This Assessment is a Performance Task in which you will apply strategies that support effective communication and collaboration, establishing foundations for respectful, reciprocal, and responsive partnerships. In addition, you will apply principles of effective communication through the development of communication plans.

Specifically, you will imagine that you are a teacher at Blue Stream Early Learning Center, and you have been assigned the 4- to 5-year-old classroom for the new school year. It is two weeks before classes begin, and you have received a list of the children who will be in your classroom, as well as the contact information for their families. You have never met these children or their families.

Part 1 Family Engagement

As you begin to consider how you will engage families at the start of the new school year, it is important to reflect upon why family engagement is necessary and beneficial for children, families, and early childhood programs. Review Document #1: Blue Stream Early Learning Center Overview.

In two to three pages, do the following:

Explain why family engagement is important for the healthy development of children and why it is essential to creating a foundation for effective early childhood practice.

Describe at least two strategies that you would use to engage families prior to the beginning of the school year.

Explain why you chose these strategies and how each strategy can be used to promote a respectful, reciprocal, and responsive partnership with the families.