This page contains articles featured previously on the front page of the NCPIE web site.
April 22, 2010
Statement by Anne T. Henderson, Senior Consultant
Community Organizing and Engagement, Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
The evidence is clear-schools cannot close the achievement gap without partnering with families. Over 40 years of research has demonstrated that engaging families in their children's education improves student achievement, attendance, and behavior, and increases graduation rates.
Senate Testimony Opening Statement
Senate Testimony Executive Summary
Senate Testimony Full Text
May 6, 2010
Parents Across America Oppose the Administration's "Blueprint" for Education Reform
Today, parent leaders and advocates from throughout the nation sent a letter to the President and Congress, asking them to keep the parent voice in public education and to oppose the administration's "Blueprint" for the re-authorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) put forward by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. More information at www.classsizematters.org.
from ASCD Express, May 3, 2010
Engaging Parents and the Community in Schooling
ASCD Express is looking for 600- to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Engaging Parents and the Community in Schooling." Hosting tutors, offering internships, running a parents center and other parent and community involvement efforts take significant time and organization. What kinds of initiatives work well to harness family and community resources? How do they get funded? What is the payoff for students and the wider community? We welcome stories about innovative programs that break down the barriers between school and community and provide mutual enrichment for all concerned. Submissions are due by May 26. Submissions are due by May 26.
from The Answer Sheet, Washington Post, April 30, 2010
Goodlad on school reform: Are we ignoring lessons of last 50 years?
This is the first of three articles by influential education theorist and reformer John I. Goodlad.
Goodlad, author of more than three dozen books, is president of the Institute for Educational Inquiry in Seattle and has held professorships at Emory University, the University of Chicago, the University of Washington and UCLA, where he was dean of the Graduate School of Education from 1967–1983. His1984 book "A Place Called School," is often credited with launching research efforts on school improvement.
This is long for a blog post, full of reflections by Goodlad about his own life, educational history and schools today, but it is worth your time. Goodlad always is.
from Building Neighborhoods, April 30, 2010
Promise Neighborhoods RFP Released Today
The Department of Education will release the RFP for $10 million in Promise Neighborhoods planning grants today (Friday, April 30). We will send the link out to this email list as soon as it is live.
Text of the Department's press release, including application deadline and webinar registration links, is available now on the blog.
from Education Week, April 27, 2010
Advocates emphasize need for educating the whole child
A U.S. Senate committee heard testimony recently from advocates who want to increase the focus in the revised Elementary and Secondary Education Act on educating the whole child — providing for support services to address students' health and other needs — as a way to improve student achievement. Some lawmakers expressed concerns about the costs of creating programs amid difficult economic times, but supporters testified to the programs' value. "In the end, you have to create a series of supports that really meet all of their needs," said Geoffrey Canada, head of the Harlem Children's Zone. Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org)
Washington, DC, April 21, 2010
Note from Todd May
Deputy Director
Special Projects and Events Team
U.S. Department of Education
Mr. May's note to colleagues regards the most recent addition to the Department's suite of school turnaround videos: It Can Be Done: Turning Around America's Lowest Achieving Schools
Washington, DC, April 13, 2010
Press Release from the Learning First Alliance
For Immediate Release
Washington, DC, April 13, 2010
Contact: Claus von Zastrow, 202 296-5220 x115
Leading Education Associations Urge Stronger National Focus on Family Engagement in Education
WASHINGTON — Today, the Learning First Alliance, a partnership of 17 national education associations representing over ten million parents, educators and policymakers, released the following statement:
"The Elementary and Secondary Education Act should make family engagement a stronger priority. Research consistently demonstrates the importance of family engagement to children's success in school, and the President has strongly and repeatedly endorsed the thrust of this research in his speeches. Yet the President's blueprint for ESEA reauthorization contains only glancing references to the importance of parents and lacks a compelling vision for how the federal government can support family engagement. The President's budget even proposes the elimination of the Parent Information Resource Centers, the only federal program currently dedicated to family engagement. The Learning First Alliance believes the reauthorization of ESEA should much more strongly support family engagement as a critical priority."
Massie Ritsch, Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Outreach Services, Office of Communications and Outreach, US DOE, came to the January 27th 2010 meeting to discuss ESEA reauthorization and President Obama's upcoming State of the Union address.
Massie's time was limited due to Obama's speech that evening so our ability to learn more about how ESEA reauthorization was going to support family engagement was also limited. But we have subsequently learned through Obama's 2011 budget recommendations that our long fought for Parent Involvement Resource Centers (PIRCs) are to be eliminated with ESEA reauthorization. We are going to need everyone's voice to let Congress know that we do not want the PIRCs eliminated!
The National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group
An important new leadership collaborative has been established known as the National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group whose purpose is to inform the development and implementation of federal policy related to family, school, and community engagement in education. It is dedicated to mobilizing partnerships among families, schools, and communities to promote kindergarten readiness, improve schools, and increase student achievement. The National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group premises its policy informing activities on decades of research that family and community engagement leads to increased student achievement, improved social skills and behavior, and increased likelihood for graduation. To learn more about the work of the group click here.
Using Study Circles to Engage Racially Diverse Parents, Staff, and Students in Dialogue and Problem Solving
Engaging families from all racial and ethnic backgrounds is challenging in diverse schools. Cultural differences, language barriers, and stereotypes often add to the difficulty of getting input and involvement from all stakeholders. To address these challenges, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) developed a program called Study Circles which combines vigorous outreach, facilitated dialogue, and collaborative action. Learn more.
101 Ways to Create Real Family Engagement
Many schools and districts have proclaimed their "strategies for family engagement" and set about "doing things" but they have not succeeded in engaging all families. At best, many have merely increased the engagement of the already engaged.
Author Steve Constantino addresses the cultural revolution that must first occur, along with providing strategies and exercises that help schools begin making the tough cultural changes. Readers then learn how to build on that new cultural foundation and create the relationships that motivate family involvement, and ultimately create family engagement. The book contains more than 100 tested ways to create REAL family engagement. More information.
¡Colorín Colorado!
Colorín Colorado's mission is to find research-based and best practice information about teaching reading to English language learners (ELLs) and use the power and reach of the Internet to make it widely available to parents, educators, and policy makers. Read more »
Partnering with Parents and Families to Support Immigrant and Refugee Children at School
Coming to the United States in search of a better life for their children, immigrant and refugee families care greatly about education and have high aspirations for their children. Read more »
Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades
Hedy Chang continues to research the impact of chronic early absence on students' behavior.
Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades
Hedy N. Chang | Mariajosé Romero
New edition of National Network of Partnership Schools handbook is ready for distribution from the publisher: Epstein, J. L. et al. (2009). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action, third edition and CD. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. See flyer for details.
National Dropout Prevention Center / Network Volume 20 Number 2
Family/School Relationships: Relationships That Matter
We often hear how important the three R's are in dropout prevention: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. Looking at the third R, Relationships, we naturally think first about the connections teachers and other school personnel are making with students — engaging them at a personal level; knowing each of them, their interests, their special problems, and their aspirations; caring about them as individuals; and thus not letting them fall through the cracks. And this is extraordinarily important. However, the notion of relationships with parents and families is every bit as significant in order to solve the dropout crisis. Positive personal and school relationships with parents and families translate into strong family engagement, one of the most powerful indicators of student success.
View report here.
The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Preparation (AACTE), with support from the MetLife Foundation (and behind the scenes support from NCPIE), held a Mini Institute for their members in February of 2007 to promote the importance of engaging parents in the academic success of their children in pre-service teacher training programs and in-service professional development programs. The Survey and Findings, as well as the presentations from leading researchers are being made available on their website.
This site will offer various presentations and information for use in addressing the concerns for family and community engagement. We hope you use this site to develop or begin a program that provides new teacher training and in-service professional development with the tools necessary to effectively work with families to increase academic success for all students.
Powerpoint Presentation: Chronic Early Absence: Why Does It Matter? What Can We Do?
PTA Legislative Conference, March 11, 2009
Hedy Chang
Consultant, Annie E. Casey Foundation
Bookshare is the world's largest accessible digital library for persons with print and learning disabilities (such as dyslexia). Students with qualifying disabilities get FREE access to over 43,000 digital books, textbooks and teacher recommended reading, as well as assistive reading technology to help them read and study independently. More information.
When Your Child Tells You They Are Being Bullied
Third Annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week
Oct. 5–11, 2008
Did you know that up to one-third of the nation's students will be bullied during the school year and each day more than 60 percent of students will witness bullying situations?
Join with PACER to prevent bullying in children's lives by taking part in the Third Annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week, Oct 5-11, 2008. Visit PACERKidsAgainstBullying.org and PACER.org for activities and ideas. Partnering organizations are asked to share their bullying prevention activities at bullying411@PACER.org and will be listed on PACER's bullying prevention Web site.
The week is sponsored by PACER Center’s National Center for Bullying Prevention and cosponsored by the American Federation for Teachers, National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, National Education Association, National PTA, and School Social Work Association of America.
Hot off the Press!!!
Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships is just off the press. Written for educators as well as parent and community leaders, this book is packed with tools to engage families in ways that will improve student achievement. Check out these excerpts:
To order a copy, go to: www.thenewpress.com and click on current season.
Book excerpts © 2007 by Anne T. Henderson, Karen L. Mapp, Vivian R. Johnson, and Don Davies. This material originally appears in Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships (The New Press: February 5, 2007). Published with the permission of The New Press and available at good book stores everywhere.
It Takes a Parent: Transforming Education in the Wake of the No Child Left Behind Act
September 2006
This report documents an effort to combine practical, on-the-ground perspectives, based upon interviews, and on federal, state, and district policy research, with current social science research on key parental involvement issues and effective practices. Mostly, it reflects an effort to assemble and analyze what we know as a matter of practice and as a matter of research in framing an action agenda promoting more effective parental involvement practices by schools, districts, and states. Please see the report here.
Anne Henderson's testimony at the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions NCLB Reauthorization: Effective Strategies for Engaging Parents and Communities in Schools held 3/28/07. Click to read: PDF | MS Word
Harvard Family Research Project's Series on Family Involvement in education from early childhood through high school. Click here to access the series.
Tomasito's Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela
This online storybook about family involvement at school is designed to engage children, inform and inspire their families, and help educators build connections with families, all while supporting literacy. The story was developed from research and is based on the real experiences of one Latino boy and his family who are acculturating to the U.S.
Written by Harvard Family Research Project's (HFRP) Ellen Mayer and illustrated by award-winning children's book illustrator Joe Cepeda, this bilingual storybook also includes information for families about family involvement at school. Download it for free on HFRP's Family Involvement Storybook Corner website.
Anne Henderson's testimony at the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions NCLB Reauthorization: Effective Strategies for Engaging Parents and Communities in Schools held 3/28/07. Click to read: PDF | MS Word
Hot off the Press!!!
Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships is just off the press. Written for educators as well as parent and community leaders, this book is packed with tools to engage families in ways that will improve student achievement. Check out these excerpts:
To order a copy, go to: www.thenewpress.com and click on current season.
Book excerpts © 2007 by Anne T. Henderson, Karen L. Mapp, Vivian R. Johnson, and Don Davies. This material originally appears in Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships (The New Press: February 5, 2007). Published with the permission of The New Press and available at good book stores everywhere.
The IDEA Partnership, which consists of 55 national organizations including NCPIE, is dedicated to improving outcomes for students and youth with disabilities by joining state agencies and stakeholders through shared work and learning. Their website, www.ideapartnership.org, contains a wealth of up-to-date information on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), strategies for implementation on the state and local level, and valuable resources for all who are invested in improving outcomes for students and youth with disabilities.
Public concern over implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is rising, according to a new report issued today by Public Education Network. Open to the Public: The Public Speaks out on No Child Left Behind, identifies specific concerns voiced by more than 1500 parents, students, taxpayers, and community leaders at open public hearings from September to January of this year. The hearings were designed to gain grassroots and civic input on the law from groups often left out of the policy debate, yet profoundly impacted by its implementation. To learn more, click here. (MS Word Document)
From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 4 of the No Child Left Behind Act
On March 28, 2006, CEP released its fourth annual report on the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 4 of the No Child Left Behind Act, is a comprehensive analysis of how the law is being implemented at the state, district and local levels. Based on a survey of 50 states, 299 school districts and 38 case studies of school districts, the report provides the most up-to-date information about the law's implementation and shares the opportunities and challenges that it has presented for states and districts. To learn more, click click here.
An important new book: School-Family Partnerships for Children's Success published by Teachers College Press In this book experts examine the various aspects and effects of parental involvement not only on children's academic achievement, but also on their social and emotional development. Featuring a comprehensive multidimensional framework, the text addresses critical issues facing families and educators. For ordering information click here.
Taking a Closer Look: A Guide to Online Resources on Family Involvement
There is more information on family involvement online than any one person can keep track of now. Harvard Family Research Project has taken a closer look and compiled and categorized this large body of information in order to make it easier for you to access and use in your work.
Click here to look at the Guide.
New Resource on School-Community Partnerships
"Building A Community School" is a how-to guide based on effective practices at the Robert L. Ford School in Lynn, Massachusetts. For more information please go
here.
Listening to Families and Faculty: A Report on Family Involvement in the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS)
This report shares the findings from the focus groups and the results from the survey that was sent to every family, teacher, and school administrator in ACPS. Please click here to view the report. (PDF: 296KB)
Has "No Child Left Behind" Improved Schools?
As the No Child Left Behind initiative moves into its third year, schools and communities throughout America are making big adjustments to meet the requirements of this far-reaching education reform law.
Please tell policymakers how No Child Left Behind has affected your child, school, or community. Visit www.GiveKids GoodSchools.com to take a quick online survey! It is critical that policymakers hear from you about the impact of this law. With your input, we can provide them with concrete, "on the ground" information about the effect of No Child Left Behind.
The results of this survey will help suggest changes and improvements to No Child Left Behind. Please, take the quick survey at GiveKids GoodSchools.org. The future of education is at stake.
Engaging All Families by Steve Constantino provides a summary of research that acts as a foundation. Readers are given the resources necessary to assess their present level of family engagement and the ideas, strategies, suggestions, programs, practices, policies and procedures to implement a wide variety of programs. To learn more about this book and ordering information click here.
"Including Every Parent" was written by a team of teachers and parents from the Patrick O'Hearn Elementary public school, where close to 100% of parents are involved in some way. The book explores a range of specific strategies that have been critical to engaging and empowering parents and emphasizes the "how-to's" of family involvement with tips, ideas, and stories from the O'Hearn, together with step-by-step instructions for implementing specific practices in diverse school settings. Books are $9.95/each plus shipping and handling. Order here.
A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement by Anne T. Henderson and Karen Mapp PDF | Document