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Members, Partners and Stakeholders,
Innovative communities are coming up with new ways to avoid the summer slide, or loss of academic achievement that can occur during the summer months, as evidenced in several articles featured In the Trenches. At the same time, research by the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that income inequality, not lack of parent involvement, continues to be a leading factor in which children maintain their academic advancement during the summer break. Read more about this and other important research in Ask the Experts.
Finally, we'd like to draw your attention to a special opportunity made available by our partner, the Harvard Graduate School of Education Professional Education department. Between now and July 1, NAFSCE members will receive a $250 discount on the Family in Education: Creating Effective Home and School Partnerships for Family Success program. If you are not yet a NAFSCE member, join today to receive the discount for you or your entire team.
We hope to see many of you at the National Family and Community Engagement Conference in Cleveland in July. Be sure to stop by our exhibit table to say hello, or attend one of our sessions.
Best regards,
Vito Borrello
NAFSCE Executive Director
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Date: July 11-13, 2018
Location: Cleveland, OH
The 2018 National Family and Community Engagement Conference, hosted by NAFSCE partner, the
Institute for Educational Leadership,
is an excellent capacity building opportunity for educators, other professionals, parent leaders and a range of stakeholders to learn strategies and best practices that focus on solutions that enhance and expand engagement through family-school community partnerships. With 3 pre-conference sessions, 6 site-visits and over 75 workshops covering six strands, participants are sure to walk away with new skills and strategies that they can immediately apply to their work. Learn more.
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These programs, hosted by NAFSCE partner, the Harvard Graduate School of Education Professional Education department, address an urgent challenge or priority - from narrowing achievement gaps to leading inclusive schools - and provide educators with important context and data, as well as concrete solutions for expanding opportunity and achieving excellence with equity. Download the brochure.
Special Opportunity for NAFSCE Members: Between now and
July 1, NAFSCE members are invited to apply for priority consideration, including a
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July 24-25 -
Colorado Springs, CO
August 2-3 - Lincoln, NE
Families In Schools, with funding from The Kresge Foundation, is offering free facilitator curriculum trainings on Transition to College for school and organizational staff. Transition to College is a six-week program that helps address the transition of low-income and immigrant students from high school to college. Click here to find out more.
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NAFSCE is seeking volunteers for several different roles in our new NAFSCE Ambassador Program including Group Leader, Resource Librarian, Engagement Liaison and New Member Welcome Ambassador. Find out what it means to be a NAFSCE Ambassador.
Complete our interest form today.
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The summer learning gap between children in poverty and those from middle class families may be shrinking somewhat - but those from wealthy households are pulling even farther ahead of the pack, as parents spend ever-increasing amounts on their their children's academic enrichment, according to a new study by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Worth noting, though, is that 25% of poor families encouraged their children to do math and writing activities every day in the summer, as opposed to 12% of non-poor families. That seems to suggest that lack of parental involvement is not the cause for the participation gap in the other enriching summer activities. Whatever the reason, income inequality is setting the stage for tomorrow's adults to be living starkly unequal lives, perhaps even more so than today's adults.
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In many families today, both parents likely work
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and among lower-income school communities, one or both parents often work multiple jobs. Connecting with parents in those circumstances can be difficult for educators, though doing so also remains a key component in raising student achievement.
Fortunately, technology has made it easier to find a way that works for all involved. Schools and districts can start by surveying parents on their
preferred methods of communication
and developing
a
strategy
around that. Additional recommended reading: 8 Tips to Strengthen Parent Involvement with Digital Tools.
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As schools start to close for summer, working parents face a deceptively tough question: Who will care for their children over the summer? Parents want their children to be happy and healthy during the 10 to 12 weeks that school is out of session, but with the high costs of child care, many working parents struggle to ensure this is the case.
To fully understand the financial impact summer care has on families, the Center for American Progress analyzed data from the Afterschool Alliance's America After 3PM survey. This analysis estimates that the average family will spend more than $3,000 on summer programs for two children, representing 20 percent of a typical family's income for the entire summer.
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According to
Feeding America
, 3 million school students in the state of Texas alone qualify for free or reduced-priced meals through the National School Lunch Program. However, only one in six will get that benefit over the summer months due to limited resources when the schools are closed, lack of transportation to participating sites, or lack of education around the program, among other issues. These are issues that the Summer Food Service Program aims to tackle. Texas school districts, together with several across the country, have chosen to work with the program to provide free meals for students 18 years of age and younger, regardless of economic status.
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Elementary school leaders and educators have increasingly recognized that the environments in which young children in their communities are growing up have an effect on whether children enter school prepared for a classroom setting.
"We thought if we could get to [students] sooner, we could avoid [a lack of preparation]," Principal Diane Joyce said in an interview. Parent involvement nights tend to be a "one-shot deal," she said, so the goal was to create a program in which the teachers and the parents with babies could get to know each other better. Learn more.
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When you support NAFSCE, you are supporting initiatives that have the potential to change the way our country thinks about the family's role in our children's education. From our partnership with the NEA to develop higher-education training for future teachers, to our work with the Frameworks Institute to create a fundamental shift in the way people think about engaging parents and caregivers, NAFSCE's work will have a profound effect on how we all think about family engagement.
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© 2018 All Rights Reserved.
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