Florence, South Carolina
Statewide Partners Establish Carolina Family Engagement Center
The mission of the COE is to increase the achievement of children whose families live below the poverty line by improving the quality of graduate and undergraduate education of future teachers and conduct effective inservice education for practicing teachers and administrators. COE partners with NNPS to provide the research base for developing strong and productive connections of schools, families, and communities.
Statewide leadership for partnerships has been of interest to COE for several years. The Center began by strengthening its relationships with the South Carolina Department of Education’s Office of Family and Community Engagement and the SC School Improvement Council. This year, the Center added a new partnership with the Carolina Family Engagement Center (CFEC)—a collaborative initiative supported by a new 5-year grant from the U. S. Department of Education. The grant includes opportunities for training regional liaisons. COE believes that this training, in alignment with state, district, and school policies for strong partnerships, will produce mutually beneficial results for policy leaders, school leaders, parents, and students across the state.
Evaluating ATPs and Action Plans
COE expanded services offered to District Leaders for Partnerships by offering training to help schools’ ATPs evaluate the quality of their programs and progress in reaching all families. At a “refresher workshop” on NNPS essential components, a Community Engagement Specialist requested training on program evaluation for all of the Engagement Specialists in her District. Using Chapter 9 of the NNPS Handbook for Action, 4th edition, the Assistant Director of COE conducted a workshop on how evaluation can be imbedded as an important element in each school’s Action Plan for Partnerships.
At the workshop, using their own plans for partnerships, each Engagement Specialist reviewed and practiced using at least one NNPS tool or template that will help them evaluate the quality or progress of their programs. Then, with that experience, the Specialists could use these strategies with their own schools’ ATPs. For example, an ATP should use the tool—Annual Evaluation of Activities—each month to reflect on the quality of engagement activities that the team implemented at the school. This tool (in chapter 9 of the Handbook) asks ATPs about each implemented activity, the quality of teamwork, support from others at the school, responses from the targeted participants, and results for students or for school climate. Moving forward, schools’ ATPs will be encouraged to take about 10 minutes at their monthly meetings to reflect on and record their assessments of the family and community engagement activities that were implemented in the prior month.
