Acknowledgments

Acknowledgements

With deep appreciation for the thoughtful feedback and comments from Dr. Marisa Saunders, Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and from Kim Lewis, and education interns Amalia Mejia and Yvette Martinez. This work would not have been possible without support from the Heising-Simons Foundation and The California Endowment, whose unwavering commitment to building strong schoolfamily partnerships – in the service of improving public education – empowers so many parents, educators, administrators, and education leaders.

Also, many thanks to our partners California PTA, Parent Organization Network, Parent Teacher Home Visit Project and PICO California for the time they contributed to reviewing research and identifying relevant metrics for parent engagement. Your collective wisdom was influential in the development of our evaluation rubrics.

Finally, thank you to the fourteen school districts across California that participated in this report and to the thirty district personnel who shared their time, experiences, and candid opinions about the real challenges and opportunities of parent engagement. Their honesty and dedication should guide and inspire all of us as we strive toward excellence in parent engagement.

And, many thanks to:

Families In Schools (FIS) serves low-income, communities of color knowing that education remains the single most important opportunity for them. FIS seeks to help parents become knowledgeable and confident advocates for their children’s education, and allies and partners with schools.

Students are more likely to succeed when schools, families and communities work together in partnership to maximize and support student learning.

OUR MISSION

To involve parents and communities in their children’s education to achieve lifelong success.