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Innovative Schools Network | Transforming education one school at a time

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A grassroots network of educators creating and nurturing innovative schools by supporting each other in developing high quality, research based resources and strategies for both educators and students.

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NCDPI's newer website is still new, but this is what I could find:
-- Family Engagement Toolkit overview

This guide was developed when Dr. Atkinson was state superintendent (no date):
-- A Guide to Effective Parent, Family, and Community Involvement in NC Schools

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Annotated Bibliography: Research from the Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children's Learning.
View pages 36-43 of this annotated bibliography (pp. 25-32 of the actual PDF) for information on more research studies around the following sub-topics related to policy:
1) Studies of Reaching Out Schools (4 total)
2) Identifying & Analyzing Policies (3 total)
3) Policy Information & Guidance (3 total)

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*begins with a belief statement
*includes 8 elements for which each school site must develop a comprehensive approach - 6 of which are Epstein's (2011) types of involvement
* integrate those school-based approaches into a larger, district wide evaluation and improvement plan(s)
*Check out Saint Paul's Office of Family Engagement and Community Partnerships (OFECP)

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* the text says that Middletown developed their policy based on discussion and consultation with parents in the Title 1 program and some not within the program
*includes the 6 types of involvement and takes them a step further by outlining exactly what is already in place for each or what the goals are for each
* the most extensive of the three localized policy examples
* Check out Middletown's current Parent Information Resource Center

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*adopted framework from the National Network of Partnership Schools (based on Epstein's research & she is the Director of the Network)
* obviously includes 6 types of involvement and with a heavy focus on the advocacy/decision-making aspects
* delineates a total of 9 responsibilities of the district including budget allocation, hiring parent facilitators for each school, ensuring parent participation in all district level decision making teams, and supporting a District Parent Center (there are 4 in Buffalo now, check them out here)
*describes district Parent Coordinating Council (perhaps the current version is this Parent Congress in Buffalo)
*school building level responsibilities include a parent/family organization
*Parent responsibilities are also included (see p. 326)

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It may work best to open it in a different window.

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*Some policy statements began with beliefs (see Wisconsin DPI's on p. 323)

*Some already could name solid structures for parent education (eg Middletown's Parent Leadership Training Institutes on p. 327).

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* Top--> Down policy is not enough; myth busting beliefs/mindsets about parent involvement is required before or during policy development(!)

* references to "community schools" are vague

* Almost every policy indicates the need to translate and make accessible communication in home languages - does your school/district do this??

* How do we monitor progress without "check-boxing"?

*How do we ensure things like Parent Advisory Councils don't become "checkboxes"?

* Policies, and thus, approaches/practices that are asset based are more successful

* parent/family involvement is a democratic necessity

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*references to the comprehensive nature of approaches that include the 6 types of involvement
*requires local and regional boards of education to develop policies
*defines school-family-community partnerships based on research to be applied to policy development
*includes references to the benefits to families: "greater sense of efficacy, stronger social ties, and are more likely to continue their own education" (Epstein, 2011, p. 317)
*delineates the responsibilities of the following entities for successful partnerships to actualize: state department of education, an individual school district, a school, a family, a community leader, and students(!)

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*outlines the Department of Instructions beliefs

*notes that successful partnerships are made up of goals related to the 6 types of involvement

*outlines what the Department of Instruction actually does in relation to said goals

P.S. ** When I think of Wisconsin and education, I think of innovation. For three years now, the Innovative Schools Network has been a consistent go-to resource. The connection to parent and community partnerships lies in examples underneath their "Education Models" and "Innovative Practices" webpages.

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Epstein's framework of 6 types of involvement was the consistent foundation for all policies that were shared in 4.2:

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*references to the comprehensive nature of approaches that include the 6 types of involvement

*all grade level reforms emphasize parent and community involvement in school restructuring

*democracy reference: "It is central to our democracy that parents and citizens participate in the governing of public institutions. Parent involvement is fundamental to a healthy system of public education" (Epstein, 2011, p. 314)