The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Policy Matters: Building a Family Engagement System
April 24, 2015, from 2–3:15 p.m. (EDT)
Please join Harvard Family Research Project in a web conference that kicks off a series on leadership, innovation, and capacity building to establish a system of family engagement. The web conference will feature policy efforts at system building, including the Race to the Top — Early Learning Challenge grant and the U.S. Department of Education’s Family and Community Engagement Framework.
Join our host and panelists:
- Libby Doggett, deputy assistant secretary for policy and early learning, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education
- Kent Mitchell, vice president for outreach and partnerships, Early Learning Indiana
- Thomas Weber, commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care
- Heather B. Weiss, founder and director, Harvard Family Research Project (host).
Participate in a conversation that will help you:
- Initiate the strategies to build a system of family engagement in early childhood and elementary education
- Create strategic partnerships to build a robust system
- Use a dual capacity-building framework to guide planning and implementation.
Family engagement is no longer an “add-on” event but is core to the mission and practices of education, from early childhood through the school years. It is an indispensable and powerful strategy that seeks to address the effects of social and economic inequality on student learning. As a key element in a system, family engagement is embedded in a number of organizational processes, including leadership, teaching and learning, professional development, resource allocation, and data management for continuous improvement and accountability.
Building a system of family engagement is also premised on the fact that schools rely on community institutions to provide rich learning experiences for students. Family engagement goes beyond supporting what happens in the classroom. It is present—and needs to be encouraged—anywhere, anytime children learn: in the home; in early childhood programs and schools; in afterschool and summer learning opportunities; and in libraries, museums, and other settings.
Register now and submit questions for the web conference. Space for the web conference is limited. After registering, you will receive an email confirmation.
Join the conversation online using #HFRPinteract and by following @HFRP. You can also access this and all other event recordings at www.hfrp.org/interact.
We look forward to having you join us!