Archive of the Webinar 9:
Bringing it All Together: Family and Community Engagement Policies in Action (November 16, 2011)

Systemic Engagement

• Family and Community Practices and Outcomes: Executive Summary (n.d.) (Office of Head Start, National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement)
  This brief provides a synopsis of the Center’s framework for implementing a comprehensive, systemic, and integrated approach to parent, family, and community engagement that is culturally and linguistically relevant.
  http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/family/docs/pfcp-outcomes-executive-summary.pdf
• Working Systemically in Action: Engaging Family and Community (2010) (SEDL)
  This tool provides practical guidance for educators who are seeking to engage family and community members in systemic school improvement efforts. The guide provides a discussion of best practices, an overview of SEDL’s “Working Systematically” approach to school improvement, and tools for involving families in all phases of the process.
  http://www.sedl.org/pubs/catalog/items/family126.html
• Family–School–Community Partnerships 2.0: Collaborative Strategies to Advance Student Learning (2011) (National Education Association)
  This report from the National Education Association’s Priority Schools Campaign outlines strategies that can build effective partnerships and provides examples of how schools and districts are engaging families and the community to improve low-performing schools.
  http://neapriorityschools.org/2011/11/07/family-school-community-partnerships-2-0/
  You can also visit the Learning First Alliance for a summary and discussion about the Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0 report.
  http://www.learningfirst.org/new-models-family-engagement
• The Family Engagement for High School Success Toolkit: Planning and implementing an initiative to support the pathway to graduation for at-risk students (2011) (AT&T, United Way Worldwide, and Harvard Family Research Project)
  This toolkit is designed to help nonprofits develop strong parent–school–community partnerships and provide networks of support to keep students on the path to high school graduation.
  http://www.hfrp.org/HighSchoolSuccessToolkit

Turnaround Model: Family Engagement

• The State of School Turnarounds (2010, December) (U.S. Department of Education)
  The School Turnaround newsletter provides insight into effective strategies for turning around schools and suggests resources to assist in this process. This issue highlights a model for parent–teacher partnerships at Creighton School District in Arizona.
  http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/School%20Turnaround%20Newsletter%20-%20December%202010.pdf
• Successful School Turnarounds: Seven Steps for District Leaders (2009) (The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement)
  This brief draws from the cross-sector research base on successful turnaround efforts to offer seven steps for district leaders to support turnaround principals and maximize their chances of success.
  http://www.centerforcsri.org/files/CenterIssueBriefSept09.pdf

Presenter Resources

• Having Their Say: Parents Describe Why and How They Are Engaged in Their Children's Learning (2003) (Academic Development Institute)
  This article in The School Community Journal examines the factors that led to a successful partnership between a Boston elementary school and its parents.
  http://www.adi.org/journal/ss03/Mapp%2035-64.pdf
• The Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework (2011) (Office of Head Start)
  This framework is a vital tool for early childhood education and care providers seeking to build effective family engagement strategies. While the framework is intended for Head Start and Early Head Start programs, its lessons are applicable to a much broader audience of early childhood programs.
  http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/Head%20Start%20Program/Program%20Design%20and%20Management/Head%20Start%20Requirements/IMs/2011/pfce-framework.pdf
• Bringing the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework to Your Program: Beginning a Self-Assessment (Office of Head Start)
  This tool helps early care and education providers make parent, family, and community engagement a dynamic part of their program. The descriptions of practices and reflective questions will help to identify current practices, highlight what more the program could do, celebrate successes, and determine the information needed to measure progress.
  http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/family/docs/ncpfce-assessment-101411.pdf
• Partnership Action Team Online Toolkit (2010) (Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction)
  This toolkit is designed to help a school or district launch or strengthen a “partnership action team.” The toolkit provides videos, presentations, resources, and activities that partnership action teams can explore and discuss together.
  http://dpi.wi.gov/fscp/action-team.html

School District Web Sites

Many school districts host web pages dedicated to sharing important resources with families, including resources that guide and encourage a family’s engagement in their student’s education. For example:

• Washoe County School District (Nevada) http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/parents/
  The Washoe County School District hosts a comprehensive web page for parents that lists helpful resources, tips for becoming involved in their child’s education, the district’s parent involvement policy, and other information designed to enhance a family’s ability to connect with the district and promote student learning.
• Federal Way Public Schools (Washington) http://www.fwps.org/cur/plc/
  Federal Way Public Schools’ Web site includes a section devoted to student and parent learning. This section provides “do-at-home” activities for parents and students in k–6 to complete together; information about grade-level expectations; and details about the district’s student-led conferences, which replaced the traditional parent–teacher conference format in some of the district’s schools.
• Creighton Elementary School District (Arizona) http://www.creightonschools.org/
  Creighton Elementary School District’s Web site hosts grade-level skill guides, at-home activities families can do to foster those skills, and information about the Academic Parent–Teacher Team conference structure—the district’s version of parent–teacher conferences.
• Boston Public Schools (Massachusetts) http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/family-resources
  Boston Public Schools’ Web site includes information about the district’s commitment to forming strong family–school partnerships, suggested summer activities to sustain student learning over the summer break (including grade-level book lists), and information about the district’s Parent University program offerings.
• The School District of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/p/publicengagement
  The School District of Philadelphia’s Web site includes the course catalog for the district’s Parent University initiative, links to their parent newsletter, information about school advisory councils, and learning packets by grade level to help strengthen children’s literacy and math skills.