The $1 Million Question: Is Family Engagement Worth the Investment: Part 3
As superintendents, we carry two responsibilities that often feel at odds with one another: ensuring student achievement and safeguarding the fiscal health of our districts. Both require us to be thoughtful stewards of people and of resources. Nowhere is this tension more evident than in the realm of family engagement.
The Promise of Family Engagement
The research is clear. When families are engaged, students benefit in multiple ways. Attendance improves, academic performance rises, and behavior issues decline. Engagement also strengthens the wider social fabric of the community. As Dr. Karen Mapp has said, we have fifty years of research showing that what families do matters. Whether it is nurturing a love of school, supporting college access, or encouraging daily attendance, family engagement consistently correlates with positive student outcomes.
No superintendent questions the importance of family engagement. The challenge lies not in whether it matters, but in whether we can justify the way we invest in it. Too often, districts pour money into programs that sound promising but do not provide measurable results.
The Fiscal Reality
Family engagement can quickly become a significant budget item. Studies indicate that the most effective methods of engagement can cost more than $1,200 per student each year. For a large district, those costs are prohibitive. This creates an uncomfortable truth: while engagement is universally acknowledged as important, the tools we currently use to foster it are often financially unsustainable.
Even more troubling, districts frequently measure inputs rather than outcomes. We count the number of parent meetings held or the number of messages sent, but we do not reliably connect those actions to student attendance or achievement. Without this correlation, investments risk becoming symbolic rather than impactful.
Leading With Empathy Within Limits
Families deserve to feel seen, heard, and included. Empathy must remain at the heart of every decision we make. At the same time, compassion cannot mean unchecked spending. When budgets are tight, every dollar directed toward engagement must compete with dollars needed for classroom instruction, teacher development, and student support services.
Superintendents must constantly ask: How do we honor the humanity of our families while remaining disciplined in our spending? It requires moving beyond programs that are nice to have and focusing on initiatives that demonstrate clear, evidence-based outcomes.
The Missing Link: Analytics
The key to balancing empathy and fiscal responsibility lies in data. We must be able to measure family engagement with the same rigor that we apply to test scores, attendance, and behavior. Only by doing so can we determine whether engagement is truly driving student outcomes or whether we are simply spending money to feel good about doing something.
Analytics create the bridge between empathy and accountability. By tracking levels of family engagement and directly comparing them to student performance, attendance, and homework completion, districts can see which strategies are producing results and which are not. Without this analysis, families risk becoming what some have called a non-performing asset in the educational ecosystem.
Turning Research into Practice
The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 was the first federal step toward requiring schools to correlate engagement with performance. That mandate underscores an important truth: family engagement is no longer optional, but it must be tied to outcomes. Parents deserve to know how their involvement impacts their child’s education, and schools need transparent metrics to allocate resources effectively.
Innovative platforms now make this possible. For example, tools like our Online Parent Understanding System (OPUS) provide districts with accessible, actionable metrics. Administrators can track the percentage of family engagement, compare student achievement with and without family participation, and even measure homework completion in relation to parent involvement. These insights, broken down by classroom, grade, or demographic group, allow leaders to make evidence-based decisions about where to focus time and money.
The Cost-Effective Path Forward
The value of analytics extends beyond data. When engagement can be measured and tied to results, it becomes a sustainable strategy rather than an expensive experiment. In fact, when implemented effectively, even modest improvements can cover the cost. If just one student out of a thousand stays in school because of increased family engagement, the return on investment for using OPUS pays for itself.
This changes the fiscal conversation. Instead of viewing family engagement as a drain on resources, districts can treat it as a strategic investment, one that can improve outcomes while strengthening trust between schools and families.
The Superintendent’s Role
None of this happens without leadership. Implementing new ways of measuring engagement can be intimidating. Inertia and fear of change can hinder adoption. This is where superintendents play a vital role. By openly supporting data-driven family engagement initiatives, superintendents not only acknowledge the importance of families but also set the tone for the entire district.
Research has shown that as disengagement increases, trust in leadership declines. When superintendents champion smarter, more accountable engagement, they strengthen both the credibility of their schools and the fabric of their communities.
A Call to Action for Superintendents
Superintendents, the moment for decisive leadership is now.
We cannot afford to treat family engagement as a box to check on compliance forms. The future of our students depends on our willingness to demand more.
We must insist that family engagement be measured, analyzed, and directly tied to student outcomes. We must champion tools that empower families with understanding while giving educators actionable insights. And we must strike the balance that makes engagement both compassionate and cost-effective.
Empathy without accountability risks draining resources. Fiscal caution without empathy risks weakening trust. But together, guided by analytics, we can make family engagement one of the strongest drivers of student achievement in our schools.
The research is clear. The tools exist. The responsibility rests with us.
