use tools.
Suggested participants:
A team of 3-6 people, including building or district leadership, Special Education leaders, Family Engagement coordinators, Family Liaisons
By the end of the series, your team will have:
- A clear vision for Special Ed family engagement
- Increased insight into how to support your families
- Stronger communication strategies that will help you build trust
- A detailed plan that fits your district’s goals for Family Engagement
- Practical tools like checklists, templates, and assessments to support your work
No matter where your team is in the process, this series will give you the knowledge, support, and tools to build strong, lasting partnerships with families of students with disabilities.
Cost
$2,500 for 8 sessions (team of 3-6 people)
Structure
- 8-session virtual series (1 hour per session)
- Bi-weekly or monthly sessions with action steps in between
- Take-away tools provided during each session to help you move forward
- Rooted in the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships
Want to learn more or schedule your series? Contact us
Agenda
Session 1
Defining your why:
What can strong Special Ed
family engagement do for you?We will provide grounding in Special Education Family Engagement and explore the problems you are hoping to solve through improved family engagement in Special Education.
What would success look like?
Take-away tool
Vision planning worksheet
Session 2
Assessment:
Identifying what’s working and where you want to buildBuilding on session 1, we will review what you know about how family engagement is going within your school or district.
We will help you outline and prioritize your highest impact opportunities for change.
Take-away tool
Family Engagement Self-Assessment Checklist
Session 3
Defining your prioritiesWe will explore which segments of your population are your priority for building collaborative relationships. This may be a cultural or linguistic group, families of transition-aged students, or others.
We will identify approaches and strategies to help address your biggest challenges.
Take-away tool
Understanding the needs of our families worksheet
Session 4
Creating positive
beginnings for families
new to Special EducationWe will review your practices with families who are new to Special Education and identify approaches that can help you build trust and strong relationships from the start with these families.
Take-away tool
IEP Welcome Kit
Session 5
Strengthening communication
to build trustWe will review your current communication practices to understand what’s working and what’s not serving you (or your families).
We will identify concrete changes you can make to improve communication with SPED families.
Take-away tool
Special Ed Communication Practice Assessment
Session 6
Identifying strategies for successUsing the priorities you identified in previous sessions, we will begin identifying tools and approaches that can help you move forward towards your goals.
Take-away tool
Menu of strategies
Session 7
Implementation planningIn this session we will develop a plan to implement the strategies you prioritized in session 6.
Take-away tool
Family Engagement Mad Libs tool
Session 8
Sustaining engagement:
What’s next for your team?Review progress against goals and identify concrete next steps for your team.
Take-away tool
Implementation checklist
Learn how Exceptional Lives can support you!
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