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SAMPLE: Family, School, and Community Partnerships for District-Level Staff

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Why FSCP? Highlights from the Research

  • Reduces chronic absenteeism (Learning Heroes, 2023)
  • Improves student attendance (Epstein et al, 2019)
  • Increases academic achievement, including:
    • ELA proficiency (Learning Heroes, 2023)
    • Math proficiency (Learning Heroes, 2023)
    • Graduation rates (Jensen & Minke, 2017)
  • Decreases rates of anxiety and depression in high school students (Jensen & Minke, 2017)

Image Credit: Flamboyan Foundation

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A Thrifty Improvement Strategy

  • Figures suggest that in most places, the total cost for all three policy levels—school, district, and state—of between $26.85 and $46.78 per pupil per year will support the leaders and expenses for basic programs of family, school, and community partnerships, including:
    • FSCP activities/initiatives in schools’ UIPs.
    • Salaries, benefits, and program costs for district leaders at a ratio of 1 facilitator:30 schools.
    • Salaries, benefits, and program costs for state leaders.

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  • Dollar amounts adjusted for inflation in 2023.

Schools

$19-$30

Districts

$7.60-$15.20

States

$.25-$1.58

Overall

$26.85 - $46.78

Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Sheldon, S. B., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., ... & Williams, K. J. (2018). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action. Corwin Press.

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District-Level

Structures

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District-Wide Program of Partnership

DISTRICT-LEVEL LEADERSHIP

DIRECT FACILITATION OF SCHOOLS

Annual

FSCP

Goal

Epstein et al., 2019

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District-Level Leadership

  • Review or guide the writing of district policy on FSCP.

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  • Conduct district-wide staff development on partnerships.

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  • Write column on partnerships for district newsletter.

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  • Make presentations on partnerships.

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  • Collect best practices from schools to share throughout the district.

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  • Conduct other district-level leadership activities on partnerships.

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Direct Facilitation of Schools

  • Conduct one-day workshops about FSCP.

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  • Make monthly site visits to schools or equivalent contacts.

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  • Hold periodic networking meetings for FSCP school contacts.

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  • Schedule annual meetings with principals.

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  • Help schools evaluate programs and progress.

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  • Facilitate schools in other ways to improve their partnership programs.

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Epstein et al., 2019

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Six Strategies for District Leaders

Align Program and Policy

    • Integrate your district’s FSCP initiatives with district policies, requirements, and procedures.

Create Awareness

    • Actively promote your district’s FSCP initiatives to all key stakeholders, including administrators, teachers, families, and community groups.

Guide Learning and Program Development

    • Organize and conduct professional development activities to assist schools in developing effective and efficient FSCP initiatives for student learning.

Epstein et al., 2019

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Six Strategies for District Leaders

Share Knowledge

    • Foster ongoing communication through the district to build knowledge about research-based and sustainable FSCP strategies linked to student learning.

Celebrate Milestones

    • Recognize school and district successes in partnership goals and practices and disseminate the success widely.

Document Progress and Evaluate Outcomes

    • Collect information to document activities and to assess progress in meeting district FSCP goals, and assist each school to document and evaluate progress in implementing their Unified Improvement Plans.

Epstein et al., 2019

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District-Wide Program of Partnership

DISTRICT-LEVEL LEADERSHIP

DIRECT FACILITATION OF SCHOOLS

Annual

FSCP

Goal

Create Awareness

Guide Learning

Align Program & Policy

Share Knowledge

Celebrate Milestones

Document & Evaluate

Epstein et al., 2019

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Six Leadership Strategies

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Align Program and Policy

Definition

    • Integrate your district’s FSCP initiatives with district policies, requirements, and procedures.

Example

    • Ensure that the district policy on partnerships refers to district level leadership activities and to direct assistance to help all schools develop their partnership programs with goal-oriented action plans.

Challenge

    • Identifying resources (time, staff, funding) to support FSCP policy implementation.

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Create Awareness

Definition

    • Actively promote your district’s FSCP initiatives to all key stakeholders, including administrators, teachers, families, and community groups.

Example

    • Conduct presentations about the district’s goals for its partnership program to the school board, parent advisory council, and/or other key leadership groups.

Challenge

    • Securing time in various meetings to share FSCP goals.

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Guide Learning and Program Development

Definition

    • Organize and conduct professional development activities to assist schools in developing effective and efficient FSCP initiatives for student learning.

Example

    • Organize a clear process for the district facilitator (e.g., the Family Partnership Contact) to provide feedback and support for each school’s program.

Challenge

    • Incorporating FSCP into school staff’s PD calendar.

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Share Knowledge

Definition

    • Foster ongoing communication through the district to build knowledge about research-based and sustainable FSCP strategies linked to student learning.

Example

    • Disseminate a weekly or monthly newsletter that shares important information, upcoming events, and specific school highlights connected with the district’s partnership program, and encourage schools to share with their community.

Challenge

    • Communicating about FSCP in a way that’s not a burden on you or school staff but that keeps FSCP as a proactive school improvement strategy.

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Celebrate Milestones

Definition

    • Recognize school and district successes in partnership goals and practices and disseminate the success widely.

Example

    • Send letters to principals thanking them for their support for partnerships.

Challenge

    • Taking the time to celebrate.

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Document Progress and Evaluate Outcomes

Definition

    • Collect information to document activities and to assess progress in meeting district FSCP goals, and assist each school to document and evaluate progress in implementing their Unified Improvement Plans.

Example

    • Establish a quarterly or monthly recordkeeping system for the district facilitator(s) to document visits to schools and technical assistance that is provided or requested.

Challenge

    • Determining how to best measure FSCP outcomes.

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Direct Facilitation of Schools

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Direct Facilitation of Schools Trail Map

FSCP Trail Map for Schools

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School-Level Partnerships

  • Form a Team
  • Follow a Framework
    • Create an Inclusive Culture
    • Build Trusting Relationships
    • Design Capacity-Building Opportunities
    • Evaluate Outcomes
  • Write a Plan
  • Evaluate

Customized

Comprehensive

Continually Improved

Epstein et al., 2019

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CONTINUUM OF IMPACT

Celebrations

Fundraisers

Potlucks

Performances & showcases

Family help on administrative tasks

Parent resource rooms

Family support services

Generic school newsletters

Parent training events

Back to school night

Interactive homework

Goal-setting talks

Regular, personalized communication

Positive phone calls home

Data sharing

Modeling of learning support strategies

Relationship building

Academic partnering

Home visits

Ongoing communications

Source: Flamboyan Foundation

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Strengthening FSCP on the UIP: An Example

Root Cause: Staff struggle to increase student attendance.

Staff believe building trusting relationships with families will lead to more opportunities to engage around attendance issues which will lead to more seat time. We know that increased attendance leads to improved learning outcomes.

Major Improvement Strategy: Increase student attendance by building strong relationships with families.

Implementation Benchmark: 10% of families will receive a home visit by the end of the first quarter.

End of Year Goal: 50% of families will receive a home visit.

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Thank you!�Office of FSCP Website