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February 21, 2018

Members, Partners and Stakeholders,

In October, NAFSCE posted a list of resources  to help teachers and other professionals work with parents and students following the unspeakable violence that had taken place in Las Vegas.

Today, less than five months later, the students of  Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, their parents and their Florida community are forging a new path, turning their grief and disbelief into action, following last week's mass shooting that killed 17 of their classmates and teachers.

We are inspired by these brave students who are rewriting  how our families, communities and elected officials react to such events, and  working for the change that has been so elusive to our society.

Not one more.


Best regards,
  
Vito Borrello
NAFSCE Executive Director

Wednesday, February 28, 2018, 3:00 - 4:30pm ET
Effective Practices Webinar Series
The use of creative programming and new technologies to foster greater engagement between educators and families are hot topics, but how do they work? Get behind the scenes of some of today's innovative new approaches to family engagement to learn how they maximize resources and open lines of communication between parents, educators, administrators, and students.  

Our presenters:

Vlada Lotkina is the CEO of ClassTag, a simple and powerful communication and scheduling platform that helps teachers improve parent engagement and earn hundreds of dollars for their classrooms. An experienced tech executive and management consultant, Lotkina has worked at Fortune 500 Tech Companies and the Boston Consulting Group. She holds an MBA from Wharton Business School.


Shana McIver is Baltimore City Schools' Family Engagement Manager. Having worked in education for twenty years, her highlights are having the opportunity to create family-school partnerships, helping educators to build trusting relationships with families, and supporting parents to become partners in their children's academic success.



Hilda Stevens is co-founder and Executive Director of Professional Development for Successful Innovations, Inc. She has experience consulting and leading professional development workshops at the state and national levels. As a former Virginia educator with over 35 years of public school experience, Mrs. Stevens has had extensive training in Parent and Family Engagement Strategies, Response to Intervention, Literacy Coaching, and Differentiated Instruction.


Tuesday, March 6, 2pm ET
NAFSCE Community of Practice
Every month, a robust group of NAFSCE members come together via conference call to discuss issues and concepts that inform their work as family engagement professionals. All NAFSCE members are invited to join this Community of Practice conversation! Check the NAFSCE Community Calendar for call-in information. You must be signed in to view the calendar. Forget your user name or password? Get help here. Or join NAFSCE today!

January Webinar Archive:
The Role Of Parent Leadership In Improving Student Achievement And Building Equity 
Those who registered for our January 31, 2018 webinar, The Role of Parent Leadership in Building Equity, should have received an email with links to the session video and presentations. If you registered and did not receive an email, please contact us at [email protected].

NAFSCE members can access archived webinars and other materials through our Program Archives page. If you are a NAFSCE member and need help signing in, you may reset your password. Not yet a member but would like to view our webinar archives? Join NAFSCE now.

MAEC Webinar: Supporting Homeless Students with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
 
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Time: 2:00-3:30pm (EST)

Homeless students face a number of barriers in receiving the education and  services they need and  deserve.The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 increases protections and supports for homeless students that build on those in the McKinney-Vento Act. This webinar seeks to provide schools and school systems with an overview of what these changes look like. It will discuss student homelessness and leave you with resources and strategies that can lead to improved educational experiences and outcomes for these students.  

2018 National Family Engagement Summit - SAVE on NAFSCE Membership when you register!
Date: March 20 - 23, 2018
Location: Richmond, VA

"Valuable information that you can take back to your families and apply in your own school district, things related to drop out prevention, enhancing academics, making parent workshops academic based, and enhancing the learning process at home...money well spent, don't miss it!" -- 2017 Summit attendees Felencia Stewart & Terrell Brooks-Vine, Norfolk Public Schools, Family Engagement Coordinators. The 2018 Summit is just one month away. 

Date: March, 22-23, 2018
Location: Johns Hopkins School of Education, Baltimore, MD

This two-day intensive workshop is designed for District and Organization Leaders for Partnerships who will directly facilitate school-based Action Teams for Partnerships (ATPs) to strengthen programs of family and community engagement for student success in school.  Also for State Leaders who are developing plans to guide district-level leaders on research-based partnership programs. Led by Dr. Joyce Epstein and her team.  
See the agenda and registration materials at  www.partnershipschools.org .   

Report: 
States Leading for Equity: Promising Practices Advancing the Equity Commitments

Released by America's Promise Alliance, The Aspen Institute's Education and Society Program, and the Council of Chief State School Officers, this report notes some of the steps that states have taken since chiefs, civil rights leaders, educators and advocates met in July 2016 to make  commitments to improving educational equity.  While the report focuses on state-level efforts, the ideas presented can also inspire school and district leaders to examine their own practices and structures from an equity perspective.

Be sure to read Chapter 10 of the report:  Empower Student Options: Ensure Families Have Access to High-Quality Educational Options That Align to Community Needs.


California is revising it's School Accountability Plan - creating transparency for educators, parents
Last week, a new partnership between four organizations and three California school districts announced a "test kitchen" to experiment with new approaches to achieve the aims of the Local Control Funding Formula, the 2013 law that gave districts more flexibility and control over improving schools and budgeting money. 
Read more.

Call to action: help save afterschool programming
The Administration's proposed budget calls for eliminating federal funding for local afterschool and summer programs, but Congress can reject the proposal much like they did last year in a bipartisan manner. If the funding is not maintained, nearly two million children and families would be left without reliable afterschool choices.

You can make a difference: call on Congress to protect funding for afterschool and summer learning programs.

If the goal is for students to do well, then our conceptualization of parent engagement needs to be broader.
"Parenting, learning at home, communication and collaborating with the community are types of engagement that my parents were actively involved with to support my P-12 learning. So, one goal of my class is to expand  teachers' conceptualization  of what engagement is and the various ways in which it might occur."  -- Yolanda Abel, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Education
A Kansas-based Dreamer, and former family engagement specialist, fights for fellow immigrants
In 2013, Claudia Amaro made national headlines as part of the Dream 9, a group of nine undocumented activists from Mexico who demanded to be let into the United States and granted asylum. She continues to melt cultural barriers as a Family Engagement Educator at a local elementary school. After again noticing a lack of local information in Spanish, she started a weekly nonprofit radio show that invites community members to discuss topical issues.  Amaro considers herself a bridge between communities in Wichita and has organized several cultural and educational events for the entire community.  Read more of Claudia's story.

YMCA provides model for community engagement: serving meals to children on school and summer breaks
According to Feeding America, nearly 13 million children in the United States face hunger and one in six children struggles with hunger. The YMCA in Cobb County is working to reduce that statistic. "I like to say that this program belongs to our members because they get together and they provide the food. They provide the volunteer hours and the fun. It's all about community and getting out there and doing great things for kids," said Becky Cross, assistant director of family engagement for the Northwest Family YMCA.  Learn more.

New York City Schools Chancellor, Carmen Fariña, takes a farewell tour and focuses on family engagement
In her four years as chancellor and nearly half-century working in the city's public schools before that, the 74-year-old earned widespread respect for her energy and knowledge of the field. As chancellor she kept a packed schedule of school visits and held more than 100 town halls at night for parents. Accomplishments during her four years in the job include a higher graduation rate, prekindergarten expansion, and helping more students take college admissions tests, free. "I'm happy with [my] incremental gains as long as I also see more parent engagement, which I think we are seeing in some of our more successful schools," said Ms. Fariña.
3 ways to power up your parent communication
Effective parent-teacher communication is crucial in helping students learn, but for busy teachers without any formal training in family engagement, it can be challenging just to keep up. Transparency and equity are key to managing any communication between home and school, and they are key to developing sustainable relationships. Watch here to find a variety of tools and useful tips to help you better engage your parent audience.
New fellowship program puts teachers in the driver's seat for policy work
A nonprofit organization called Teach Plus, which aims to elevate educators' voices in the policy-crafting arena, has expanded into Nevada. Twenty state teachers have been selected for an 18-month fellowship program that involves studying topics such as education policy, governance and finance and then developing legislative recommendations.

NAFSCE members are on the move. Join us!
Over two decades of research supports the conclusion that family engagement is key to a child's development and advancement, yet barriers to quality family engagement still exist. Join our movement to build capacity and leadership and to promote effective policies for family, school, and community engagement from the schoolhouse to the White House.

Learn more about our membership benefits for individuals and organizations. 


Scholastic Education: FACE Per Diem
FACE Family Engagement Trainer - Responsible for conducting training on the following:
  • Dr. Karen Mapp's Family Engagement Workshop Series
  • Parent Coordinator Training
  • Foundations of Family Engagement
  • How to Implement an Effective Family Literacy Night
Scholastic workshops are highly interactive and aligned to the most current research. Each workshop focuses on exploring the link between family and community engagement and student achievement. The workshops are designed to raise the power of family engagement and build the capacity of school and district staff to implement effective home school partnerships.   Learn more. 
Research and Program Assistant, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium
MAEC was founded in 1991, as an education non-profit dedicated to increasing access to equitable educational opportunities so all students can learn and achieve at high levels. Its mission is to promote excellence and equity in education to achieve social justice. MAEC is looking for a detail-oriented and dynamic individual who is comfortable prioritizing multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.  Learn more. 
Family Engagement Conference Facilitator, New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is seeking a Family Engagement Conference Facilitator.  The facilitator will be under the general supervision of the Director of Family Team Conferencing and with wide latitude for independent action and decision making, the Family Engagement Conference Facilitator's responsibilities include a range of responsibilities. Learn more. 
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors (AP)
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors (AP) is the nation's first evidence-based parent leadership training curriculum designed by and for Latino parents with children ages 0-5, and has grown to serve Latino and immigrant families across the U.S. AP seeks a strategic-thinking and dynamic individual for a newly cre ated senior-level position, Director of Strategic Partnerships. Learn more.
List your job opening or resume in NAFSCE's Career Center
NAFSCE's Career Center features a searchable job bank focused solely on family engagement opportunities. Posted positions are promoted in NAFSCE News, reaching thousands of family engagement professionals each month. 

Members can also post their resume in our searchable Resume/CV database.

NAFSCE Members receive one free job or resume posting. Organizational members receive five postings. Not a NAFSCE member? Join today to enjoy this exclusive member benefit.

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