Promoting Statewide Family Engagement Frameworks: State Consortium on Family Engagement

In this April 28, 2020 webinar, part of CGLR’s Productive Parent-Teacher Partnerships series,  Yolie Flores, CGLR’s Chief Learning Officer, moderated a conversation that explored the efforts of teams in 18 states to build a community of support that promotes meaningful family engagement.

During the webinar, Rolf Grafwallner of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Sarah Holland of the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Human Services and Noel Kelty of the Michigan Department of Education described the state consortium on family engagement and how it has supported states in developing statewide, birth-through-graduation family engagement frameworks. Bonita Allen of the Pennsylvania Title I State Parent Advisory Council and Yolanda Brown of Northridge Academy in Flint, Michigan, joined them to share their reflections on the consortium.

Grafwallner explained how CCSSO has worked with partners to assist two cohorts of states in creating and operationalizing a statewide infrastructure to support families in education. He shared the guiding principles used in this process: a focus on equity and partnership; internal and external stakeholder engagement; a coherent statewide approach that results in a shared definition, set of principles, goals and strategies; alignment from birth to high school graduation; and evidence-based and impactful strategies. To date, seven states have completed their frameworks, six have drafted frameworks that are now in the approval process and five are in the stakeholder engagement phase.

Holland described Pennsylvania’s experiences in the first cohort of states. She introduced the resulting Pennsylvania Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Family Engagement Framework and explained how it serves as a tool to guide the implementation of effective practices, use of shared language and application of a family engagement continuum for families from the early days of parenthood until the child reaches adulthood. Holland shared the various components of the framework and provided a brief overview of the foundational practices and family engagement standards outlined in it.

Kelty described Michigan’s experiences in the second cohort of states and introduced the resulting MiFamily: Michigan’s Family Engagement Framework. She explained how Michigan defines family engagement and provided an overview of the five principles that guide the state’s efforts to engage and support families. Kelty also described how she hosted focus groups in communities across the state and modified the framework based on the recurring themes that emerged from those conversations.

Allen and Brown shared their reflections as members of the stakeholder committees in their respective states. They stressed the importance of being collaborative, modeling inclusion and equity in the process, building partnerships that are strengths-based and reciprocal, and being willing to respond to challenges and opportunities in communities.