PON Professional Learning Network Report I:
Strengthening District Staff Capacity on Family and Community Engagement
The discussion on teacher preparation is not new and education researchers and parent advocates continue to weigh in on how to develop strategies that can change the paradigm on family engagement from one based on passive limited involvement to one that fosters an equal partnership with parents in the education of their children.
PON hopes to move the conversation forward with three reports, two focused on building staff capacity during in-service training for those teachers already in the classroom, and one during pre-service training for student teachers before they begin service as a full-time teacher.
The first and second reports present specific insights from staff from four school districts who participated in a PON Professional Learning Network (PLN) on family engagement from 2017-2019. PON’s PLN was one of 57 two-year PLNs sponsored by the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) to promote innovative thinking to fulfill California’s promise of a “quality, equitable education for every student.”
The first report released today
describes the process and strategies used to build knowledge and peer learning, foster continuous improvement, and lay the foundation to achieve systems change in family engagement.
Also, this report outlines key research and legislative decisions which provides context for current shifts in the family and community engagement movement in California.
This context not only influenced what was learned through the PLN experience but the conversations by PLN participants also helped inform state level changes such as
Priority 3: Family Engagement's self-reflection tool.