As educational technology continues to evolve at a remarkable pace, we at Family Engagement Lab are thoughtfully exploring how advancements in artificial intelligence can strengthen the vital connection between classroom learning and at-home support. Our team has been immersed in research, testing, and community engagement to ensure that our integration of AI serves our core mission: equitably accelerating student learning through meaningful family-teacher partnerships.
This month, we've engaged with families, educators and innovators in our sector to gather insights that will shape our use of AI to elevate the role and voices of families in student learning. We're committed to ensuring that AI, and technological advances in general, serves as a bridge, not a barrier, making impactful, personalized learning support accessible to all families.
We’re excited to continue this journey and welcome your insights as we work to make family engagement more impactful and accessible for all.
Warmly,
Vidya Sundaram and Elisabeth O'Bryon
Family Engagement Lab Co-Founders
What we're learning
Our ongoing research with teachers and families continues to shed light on how AI can address their most pressing needs while strengthening the home-school connection.
By leveraging AI, we can make impactful family engagement more accessible, effective, and sustainable—helping parents play a more active role in their children's learning, even in under-resourced communities.
Through our conversations with stakeholders, several key benefits of AI for education have emerged:
Personalized Support – AI can help tailor educational resources and communication to meet the unique needs of students and families, making learning more accessible and relevant at home. Our research shows families are looking for learning resources that match their child's specific learning needs and interests, while teachers need efficient ways to differentiate support.
Enhanced Communication – AI can facilitate clearer, more effective communication between schools and families by simplifying complex information, translating messages, and providing timely updates. This directly addresses families' desire for consistent, understandable information about their child's progress and how to provide targeted support.
Scalability & Efficiency – AI can help streamline processes, analyze trends, and automate routine tasks, enabling greater reach and impact without adding significant costs or administrative burden. This sustainability is crucial as schools face ongoing resource constraints while still needing to support diverse student populations.
As we continue to listen and learn, do you know any K-2 teachers, parents, and caregivers who we could connect with?
Panorama’s How Generative AI Improves Parent Involvementfocuses on how generative AI can be utilized to enhance family-school communication and ultimately increase parent engagement in K-12 education.
TeachAI’s AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit, serves as an initial step in guiding the safe, effective, and responsible use of AI in education. It is designed to help education authorities, school leaders, and teachers create thoughtful guidance for their communities.
What we're sharing
Our friends at California Family Engagement Network (CA-FEN) and Parent Organization Network (PON) are asking for your help in gathering valuable insights from currently active teachers and administrators about their experiences working with families in schools. The statewide project, “The State of Practice,” is seeking to better understand how professional educators practice and implement various approaches and strategies to engage families in classrooms and schools to enhance students’ outcomes. Educators will be eligible to receive gift cards for their participation.
If you know teachers or administrators who might be interested, please forward their contact information to us or share the survey link below directly with them.
If you wish for PON to connect with potential participants, you can submit contacts via this LINK.
Where we'll be
ASU+GSV
April 5-7: AI Show @ ASU+GSV Summit
April 6-9: ASU+GSV Summit
Will you be there? Vidya would love to connect - check out her calendar to find a time.
Yale School of Management’s 15th annual Education Leadership Conferences (ELC)
April 19, New Haven, CT
Each year, the ELC convenes 400+ education experts, practitioners, and leaders to discuss innovations in K-12 education. This year’s theme is The Engagement Imperative and will focus on the evolving challenges and opportunities in student, family, and staff engagement and its impact on postsecondary success.
Vidya will be participating in the Expanding Choices, Building Equity: The Role of School Models in Engaging Families panel.
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)’s Joint Conference for Elementary Literacy and Mathematics
June 16-18, Chicago, IL
Co-founders Vidya and Elisabeth will be presenting on June 17 (4:15-5:30pm) about how families can serve as a powerful lever for accelerating student success in mathematics.
We Want to Hear from You!
We're planning our upcoming resources and would love your input. What would you find most valuable? Please click the option that interests you most:
Webinar on AI for Family Engagement Professionals: A practical, interactive webinar on how to thoughtfully incorporate AI tools into your work, customize them for your specific community needs, and address common concerns.
Exclusive Tool Previews: Interactive demonstrations showcasing our latest innovations before they're widely available, with opportunities to try them yourselves and provide feedback.
Family Learning Strategy Sessions: Facilitated discussions where families can share effective home learning approaches and explore how AI can support their role in education.
Your feedback will help us develop resources that best serve your needs. Thank you for helping shape our work!
Family Engagement Lab, 548 Market Street, #42210, San Francisco, CA 94104
