ANNOUNCEMENT: REPORT RELEASE
California requires school districts and charters to use self-reflection tools to measure and report progress on state priorities known as local indicators and family engagement is one of them. In March 2019, the State Board of Education approved a new self-reflection tool to report progress on family engagement. In Fall 2019 over 2,000 school districts and charter schools completed the exercise to rate their implementation of 12 promising practices in family engagement. We analyzed these responses and would like to share the reports and key findings from our study. Why this is important now: School districts and charters will do this reflection exercise again this spring and can use their reflections and this report to better inform new plans and budgets.
Family Engagement in California: Strengths, Needs, and Trends Identified from the 2019 Priority 3 Self-Reflection Tool

The Parent Organization Network (PON) and Transformative Inquiry Designs for Effective Schools (TIDES) partnered for this research project to analyze 248 school district narrative responses to the 2019 Priority 3 Self-Reflection Tool.

This policy brief outlines six prominent strengths and six needs or focus areas that were identified in the family engagement self-reports across school districts in California. Examples shared show how family engagement practices are evolving as it relates to the three self-reflection tool areas: relationship building between staff and families, partnerships for student outcomes, and seeking input for decision making. Click the image to download the report.
Key Takeaways:

  • Districts are working in multiple ways to increase partnerships with families and increase engagement. Districts should be recognized for their efforts, and those with promising practices can serve as valuable guides to others. Nevertheless, only a few districts are focusing on equity. To be more successful, districts are beginning to recognize the need to focus on professional development to address bias and inequities in family engagement policies and practices.

  • Many school districts are hiring more family engagement staff at the school and district level and investing in training so staff can work effectively with families. While research has demonstrated that family engagement has a connection to improved education outcomes (e.g., attendance, academics, social emotional skills, graduation rates, teacher satisfaction, and school improvement) current engagement activities are not being directly or indirectly connected to student outcomes.

"California school districts are strengthening their practices of family engagement, and they recognize there is still work to be done, especially with underserved populations to see concrete benefits for short and long-term student outcomes." - Janet Chrispeels, TIDES Director.

“It is promising that more school districts are valuing family-school partnerships and investing in positions and training for staff to work with families. However, without an equity focus and clear outcomes, it will be difficult to measure progress and sustain these investments over time.” - Araceli Simeón, PON Project Director
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to California Department Education (CDE) staff for their partnership throughout the process of developing this study. CDE will release their study on the self-reflection tool in the coming weeks. Findings from both studies will be reviewed and discussed with various stakeholders this month. The State Board of Education is scheduled to review local indicators in March.