ESC-20 Family Engagement Cohort
In Collaboration with Scholastic Family Engagement
Invitation to Apply! 2019-2020 School Year!
ESC-20’s Family Engagement Department, in collaboration with Scholastic’s Family & Community Education (FACE) team will support three ESC-20 campuses by guiding their home-school partnerships to:
· Assess their current Family Engagement efforts;
· Strengthen the foundation on which they are building home-school partnerships;
· Enhance the capacity of educators and families to work together to support student learning; and to
· Transform their partnership practices.
These efforts will be conducted with a 10-member campus team through a year-long cohort of face-to-face trainings, assignments, “repurposing” existing family events, ongoing coaching support and developing an action plan to build stronger partnerships with families to support learning.
Qualifications
- Campus application demonstrates a committed effort to strengthen home-school partnerships through current Family Engagement initiatives and expresses a strong desire to continue to implement family engagement practices that will have a positive impact on student achievement.
- Campus is able to designate a 10-member campus team that represents the diversity of their campus and is able to fully commit (September-May) to all requirements. Campus team must designate a team leader (not campus principal).
- 10 member team suggestions: campus administrator (required), 3-4 instructional staff, 2-3 parents, SPED representative, Bilingual/EL representative, counselor/social worker, community partner, district level staff.
- Campus team commits to attend four 6-hour training sessions (dates and location TBD) and complete the necessary work and assignments between training sessions.
- Campus participates in the Family Engagement Assessment and strives for a 40% return rate on family surveys and 100% return rate on staff surveys.
- Campus team agrees to share with their campus community a year-long plan and strategy for implementation.
- Campus agrees to highlight their family engagement work within their district and region 20.
- Campus/District is able to submit payment of $4000 for the year-long cohort training and support.
ESC-20 will provide:
- A designated ESC-20 coach to provide implementation support (before, during & after);
- Materials and resources including Powerful Partnerships book & study guide;
- Actionable data and recommendations to enhance home-school partnerships;
- Opportunities to highlight & showcase Family Engagement work within ESC-20; and
- Certificate of completion with 24 hours of professional development.
Professional Development
Reframing Family Engagement
This 1st training contains foundational training and covers the building blocks for elevated family engagement.
Through interactive experiential activities, participants examine action team membership, review the research on family engagement, explore effective family-school partnerships, and reflect on their core beliefs for family engagement.
To extend the learning, school teams have homework to complete prior to the 2nd training—an assessment of how families are currently welcomed into their school. Each team will prepare a short presentation for Training #2 to highlight school strengths as well as areas to enhance and refine.
Redesigning Family Engagement Events
The 2nd training introduces participants to the Essential Elements through a series of expert-guided interactive exercises.
Participants will deepen their understanding of the elements that are essential to the success of any family engagement activity. Using these elements, participants will assess and evaluate how well their current family engagement strategies incorporate these practices.
The training concludes with a plan to redesign and repurpose an upcoming family literacy event that incorporates all five elements for effective practice.
Engaging Families in Learning Throughout the Year
The 3rd training helps participants connect family engagement to their student learning goals as they plan for the coming year. Participants use this session to “plan the work” for the next 12 months.
The campus team will share the successes and challenges of their repurposed family engagement activity. They will also learn how to design and implement additional family learning events that are aligned with best practices.
A Fourth Training Will be Added Based on Cohort's Needs & Requests!
What's Included in the Family Engagement Assessment?
- A physical walk-through of each school building (excluding classrooms) with photo and video documentation;
- A review of all printed materials distributed to families;
- A review of the school website, parent portal, and social media activity; “Mystery Shopper” calls to the school in English, Spanish, and any other applicable languages;
- Surveys of building administrators, instructional staff, family-engagement staff or parent coordinator (if applicable), and students’ families; and
- Access to an online data dashboard and virtual report that includes actionable data, commendations, photos of all assessed areas, and proven strategies to enhance home-school partnerships.
Deadline
Selections and notifications will be made in July.
Cohort will begin in mid-September.
Download the informational flyer below!
Consultant, Family Engagement, Education Service Center Region 20
Email: kimberly.baumgardner@esc20.net
Website: www.esc20.net/parentresources
Location: 1314 Hines, San Antonio, TX, United States
Phone: 210-370-5431
Facebook: facebook.com/escregion20
Twitter: @ESCRegion20