Assignment: Family & Community Engagement to Improve Student Learning
The candidate will develop a research informed proposal and implement at least one component to improve family and community engagement and leadership in a school's priority area. This priority area should be related to equitable student achievement, student health, recreation, or social needs that impact their learning. The candidate will work collaboratively in reciprocal, two-way, and culturally responsive communication with internal and external stakeholders representing but not limited to school administration, staff, families, community members, and students, and detail how they will intentionally shift power dynamics to create an inclusive team that attends to equitable representation of the school community demographics (e.g. students of color, LGBTQ students, emergent bilingual students, students receiving special education services, Native American/Indigenous Peoples, and others). In authentic collaboration with their selected group of stakeholders, the candidate will select a priority area based on evidence of student needs, gather information related to family and community engagement and leadership needs, develop a proposal, and implement one component with stakeholders.
1) Focus on a family or community need that will positively impact student learning.
2) Form and/or lead small working group(s) of staff, family, students, and/or community (as appropriate) that will be able to contribute to the development process, with attentiveness to the equitable representation of the diverse school community (or specific historically marginalized families or communities who are most impacted by the selected issue/need/initiative) and detail how to intentionally shift power dynamics to create an inclusive team environment.
1) Review current district policies and building programs that encourage equitable and culturally responsive or culturally sustaining family engagement. Identify opportunities for growth or enhancement of current practices.
2) Develop a plan to address the identified opportunities and an outline needed to implement the plan in your building or setting that will increase family and/or community engagement in the school to positively impact student learning.
3) Implement a portion or all of the plan that you developed.
4) Identify data that can be collected to know if the plan made an impact.
5) Develop an inquiry cycle timeline for this project, including the designation of a school team or committee for this work. Ascertain what the administrative team's (including your) role will be in this project.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
(1) The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
(2) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
(3) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.