Family Engagement Framework : A Tool for California School Districts

1. Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts September 19, 2012Sponsored by:California Department of EducationTitle I Policy and Program Guidance Office

2. Presenter Nancy BodenhausenEducation Programs Consultant California Department of Education

3. Session Goals Participants will: • Become familiar with the key components of the California Department of Education’s (CDE’s) Family Engagement Framework • Gain the knowledge necessary to begin using the framework to plan, implement and evaluate district family engagement programs that can both improve student achievement and meet state and federal program requirements

4. Why Is This Framework Important? “Together we can be more effective.” Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Introductory Letter, Family Engagement Framework

5. Parent Involvement: A Requirement of Many State and Federal Programs • Title I and State Compensatory Education • English Learners (Title III) • Child Development • Special Education • Homeless Education • Others

6. It’s Not Just the Law… If parents are involved, students from all backgrounds tend to: • Earn higher grades and test scores • Enroll in higher-level programs • Be promoted and earn credits • Adapt well to school and attend regularly • Have better social skills and behavior • Graduate and go on to higher education (Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp, A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement, 2002)

7. Organizing Schools for Improvement • Long-term study of Chicago schools found five essential supports for school improvement. • Without all five, schools were substantially less likely to make gains. • The presence of strong family and community ties made it much more likely that students would make significant math and reading gains. Anthony S. Bryk et al, (2010) Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)

8. Organizing Schools for Improvement (Cont.)

9. Do You Know? Strategies involving parents to reinforce classroom instruction, either in the home or in the classroom, are successful when they meet what two conditions? (The answer is in the Framework.)

10. Do You Know? (Cont.) Which two particular types of parental involvement hold the most significant promise for supporting student achievement? (The answer is in the Framework.)

11. Essential Elements The Family Engagement Framework brings together: • Research • Promising practices • State and federal program requirements

12. Framework Development 2003: Family Area Network (FAN) began to draft “standards” for family involvement • Grounded in statutes and research • Addressed state, regional, county, district, school, classroom, and family levels • Linked to categorical program monitoring (CPM), school improvement, school accreditation

13. Framework Development (Cont.) Stakeholders suggested a more concise format be derived from the extensive drafts developed by the FAN.

14. Framework Development (Cont.) 2006: The CDE began analysis and refinement of draft standards, with help from the California Comprehensive Center (CA CC) at WestEd.

15. Framework Development (Cont.) Over the next three years, CA CC conducted: • An extensive review of state and federal requirements for parental involvement (verified with CDE staff) • A focused review of recent literature to identify current research linking specific parent involvement activities to student achievement

16. Framework Development (Cont.) CA CC sought periodic review of content describing required and recommended district-level parent and community involvement activities from: • FAN • Parent Information and Resource Centers • Parent Training and Information Centers • Family Empowerment Centers • California Parent Teacher Association

17. Framework Development (Cont.) 2009: FAN endorsed CA CC draft of the district-level framework, recommended production, and dissemination 2011: Document published 2012: Document released and disseminated to all California school districts

18. Key Components of the Framework Component 1: District principles Component 2: Required district activities and implementation rubrics Component 3: Tools for communicating with families Component 4: Appendices

19. Component 1: District Principles • 18 essential actions for supporting family and community involvement at the district level • Grouped into five action areas aligned with CDE monitoring dimensions for state and federal programs

20. Component 1: District Principles (Cont.) Five Action Areas: • Build capacity • Demonstrate leadership • Resources: financial and other • Monitor progress • Access and equity

21. Component 1: District Principles (Cont.) 18 district principles (“standards”) grouped within the action areas: • Build capacity (1.01-1.07) • Demonstrate leadership (2.01-2.03) • Resources: financial and other (3.01) • Monitor progress (4.01-4.04) • Access and equity (5.01-5.03)

22. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics • Describes specific district actions for each of the district principles • Four columns in the rubrics (qualitative progression, left to right): 1. Required activities (laws and regulations cited) 2. Basic level of implementation 3. Progressive level of implementation 4. Innovative level of implementation

23. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Column 1: Describes required activities and gives legal citations

24. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Column 2: Basic level of implementation Reflects only the required activities

25. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Columns 3 and 4: Progressive and innovative levels of implementation Reflect research and promising practice models

26. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Rubrics address Federal Program Monitoring (FPM, formerly CPM) Dimensions: • Involvement • Staffing and Professional Development VII. Teaching and Learning

27. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs

28. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs Column 1: Federal and State Activities (requirements): • Establish a district-wide, board-adopted parent involvement policy applicable to all schools (California Education Code [EC] Section 11504). • Integrate parent involvement programs into school plans for academic accountability (EC Section 11502[e]).

29. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs Column 1: Federal and State Activities (requirements): • Ensure that policies and programs for Title I programs meet requirements for parent involvement under Title I (EC Section 11503)

30. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs Column 2: Basic Implementation (required): • Document that the district governing board has adopted a parent involvement policy applicable to all schools that addresses the program requirements for Title I schools in its district (see 2.02)

31. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs Column 3: Progressive Implementation: • Establish a parent involvement leadership team to guide and coordinate parent involvement programs throughout the district, including: • membership of teachers, parents, administrators, and other partners • regularly scheduled meetings; and/or (continued on next slide)

32. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs Column 3: Progressive Implementation In developing the district parent involvement policy and plan, utilize a planning model to: • analyze surveys • set goals and expectations • identify and design supports to achieve expectations • identify staff and resources to support the plan

33. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs Column 4: Innovative Implementation • Include in the district parent involvement leadership team • Membership representative of all district schools • A plan for continuity during changes in districts

34. Component 2: Required District Activities and Implementation Rubrics (Cont.) Example: District Principle 2: Demonstrate Leadership District Activity 2.01: Ensure that all schools have family/parent involvement programs Column 4: Innovative Implementation • Include in the district parent involvement policy: • personnel policies that incorporate parent involvement (see bullets) • school-home communication • guidelines for agreements with community agencies, etc. (see bullets)

35. Component 3: Tools for Communicating with Families • he tools: • May be used to present district principles, activities and implementation rubrics without the legal citations and regulatory language • Provide suggestions for parents about ways to pursue involvement in activities • Support a common understanding of the guiding principles, goals and strategies for family engagement • he tools: • May be used to present district principles, activities, and implementation rubrics without the legal citations and regulatory language • Provide suggestions for parents about ways to pursue involvement in activities • Support a common understanding of the guiding principles, goals, and strategies for family engagementMay be used to present district principles, activities, and implementation rubrics without the legal citations and regulatory • Provide suggestions for parents about ways to pursue involvement in activities • Support a common understanding of the guiding principles, goals, and strategies for family engagement • The tools: • May be used to present district principles, activities and implementation rubrics without the legal citations and regulatory language • Provide suggestions for parents about ways to pursue involvement in activities • Support a common understanding of the guiding principles, goals and strategies for family engagement

36. Component 3: Tools for Communicating with Families (Cont.)

37. Component 3: Tools for Communicating with Families (Cont.) May be copied or adapted to use in newsletters, e-mails, and other outreach efforts to families • As single pages, a series, or a five-page document • Now available in Spanish

38. Component 4: Appendices • Not to be missed! • Contains valuable tools for collaboration, training, and decision-making

39. Component 4: Appendices (Cont.) Appendix A: Matrix of Federal and State Parent Involvement Requirements • Legal citations for parent involvement requirements across programs • Illustrates breadth of parent involvement requirements across programs • Categorized by program and by CDE FPM dimensions

40. Component 4: Appendices (Cont.)

41. Component 4: Appendices (Cont.) Appendix B: Review of the Literature Linking Parent Involvement to Student Achievement • Resource for administrators and teachers for identifying, selecting, and supporting effective and promising practices in parent involvement. • Recent and rigorous research. Onlypeer-reviewed articles published within previous nine years (2001–09) were sought. • Key findings summarized.

42. Do You Know? Strategies involving parents to reinforce classroom instruction, either in the home or in the classroom, are successful when they meet what two conditions?

43. Answer: Do You Know? Strategies using parents to reinforce classroom instruction, either in the home or in the classroom, are successful when they are: • Content specific, and • Supported by explicit parent education and training.

44. Do You Know? Which two particular types of parental involvement hold the most significant promise for supporting student achievement?

45. Answer: Do You Know? The two types of parental involvement that hold the most significant promise for supporting student achievement are: • those that support learning at home (engaging parents directly with their students); and • school/home communication activities (engaging parents directly with school personnel).

46. Component 4: Appendices (Cont.) Appendix B: Review of the Literature Linking Parent Involvement to Student Achievement • Table shows area of parent involvement (e.g., learning at home); specific parent involvement strategies in that area that were found to be associated with student achievement (e.g., interactive homework); and articles presenting evidence of the connection.

47. Component 4: Appendices (Cont.)

48. Component 4: Appendices (Cont.) Appendix B.1: Annotated List of Selected Articles Linking Parent Involvement to Student Achievement • Short summaries of articles that met specific methodological criteria and found a statistically significant, positive relationship between parent involvement activities and student achievement

49. How Can Your LEA Use the Framework? • Use the research findings and the rubrics to evaluate current family engagement efforts in the district. Is your district at a basic level of implementation? Progressive? Innovative? What structures might you put in place for more comprehensive family engagement programs? What activities might you eliminate to make room for more effective ones?

50. How Can Your LEA Use the Framework? (Cont.) Use the framework to begin a conversation among specialists in all the categorical programs in your district that have parental involvement requirements (see matrix, Appendix A). How can parent involvement become a more efficient, collaborative effort among program staffs?