TERI / Layer 5 — Community & Continuity / 5.1
Checkpoint 5.1

5.1 — Family Partnership & Parent Education

What this is

How families are engaged as partners in the district’s technology, AI, and digital wellness work — not just informed of decisions but genuinely consulted, educated, and activated. Covers family-facing communication, parent learning resources, plain-language policy summaries, home guidance on device and screen use, AI literacy for parents, and structures for family input on policy development.

Why it matters

Students' technology lives span home and school. When families and schools share understanding of AI, algorithms, attention, and digital wellness, what schools teach is reinforced at home. Family partnership is also where district credibility on digital wellness work is built — and where families bring valuable signal about what's actually happening in students' lives.

Connects to

The Framework: Condition #6 (Home/School/Community Partnership). ISTE Essential Condition: Shared Vision (which explicitly includes family and community).

Maturity levels

Not Started
Family communication is one-way — announcements, policy notices, required disclosures. No structured parent education on technology, AI, media balance, or digital wellness. Family input not sought on tech/AI policy.
Emerging
Periodic parent nights on technology topics, often generic or tied to news cycles. Newsletters include tech/AI items. No sustained parent learning program. Input gathered occasionally through surveys but not systematically used to shape policy.
Established
Structured family education program on AI literacy, media balance, attention, and digital wellness — grade-band differentiated. Family policy summaries in plain language. Formal input channels (surveys, advisory panels) on tech/AI/digital wellness policy. Materials translated for non-English-speaking families. A plain-language public document lists which AI tools the district uses with students, what data they collect, and how to opt out where opt-out is available. Crisis-communication protocols (for tech-mediated incidents — see 3.8) include a family-facing communications track with timing, language, and channel expectations.
Expanding
Families are partners, not audiences. Family advisory board participates in policy development. Parent peer education programs (parents learning from parents, with staff support) run throughout the year. Two-way alignment cultivated — students experience consistent reasoning at school and home, with families as partners in the why, not just recipients of the policy. Input channels deliberately designed to reach across demographic lines, not only well-resourced parents. The public AI-tools document is reviewed annually with a parent advisory group. Crisis communications use plain-language summaries co-developed with families before incidents occur, not drafted under pressure.

Go deeper with

Example resource
Dr. Michael Rich — The Mediatrician's Guide (2025)
Also consider