By Danielle M. Perry, Joanna D. Geller, Jeremy T. Martin, Mellie Torres, and Benjamin W. Fisher
Introduction
Family engagement is crucial for improving student outcomes and promoting academic success (Mapp, Henderson, Cuevas, Franco, & Ewert, 2022). Family engagement helps to create a positive school culture, strengthens relationships between families and schools, and fosters a sense of shared responsibility for student success (Ishimaru, 2020). By working together, families and educators can create a supportive and collaborative learning environment that benefits all students (Mapp & Bergman, 2019).
In this brief, we share key findings from the second year of a 3-year research project on family engagement throughout Kentucky. We highlight survey research showing how family engagement practices are changing as the result of the federally funded Kentucky Statewide Family Engagement Center (SFEC). We also share key findings from three case studies that illuminate how collaborating with families can improve educational opportunity in school, district, and community-based settings. The full survey findings report and three case studies are available on our website.
The Kentucky Statewide Family Engagement Center was created in 2018 by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to create an integrated and systematic model of transformational family engagement across the state of Kentucky. The NYU Metro Center was contracted by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, the lead grantee for the Kentucky Statewide Family Engagement Center, otherwise known as the “Kentucky Collaborative for Families and Schools” to lead the research and evaluation.
The Prichard Committee is a nationally recognized, independent, non-partisan citizen’s advocacy organization based in central Kentucky. The Prichard Committee has operated the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership (CIPL) for a little over 25 years, which builds families’ knowledge, skills, and power related to improving public education.
Joining the Prichard Committee are three regional partner organizations that each offer a variety of programming and services for children, young people, and families throughout their regions:
- Learning Grove, located in Northern Kentucky, primarily serves Emergent Bilingual Latinx families.
- Partners for Rural Impact (formally known as Partners for Education), situated in Berea College, in the Appalachian region, primarily serves rural families.
- The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), located in Louisville/ Southeastern region, primarily serves urban families in its workscope for this grant.
The Kentucky Department of Education, as a statewide agency/policy lever, is an additional partner.
The main questions we address include:
- What is the state of family-school partnerships in schools across the state of Kentucky? How has the state of family-school partnerships changed from SY 2020-21 to SY 2021-22?
- How are institutions—including a school, a district, and a community-based organization—building effective partnerships between families and schools? What are successes and challenges?
Jeremy T. Martin is a Eugene Cota Robles Doctoral Fellow at the University of California,
Berkeley and Research Consultant at the NYU Metro Center.
Mellie Torres, PhD., is an applied researcher, program evaluator, and practitioner that works at
the nexus of research, practice, and policy. with and for BIPOC communities to advance racial
justice.
Benjamin W. Fisher, PhD., is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at
Florida State University. His research is on school criminalization, with a particular focus on
issues of racial equity in school safety, security, and discipline.