When working to improve human-centered outcomes like those in education and healthcare, a critical aspect of improvement is partnership with those who are most impacted by the system. While there is a range of roles that students and families may choose to play, schools should strive to create the conditions for authentic partnership. Intentionally building …
Continue reading “CARPE: Inclusive Schools and Improvement Methods for Equity”
When working to improve student-centered outcomes, a critical aspect of improvement is partnering with those you seek to serve. This requires a disposition that those most affected by the system are best placed to help design and improve it. While there is a range of roles that students and families may choose to play, school …
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“These updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships are designed for multiple audiences, but especially: –School, district, and state education leaders who wish to ensure that their family-school partnership efforts are adequately implemented, funded, and monitored –PTA and other family and community leaders who want to know how to support and push their schools to better …
Continue reading “Overview of the Updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships”
“This project began with a forthright question. Amidst racism, historical trauma, poverty, unstable neighborhoods, and systemic inequities in education, what will it take for nondominant students, families, and their communities to thrive? he Family Leadership Design Collaborative (FLDC) is a national network of scholars, practitioners, and family and community leaders who seek to center racial …
Continue reading “Identifying Barriers: Creating Solutions to Improve Family Engagement”
How Your District Can Understand and Address Common Barriers to Engagement with Families Since the US Department issued the 1994 report on Strong Families, Strong Schools, the body of evidence showing that family engagement impacts learning has continued to grow. Schools that engage families find that their students have higher grades, show faster rates of …
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In this ethnographic case study, Ann M. Ishimaru examines how a collaboration emerged and evolved between a low-income Latino parent organizing group and the leadership of a rapidly changing school district. Using civic capacity and community organizing theories, Ishimaru seeks to understand the role of parents, goals, strategies, and change processes that characterize a school …
Continue reading “Fostering Family Engagement through Shared Leadership in The District, Schools, and Community”
Why Do Family-School Relationships Matter? Schools that effectively engage families find that their students earn higher grades, score higher on test, develop better social skills, and are more likely to graduate. How Can Schools Measure Family-School Relationships? By asking parents and guardians to provide feedback through surveys, schools and districts can gather actionable data and …
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“This challenge paper starts with a brief overview of what we have learned over the past 50 years of family engagement research, practice, and policy, and a look at how this work has guided the challenge we have laid out. We go on to suggest key design principles and processes for building next generation family …
Continue reading “Joining Together to Create a Bold Vision for Next Generation Family Engagement”
Students do better in school and in life when their families are engaged. A strong body of evidence is clear that family engagement, from birth through adolescence, contributes to a range of positive student outcomes.
This tool is to spark a conversation about how our assumptions can influence our actions. Use it to examine ways in which we can question ourselves or others when biased or negative beliefs about families emerge.