The National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group is a leadership collaborative 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.
Given the unique opportunity to transform education through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and the pending reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group serves to catalyze bold, innovative national policies and programs for effective family engagement and school-community partnerships that will ensure excellent educational opportunities from birth through young adulthood. It reaches out to partners to advance its policy vision, and forges alliances for sustaining meaningful change and building grassroots demand for quality early care and education programs and effective public schools.
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. Its priorities for building a strong foundation for family, school, and community engagement include the following:
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Providing a research-based definition and a coherent and comprehensive strategy for family, school, and community partnerships that will assure student academic and developmental success. |
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Proposing a three-tiered federal, state, and local infrastructure that will elevate family, school, and community engagement as a necessary reform strategy from cradle to career. |
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| Promoting research, and especially evaluation, about innovative family engagement programs and practices that will improve student learning and developmental outcomes. |
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Improving data systems for family engagement that will enable timely reporting, relevant learning, and greater accountability. |
The National Family, School, and Community Working Group’s activities and publications are available from the websites of its individual members.
PUBLICATIONS INCLUDE:
- Recommendations for Federal Policy
- Commentary from the National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group on the Race to the Top Program
MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL FAMILY, SCHOOL, AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT WORKING GROUP:
Mishaela Durán, M.Ed.
Director of Government Affairs
PTA National Office of Programs and Public Policy
Arnold F. Fege
Director, Public Engagement and Advocacy
Public Education Network
Sue Ferguson
Chair
National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE)
Anne W. Foster
National Executive Director
Parents for Public Schools
Anne T. Henderson
Senior Consultant, Community Organizing and Engagement
Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Catherine Jordan
SEDL Program Manager
National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools
Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D.
Lecturer on Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Kavitha Mediratta
Program Officer, Education
Education, Arts & Humanities
New York Community Trust
Susan Shaffer
Vice President
Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium
Director
Maryland State Parental Information and Resource Center (MD PIRC)
Steven B. Sheldon, Ph.D.
Director of Research
National Network of Partnership Schools
Deborah R. Stark
Commissioner
First 5 Alameda County, CA
Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Founder and Director
Harvard Family Research Project
Harvard Graduate School of Education