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January 11, 2019
Greetings NAFSCE members, partners and stakeholders,
 
At NAFSCE, we often find ourselves quoting a little mantra: "meet them where they are." The importance of establishing relationships with parents and caregivers on their own terms, on their own turf, is made abundantly clear in many of the articles found in this issue of NAFSCE News. 

A struggling West Virginia district is sending teachers to students' homes to help them get to college -- a new approach to the tried and true home visits program. Public housing authorities in many communities are realizing that they can play an important role in engaging parents, with several initiatives making positive strides. And after 25 years as both a mother and an advocate, Maria Elena Meraz has started a new nonprofit to reach Latino parents in Los Angeles. Her program reached 1,250 parents last year and expects to expand that to 3,000 by the end of this school year.

These are just some of the creative approaches to family engagement that are starting to make a difference. Additionally, we're so pleased to see family engagement recognized as a Trend to Watch in 2019. We'd like to congratulate our partner, the Council of Chief State School Officers, for paving the way for increasingly innovative state work. 

Another sign that family engagement is taking hold as an essential educational strategy? We've got several new jobs focused on family engagement listed below and in our Career Center. The movement is growing -- hold on for an exciting ride!

Best regards,
Vito Borrello
NAFSCE Executive Director

CoP NAFSCE Members: Join our monthly Community of Practice
Next Convening: February 5th, 2018,  2:00p m ET
Join your fellow family engagement practitioners as they discuss strategies, obstacles and creative solutions to family and community engagement challenges in this virtual gathering.  NAFSCE Members:  Please sign in to receive the Zoom call-in information.

Not yet a member? Join today, then view our Calendar of Events for information, or contact Georgia Decker at (703) 739-1344, deckerg@nafsce.org for assistance.

November Webinar Archive Now Available: "New Research And New Resources: How Technology Supports Family Engagement"
NAFSCE Members can sign in to view all of our archived NAFSCE Effective Practices Webinars, including November's Effective Practices Webinar, "New Research And New Resources: How Technology Supports Family Engagement". We were joined by Ben York of ParentPowered,  Megan Silander of Education Development Center, David Lowenstein of PBS Kids, and Pam Johnson of Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Not a member but want to view the webinar? Join today.

Harvard Graduate School of Education Professional Development Equity and Opportunity Programs

These programs  are hosted the Harvard Graduate School of Education Professional Education department and 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. 
 
Special Opportunity for NAFSCE Members:  Between now and July 1 2, NAFSCE members are invited to apply for priority consideration, including a special tuition rate, for Family Engagement in Education: Creating Effective Home and School Partnerships for Student Success program, led by Dr. Karen L. Mapp. This special offer applies only to the Family Engagement in Education program. Click here to learn more.

National Day of Racial Healing - January 22, 2019
The third annual National Day of Racial Healing, part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation effort, will take place on January 22. 
Conceived in 2016 through a collaborative effort of more than 550 U.S. leaders, the National Day of Racial Healing is a time to 1)  reinforce and honor our common humanity, while celebrating the distinct differences that make our communities vibrant, 2) a cknowledge the deep racial divisions that exist in America and must be overcome and healed, and 3) c ommit to engaging people from all racial and ethnic groups in genuine efforts to increase understanding, communication, caring and respect for one another.

Last year, dozens of activities and events in more than 24 states across the country brought together civic leaders, artists, musicians, civic leaders, teachers, librarians and students of all ages. 

Please visit www.dayofracialhealing.org for information about a special live streamed event being hosted by visionary Ava DuVernay at 1:00 pm PT, Jan. 22 and for resources and ideas for hosting an event in your own community. 

A New Approach to Assessing Family Engagement in Health Care Systems
Date: Jan. 23, 2019, 10:00 am PT
Format: Webinar
Hosted by The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health
Health care providers and systems serving children, youth and families increasingly focus on family engagement as a strategy to improve health care delivery, enhance consumer and provider satisfaction, and reduce costs. Assessing how well an organization or agency is engaging families is a critical step in achieving these goals. A recent issue brief from Family Voices,  A Framework for Assessing Family Engagement in Systems Change , proposes four domains of family engagement - representation, transparency, impact and commitment. Presenters will explore this framework, share models of success and discuss common barriers to incorporating meaningful family engagement in systems-level initiatives.   Learn more and register here.

Building Public Awareness: Framing That Works
Date: Jan. 24, 2019, 3:00 pm ET 
Format: Webinar
Hosted by Education Week

Whatever the educational challenge -- improving assessments, personalizing learning environments, or advancing equity -- public thinking plays a role in the solution. And the way the issue is framed for the public has a big effect on levels of support and engagement in the issue.  How can educators and advocates decide where to start, what to emphasize, and what to leave unsaid when explaining new initiatives to the community? Julie Sweetland of the FrameWorks Institute will tackle these questions and more using evidence gathered from studies that queried more than 40,000 Americans nationwide. Click here to register.

Four strategies to focus on when promoting family engagement
The link between parental support and student achievement is so robust that districts often have policies to encourage it and various funding sources for schools have been tied to it, but there are some activities that move the needle on student achievement further than others. Read on to learn more about the four most impactful parent behaviors.

highschool
Home visits in high school - establishing relationships at every age
West Virginia unveiled a campaign  this year for 60 percent of adults ages 25 to 64 to have earned a degree or certificate by 2030. But in McDowell County,  just 38%  of recent high school graduates sought more education, well below the statewide rate of 55%. To increase those numbers, the district is sending teachers directly to kids' homes - including high schoolers' - to counsel, persuade and cajole them to graduate on time and plan for their future. "We wanted to make our home visits different," said Gina Martinez-Keddy, the program's executive director. "We're not coming to judge you, not coming to address a problem that you're having, not coming to report you. We're coming to build a relationship with you because we know that you're an expert on how your child learns, and we as educators can learn a lot from you."
publichousing
Public housing as a place for after-school programs
Public housing is increasingly taking a role in supporting kids' education, according to Megan Gallagher, senior research associate at the  Urban Institute . Such supports include after-school and summer learning programs, tutoring and mentoring.  "So many schools are grappling with parent engagement," she said. "A lot of educators are thinking about how to reach children and parents at the same time ... [and] you can reach them where they live. 
Initiatives in several communities are heading the call for more support where students live. 
Book grant program application available now
The Children's Literacy Foundation (CLiF)'s Year of the Book grant program invites elementary school to apply for funding for the 2019-2020 school year. The grant provides selected elementary schools with $25,000 in literacy programming and new books, including author visits and writing workshops with the 64 professional presenters CLiF works with, family literacy events, special literacy-related programs, new books for the school library, classrooms, local public library, and ten new books for each child to choose. Applications for the 2019-2020 school year are available at clifonline.org. Applications are due by Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019.

Oklahoma City adopts the Raising A Reader model, reaching thousands of families
Approximately 60 percent of children in the United States fail to read proficiently by third grade due in part to lack of books in the home and family engagement. An Oklahoma City native and entrepreneur is hoping to help combat that problem by funding an early childhood literacy and family engagement program in Oklahoma City elementary schools that aims to develop long-term reading habits in students. The program, designed by the national nonprofit,  Raising A Reader, is providing training to more than 35 local elementary school teachers as well as an orientation and program materials for parents. 
Engaging immigrant families for success
Jana Sawyer, Carthage's ELL coordinator, said family engagement means more than just having parents at school events. And so came the recent meeting with families, a focus group of sorts that began the engagement process.  "Engagement is the idea of developing a meaningful partnership with parents and a sense of shared responsibility in the development of the child," Sawyer said. "We are working on building small teams of parents right now so that teachers and parents can have more intimate conversations and really learn from each other on how to move forward."
New York City dads create a "bridge" for their kids through engagement and art
A small leadership group of dads of the students, who have various disabilities, came up with the visual - and real - concept that dads are like a "bridge," helping their children get from a place of bullying and low self-esteem to success and confidence.  The project not only was for the kids themselves, but also empowered the fathers through the process of conceiving, designing and ultimately painting the artwork. And, counter to the stereotype of dads being uninvolved, it helped them engage more closely with their children's education.
motheradvocate
A mother-turned-education activist reflects: What I've learned from 25 years of advocating for latino parents
María Elena Meraz has spent 25 years, as both a mother and an advocate, learning and sharing about how public schools in California can better serve the needs of Latino students by involving parents. Based on her work in Los Angeles as well as in Mexico, she recently started a new parent empowerment program that is reaching hundreds of Latino and immigrant parents like herself with the message that they "urgently" have to get involved with their schools and their children's education if they want them to succeed in life.

Become a Member. Join a Movement.
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.

Learn more about our membership benefits for individuals and organizations. 


Program Coordinator, National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagementcareercenter
Join the NAFSCE team! The Program Coordinator is an integral member of the NAFSCE team, working closely with the staff to manage a wide variety of projects and initiatives including overseeing the organization's newsletter, social media campaigns and membership outreach, managing the membership database and coordinating logistics for events and meetings. This position is for a self-starter with keen attention to detail and strong communications skills.
CAFE Program Manager, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium
MAEC is looking for an experienced and dynamic leader who will manage and develop the newly formed Collaborative Action for Family Engagement Center (CAFE). The CAFE Program Manager will lead a small team of professionals who will monitor and coordinate the delivery of high quality FSCE programming and technical assistance between five partner organizations to underserved communities across Maryland and Pennsylvania.  Learn more here.
CAFE Program Associates, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium
MAEC is looking to hire two dynamic professionals who will support the management and development the newly formed Collaborative Action for Family Engagement Center (CAFE). The CAFE Senior Program Associates will monitor and coordinate the delivery of high quality FSCE programming and technical assistance between five partner organizations to underserved communities across Maryland and Pennsylvania.  Learn more here.
Massachusetts Early College Director, Early College Joint Committee of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), is seeking to hire high-performing individuals who are ready to support the goal of the Massachusetts public K-12 and adult education system to prepare all students for success in life. DESE is committed to a diverse workforce and we strongly encourage candidates from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds to apply.  Learn more here.
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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