Parent, family, and community engagement (PFCE) is essential to meeting children’s school readiness and later school success. ACAD promotes an integrated and comprehensive approach to engagement in early childhood settings where PFCE:
- Is embedded as a core component in all practices to promote child development and learning
- Is rooted in all of the processes designed to meet an organization’s goals for young children
- Addresses and supports the different needs, strengths, and interests of all children and their families
In order to support this approach, our early childhood work is built around a framework that includes six areas of practice that are key to affecting child and family outcomes:
- Program environment
- Transitions
- Engaging families as teachers
- Home visiting
- Educator–family relationships
- Community partnerships
In order for these practices to be effective, however, they must be built on strong program foundations. These key program foundation areas are:
- Professional development
- Program leadership
- Evaluation and continuous improvement
The areas of practice and program foundations exist in support of building capacity for quality ECE programs. ACAD works to do this by:
- Sharing knowledge about effective ECE programs and practices in support of family and child outcomes
- Improving outreach and communications
- Informing ECE policy and grant making