California Community Engagement Initiative: A Family Engagement Framework for Sustainable, Systemic Change

It is well documented that family and community engagement is an essential strategy for student success. The California Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) is a statewide commitment to building the capacity of school district leaders to authentically engage communities, families and students through a peer learning network approach. This top-down and bottom-up approach is part of California’s “Local Control Accountability Plan,” which puts decision-making into the hands of local education agencies and communities, lifting up voices that otherwise would not have a seat at the table. Please join us on April 25, from 3-4:30 p.m. ET, to hear about the state of family engagement nationwide before turning to CEI and California’s investment in this 10-year effort to support districts in community engagement. We will learn how CEI is utilizing the Dual-Capacity Framework developed by Karen Mapp, Ed.D., as well as improvement science and community learning theory. We will also hear stories of how and why this initiative started with “bright spots,” how it is building metrics for impact, and how it serves as a model for large scale impact of community engagement.