All Louisiana schools are invited to apply for Louisiana Family-Friendly Schools recognition.

Whether your school is just beginning to strengthen its family engagement practices or already has well-established systems in place, there is an opportunity to be recognized.

Schools are encouraged to apply based on their current practices and evidence. Recognition is designed to celebrate where your school is today while providing a pathway and support to continue growing.

Every school has a place to start. Every school has an opportunity to grow.

Relationship Building

Creating a welcoming school environment built on trust, belonging, and strong relationships with families.

Communications

Providing two-way, accessible communication that keeps families connected to student learning.

Shared Responsibility for Learning

Engaging families as partners in students’ academic success and whole-child development.

Advocacy & Family Voice

Creating meaningful opportunities for families to share their perspectives, take on leadership roles, and contribute to decision-making.

Community Partnerships

Building partnerships that connect families with resources and support the needs of students and the school community.

Schools provide evidence of their current practices across these areas, which is used to determine their Learning, Listening, Leveraging, or Leading recognition level.

The more your school demonstrates meaningful, sustained family engagement across the five areas, the further it progresses along the recognition pathway.

Schools can submit evidence that demonstrates how family engagement is being put into practice across the school community. You may already have many of these materials in place.

Examples of evidence include:

• Family feedback — survey results and family focus group feedback
• Communication — communication plans, translated materials, messaging samples, and teacher-family communication logs
• Family learning — conference agendas, family learning resources, MTSS documentation, and student goal-setting materials
• Family voice & leadership — committee membership lists, training materials, policy input documentation, and feedback surveys
• Community partnerships — partnership agreements, resource maps, service schedules, and partnership planning documents

The goal is to show how your school is building meaningful, ongoing partnerships with families, not simply how many family events you host.

Louisiana Family-Friendly Schools is designed around a continuous improvement cycle, helping schools build on their current family engagement practices over time.

1. Assess

   a. Complete a self-assessment using the Louisiana Family-Friendly Schools rubric.

2. Build Your Team

   a. Create a family-school leadership team or use your existing school improvement team to guide the work.

3. Set Goals

   a. Identify and co-create 2–3 improvement goals aligned with your school’s priorities and family needs.

4. Implement & Monitor

   a. Put your plan into action and monitor progress throughout the year.

5. Reassess & Pursue Recognition
6. Reflect on your progress, gather evidence, and pursue recognition based on your school’s family engagement practices.

Assess → Plan → Implement → Monitor → Reflect → Adjust

The process is designed to support continuous growth—helping schools identify where they are today and where they want to go next.

Every recognized school receives support designed to celebrate its progress and strengthen continued family engagement efforts.

Statewide Recognition

Recognition as a Louisiana Family-Friendly School at the Learning, Listening, Leveraging, or Leading level.

Financial Incentive

Each recognition level includes funding to reinvest in family engagement efforts:

• Learning: $100
• Listening: $500
• Leveraging: $2,000
• Leading: $3,000

Continued Support

Schools have access to training and coaching through the Statewide Center to help strengthen practices and continue progressing along the family engagement journey.

A Pathway for Growth

Recognition is part of a continuous improvement process, giving schools a framework to assess, strengthen, and sustain meaningful family-school partnerships.

Recognition isn't the finish line—it's an opportunity to celebrate your progress and keep growing