Evaluating Your Strategy
A strategy for engaging families is only as good as the evidence that shows whether it is working for the people it is meant to reach.
Defining what success looks like
Evaluation begins before any activity starts. Teams should agree what they hope to change for families, such as attendance, confidence in supporting learning, or the quality of conversations between home and school. Writing these aims down in plain language makes it easier to choose measures later and prevents evaluation from becoming a list of activity counts.
Choosing sensible measures
Good measures combine numbers with experience. Attendance and return rates show reach, while short feedback conversations show whether families found the activity useful. Where possible, measures should be collected as part of normal work, so that staff are not overloaded and families are not asked to complete long forms.
Reviewing the timeline
Evaluation works best as a cycle rather than a single report. The stages below show a practical rhythm that many teams can adapt to their own circumstances.
Before launch
Set aims and baseline
Record current levels of contact and confidence so that later change can be seen clearly.
Each term
Check progress
Gather brief feedback from families and staff, and adjust timing or content where needed.
Annually
Review the strategy
Compare results with the original aims and decide what to continue, change or stop.
Asking useful questions
Families and staff often know more about what is working than any dataset. Structured questions help turn that knowledge into evidence. The questions below can be used in reviews and are especially helpful when results are unclear.
Did families attend, and who was missing?
Look beyond overall numbers to see which groups are reached and which are not. Missing families may point to barriers such as timing, language or transport.
Did families feel more confident?
Ask parents to describe a specific moment when they felt more able to support learning or talk with staff. Specific examples are more useful than general ratings.
What would make the approach easier?
Invite suggestions for practical change. Small adjustments, such as shorter sessions or clearer information, often have the greatest effect.
Sharing what you learn
Evaluation findings are most useful when they return to the people who shared them. Summaries written in plain language, shared with families and partners, help build a common understanding of what to do next. Keep the focus on decisions the findings will inform, rather than on reporting for its own sake.
Examples of evaluation in practice
Review meetings are most productive when families and staff contribute together.