Hawai'i Statewide Family Engagement Center

Our purpose is to implement high impact family engagement strategies, programming and policies that build powerful partnerships among family, school, and community. We promote Family Engagement as a learning and equity strategy to improve student academic success and school improvement.

Enroll in the HFEC Self-Paced Online Course

Introduction to Family Engagement:
The Link to Improving Student Achievement

Learn strategies for promoting students’ learning and development with an emphasis on the role of families in supporting their children’s learning at home. Participants will be able to identify and adopt evidence-based family engagement practices that support their school’s current curriculum (within the unique Hawaiian context of the Nā Hopena A‛o Framework) in assessing and teaching ALL students, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse populations. The course is asynchronous and free!

Earn a certificate after completing these course requirements:

Five self-paced modules
Four multiple choice quizzes
One assignment
Post-course survey

To get started, complete the registration request form.

Course Team:

Instructors: Dr. Caryl Hitchcock and Victoria Timmerman
Instructional Designer: Lauren Lum Ho (laurenlh@hawaii.edu) – Contact Lauren for registration questions and technical support

2021 Spring Family Engagement Strategy Showcase

Session 1: Supporting Micronesian Families in Hawai’i Webinar

The Hawai’i Statewide Family Engagement Center (HFEC) is pleased to present a mini professional development series to showcase evidence-based family engagement programs and strategies to schools and complex areas across Hawai’i.

To view the other videos in our series visit our HFEC YouTube channel.

View Upcoming and Archived Family Engagement- professional learning webinars.

What is Family Engagement?

Our center has adopted the Dual Capacity-Building Framework and the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) definition of family engagement:

Family engagement is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways and in which families are committed to actively supporting their children’s learning and development.
Family engagement is continuous across a child’s life and entails enduring commitment but changing parent roles as children mature into young adulthood.
Effective family engagement cuts across and reinforces learning in the multiple settings where children learn- at home, in prekindergarten programs, in school, in after school programs, in faith-based institutions, and in the community.

Our Mission

To promote high impact activities and policies that build powerful partnerships among family, school, and community in order to enhance child development and student achievement.