FACE Resources

At our November 5, 2018 General Membership Meeting, we heard an informative and inspiring call to action from speaker JMarie Johnson-Cola regarding Family & Community Engagement (FACE).  Each child must be supported by, not only parents and teachers, but extended families, school districts, neighbors and community members to help them realize their full potential.

Handouts included an example of a Family Engagement Action Plan Template as well as a quote from the Carnegie Corporation of New York regarding what it takes to meet the challenge of FACE:

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Meeting this challenge requires ensuring that all families and communities—not just econom­ically advantaged ones—have what it takes to build equitable learning pathways for their children, including high-quality schools and out-of-school learn­ing opportunities. Achieving this requires a major shift in thinking—a shift from devaluing and doing to and for families to one of valuing and cocreating with them. The latter approach foregrounds asking questions, listening, empowering, sharing perspectives and information, part­nering, codesigning, implementing, and assessing new approaches and solutions, and supporting parent leader­ship and advocacy for educational equity and change.
 
--Carnegie Corporation of New York, from
Joining Together to Create a Bold Vision for Next Generation Family Engagement: Engaging Families to Transform Education (10/2018)

In her talk, JMarie mentioned a number of resources to help inform Family and Community Engagement best practices. Here are a few of the ones she mentioned:

Books & Articles:

• Henderson, A. T., Mapp, K. L., Johnson, V. R., and Davies, D. (2007) Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships. New York: NY: The New Press. 
• Hough, L. (2016, Fall). Scenes from an Open House. Ed. Harvard Ed. Magazine. (available online)
  

Reports:

• Family and Community Engagement Recommendations (Report to the WA Legislature) (pdf) - prepared by the Washington State Governor’s Office of the Education Ombuds
• Carnegie Challenge Paper: Joining Together to Create a Bold Vision for Next Generation Family Engagement: Engaging Families to Transform Education - examines the history, current practice, and future potential of family and community engagement, a key component to ensuring lifelong success for all children.
  

Websites:

•  U.S. Department of Education: Family and Community Engagement -  find a wealth of resource links here, including the Engaging Families monthly newsletter, toolkits, and more.
• Road Map Project - a multi-sector partnership initiative to improve student outcomes in seven King County, Washington school districts.
• Washington Office of the Education Ombuds - Family and Community Engagement - links to studies, recommended practices, parent involvement guides and more 
• Engaging with Families to Help Students Succeed - links to supplemental essays, written to complement the above Carnegie Challenge Paper, that offer differing perspectives and solutions to the call to action.
  
• The Family Engagement Survey - surveys with automatically graphed results, which you can easily launch and close at will.
• Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) - This organization features a nationwide Family & Community Engagement (FCE) Network. Dr. Karen Mapp chairs the institute’s Board.
• National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement - their mission is to advance high-impact policies and practices for family, school, and community engagement to promote child development and improve student achievement.

Course Modules for FACE:

• Harvard University Online Learning - Introduction to Family Engagement in Education - Want to be certified in FACE? This course does it! Learn about successful collaborations between families and educators and why they lead to improved outcomes for students and schools.
  
• Kansas Parent Information Resource Center - Engaging All Families Series -  a series of nine modules, including videos, resource guide and examples (including a sample Family Engagement Survey).
• Minnesota Department of Education - Family and Community Engagement Modules - eight modules designed for educators to learn about the information and resources districts need to promote, build and sustain effective partnerships with families and communities.

PowerPoint Presentation:

• Parent and Family Engagement in Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (ppt) -  An Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) presentation