This document discusses strategies for schools to form successful partnerships between schools, families, and communities to support digital learning initiatives. It outlines a pledge for districts to become future ready by fostering digital learning cultures, improving connectivity and access to technology, providing educators with training, and engaging families and other districts. The rest of the document provides information on effectively partnering with families and communities by establishing shared responsibilities, engaging families in meaningful ways across different learning contexts, and using two-way digital communication tools once necessary infrastructure is in place. Districts are advised to start engagement efforts early in digital learning initiatives and schools can address issues by connecting parents and taking various partnership approaches.
2. Future Ready District Pledge
1. Fostering and Leading a Culture of
Digital Learning Within Our Schools.
2. Helping Schools and Families
Transition to High-speed Connectivity.
3. Empowering Educators through
Professional Learning Opportunities.
4. Accelerating Progress Toward
Universal Access for All Students to
Quality Devices.
6. Offering Digital Tools to Help
Students And Families #ReachHigher.
5. Providing Access to Quality Digital
Content.
7. Mentoring Other Districts and Helping
Them Transition to Digital Learning.
3. Future Ready District Pledge
Community Partnerships
1. Fostering and Leading a Culture of Digital Learning within our Schools
2. Helping Schools and Families Transition to High Speed Connectivity
3. Empowering educators through professional learning opportunities
4. Accelerating Progress Toward Access for All Students to Quality Devices
5. Providing Access to Quality Digital Content
6. Offering Digital Tools to Help Students and Families #ReachHigher
7. Mentoring Other Districts and Helping Them Transition to Digital Learning
5. Breakout Session Goals
By the end of this session you will be able to:
• Understand effective family and community
engagement strategies
• Demonstrate how to partner with families and
community partners for future ready schools
• Recognize challenges to effective family and
community partnerships
#FutureReady
6. Questions to Ponder
• How are you as a district offering digital
tools to help students and families reach
higher?
• How are you engaging your community in
the digital learning conversation more
broadly?
• What are some examples of policies or
activities in your district that can prepare
parents on the transition to digital learning?
#FutureReady
7. Core Values
• All parents have dreams for their children and
want the best for them.
• All parents have the capacity to support their
children’s learning.
• Parents and school staff should be equal
partners.
• The responsibility for building partnerships
between school and home rest primarily
within the school staff, especially school
leaders.
(Henderson & Mapp, 2008)
#FutureReady
8. Effective Family & Community Engagement
A Shared Responsibility in which:
Schools and other community agencies and
organizations are committed to engaging
families in meaningful and culturally respectful
ways, and
Families are committed to actively supporting
their children’s learning and development.
#FutureReady
9. Cradle to Career:
Continuous across a child’s life, spanning from
Early Head Start programs to college and
career.
#FutureReady
10. Across Contexts:
Carried out everywhere that children learn –
Home
Pre-kindergarten programs
School
After-school programs
Faith-based organizations
Community programs and activities
#FutureReady
14. Recognizing the need to build capacity for
family and community partners, where
should the district start to engage families
and community partners early in the first
year of the Future Ready Initiative?
#FutureReady
16. • What are some approaches that the
principal might take to address the issue?
• How can the school connect parents and
community using digital tools for two-way
communication?
• What does the school and district need to
have in place prior to implementing digital
tools?
#FutureReady
17.
18. Closing Reflection: PIE
P: Priceless piece of information
What has been the most important piece of information
for you today?
I: Item to Implement
What is something you intend to implement from our time
today?
E: Encouragement I received
What is something that you are already doing that you
were encouraged to keep doing?
Welcome to the Schools + Families+ Communities = Successful Partnerships breakout session. I am excited that you are decided to join our session.
Let us tell you a little about our background:
Renee’
Joe’
Presentation Resources and info: http://bit.ly/FRFCE
Look back at the pledge
Community Partnerships include the formal and informal local and global community connections, collaborative projects and relationships that advance the school’s learning goals.
Elements of this gear are as follows:
Local Community Engagement and Outreach
Global and Cultural Awareness
Digital Learning Environments as connectors to local/global communities
Parent communication and engagement
District Brand
Digital communications, online communities, social media, and digital learning environments often serve as connectors for these partnerships.
Review the session goals with participants.
Before we begin our session, I would like to pose the following question for you think about and discuss at your table.
How are you as a district offering digital tools to help students and families reach higher?
How are you engaging your community in the digital conversation more broadly?
What are some examples of policies or activities in your district that can prepare parents on the transition to digital learning?
How do we engage families and community partners? We need to reach out with the goal of building partnerships in mind on mutual respect and common purpose, families/communities will respond.
Discuss the core values of family engagement.
National PTA worked with leading researchers to develop a formal definition of effective family and community engagement. There are three components:
First, family engagement is a shared responsibility. So what does that mean? That means that schools, community agencies and organizations working with families, and the families themselves – all play a role in student success.
Schools and the community organizations must engage families in meaningful and culturally respectful ways. And families must be committed to supporting their children’s learning and development.
Did anyone notice that we aren’t using “Parent” engagement or “Parent” involvement? This definition, especially the importance of engaging families in meaningful and culturally respectful ways, has really helped to inform our shift to always saying family engagement. We know that many families have varying family structures – and the students’ caregiver or educational support system may include another relative or adult. Using family engagement is inclusive of all families – every child. It welcomes anyone who is caring for the student to be involved in supporting learning and development.
Second, effective family engagement spans from cradle to career.
Family engagement should be continuous across a child’s growth from Early Head Start programs to college and career.
This includes an enduring commitment from parents and families, and recognizing that parents’ roles change as children mature into young adults.
Third, family engagement should be integrated across contexts. That means it should it should be carried out everywhere that children learn – including:
Home
Pre-kindergarten programs
School
After-school programs
Faith-based organizations
Community programs and activities.
Remember how the first two parts of the family engagement definition were a shared responsibility from cradle to career? This slide really sums up how families, schools and community partners collaborate throughout a child’s growth from infancy to adulthood to support student learning. Each of these destinations is a place where families can be engaged in meaningful ways to support student learning, as well as social and emotional development.
These Standards, and now these are in use by schools, PTAs and, educators, and community leaders nationwide as a framework for thinking about, structuring, and assessing family engagement:
Standard 1: Welcoming all families into the school community
Standard 2: Communicating effectively
Standard 3: Supporting student success
Standard 4: Speaking up for every child
Standard 5: Sharing power
Standard 6: Collaborating with community
Tangible Examples
Mooresville School District, NC – Family training requirement before one-to-one devices given to student.
Rocky Mount Nash – Partnered with churches for hotspots for student to use Wi-Fi
Forsyth County, GA - Local businesses have stickers in the windows to show families can use Wi-Fi
Communicating with parents outside just email: social media!
Falls Creek WI – Dr. Joe Sanfelippo - #gocrickets Branding Your School District
Vail Unified School District in Southern, AZ – Bus wifi provided by allowing local businesses to put signs on school buses.
Examples
Mooresville Graded School District, NC – Family training requirement before one-to-one devices given to student.
Rocky Mount Nash – Partnered with churches for hotspots for student to use Wi-Fi
Forsyth County, GA - Local businesses have stickers in the windows to show families can use Wi-Fi
Communicating with parents outside just email: social media!
Fall Creek School District, WI – Dr. Joe Sanfelippo - #gocrickets Branding Your School District
Sunnyside School District in Tucson, AZ – Bus Wi-Fi hotspot provided by allowing local businesses to put signs on school buses.
Ask Participants to read scenario – (8 minutes) and jot down 2 – 3 ideas to guide them through a discussion.
Scenario provided to participants at their tables to read.
Google Dob will be created for sharing.
Allow 15 minutes for discussion
Ask Participants to read scenario – (8 minutes) and jot down 2 – 3 ideas to guide them through a discussion.
Scenario provided to participants at their tables to read.
Google Dob will be created for sharing.
Allow 15 minutes for discussion
Free opportunity to share and resolve problems through a community of others leaders.
Every Wednesday at 9PM EST.
Joe is the moderator of this fantastic community of education professionals.