Abstract:
Engaging families with schools enables schools to link families with community support, such as to alleviate barriers that hinder regular student attendance. Existing frameworks of family engagement with schools suggest that trust, efficacy, role perceptions, perceived invitation, life contexts, and support provision may enhance families’ engagement with schools. However, these frameworks did not specifically address family engagement for supporting school attendance. We conducted a systematic review of the global literature exploring the family engagement factors that are important for supporting student attendance (Open Science Framework registration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DH6T4). The review followed PRISMA guidelines, searched nine electronic databases (i.e., ERIC, Education Database, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, Social Science Database, Social Services Abstracts, and Web of Science) for peer-reviewed studies conducted in K-12 settings, that included student attendance as the primary outcome. Findings were then compared with existing frameworks of important factors for family engagement (e.g., Christenson & Sheridan, 2001; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005; Sheldon, 2005). While broadly the literature aligned with the theoretical models, more research is needed to confirm the combined contributions of these factors. Future work of this nature and implications for practice, will be discussed.