FSCP Key Feb/Mar 2025

Dear FSCP Friends,

Last week the Office of Family, School, and Community Partnerships worked with 11 school districts from across the state at the second annual FSCP Leadership Think Tank. This convening is for districts that participate in an FSCP Collaborative Cohort.

During our time together, we discussed strategies to strengthen FSCP through district-level leadership and direct facilitation of schools. The timing of the Think Tank was fortuitous given so many unknowns facing our families, funding FSCP initiatives, etc. It was comforting to spend time with friends and troubleshoot challenges.

The Office of FSCP is committed to providing research-based, high-impact partnership supports to every district in Colorado. We believe that “the road to educational justice begins with equitable family partnerships” (Everyone Wins, p 102). Please continue to reach out to the Office of FSCP and to fellow FSCP Coffee Chatters for guidance.

In partnership,

Darcy

Several FSCP events are on the horizon.  Please share the dates far and wide and mark them on your calendars. Also consult the FSCP Year-at-a-Glance.

Ongoing Self-Paced Courses.  Available for free here.

February 11, 9-2:00 PM, SACPIE. Open to members of the public.

February 12, 10-12:00 PM, Virtual Principal Learning Cohort. Open to school and district leaders, registration required.

February 14, 9-10:30 AM, Virtual Reframing Academy. Hosted by NAFSCE. All are welcome, registration required.

February 20, 9-12:00 PM, Virtual Community Schools Learning Cohort. Open to school and district leaders, registration required.

February 21, 10-11:30 AM, Virtual Coffee Chat for district staff. JeffCo hosting. Theme: Networking.

February 28, 9-10:30 AM, Virtual Reframing Academy. Hosted by NAFSCE. All are welcome, registration required.

March 7, 10-12:00 PM, In-Person Pikes Peak Regional FSCP Collaborative meeting. D11 hosting. Pikes Peak region team leads invited.

March 7, 12:30-3:30 PM, In-Person San Luis Valley Region FSCP Collaborative meeting. Alamosa hosting. SLV region team leads invited.

March 7, 9-12:00 PM, In-Person Principal Learning Cohort, Alamosa. Open to school and district leaders, registration required.

March 12, 8:30-3:00 PM, In-Person Community Schools Learning Cohort, Adams 14. Open to school and district leaders, registration required.

The Learning Literacy Together workshop was created as a way to provide outreach to Jeffco primary families with the purpose of building capacity in early literacy skills. It was specifically designed to be interactive and not a “sit and get” presentation.

The Title I Family Engagement team designed the three-part series with the goal of building family knowledge around primary reading instruction, learning and understanding academic language, providing both modeling and interactive practice for several take-home literacy activities, and learning about the Colorado Read Act.

This practice was designed for families to help their child become better readers by learning take home literacy activities. Families also learned literacy academic language. Each session focused on one or more of the five main components of reading - Vocabulary, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, and Comprehension.

To replicate Learning Literacy Together, several components need to be in place. Clearly state the goal of each workshop so families know what they will be learning. Keep in mind that “more” is not always best or productive. Listen to family feedback and be aware of what reading skills are being taught throughout the year

Click here for more examples of Promising Partnership Practices.

Strong relationships between teachers and families have a powerful impact on student learning. With the right guidance from teachers, families of all backgrounds can support their children’s literacy and math skill development at home (Mapp & Henderson, 2022). To build the capacity of teachers and families, teachers should participate in training to improve their instruction and family engagement skills, while families should participate in home visits and workshops on how to support academic skill development. Such capacity building leads to implementing short-term interventions with long-term impacts on literacy and math scores. These interventions include opportunities for shared reading with family members and interacting with parents in literacy-related activities. Children whose parents participate in workshops focused on well-designed homework activities and then engage in those activities with their children, and use math games to build skills, show the greatest gains in math skills (Van Voorhis et al., 2013).

Text messaging is another high impact intervention for teachers. Text messages should link to what children are learning and doing in class and be written in families’ home languages. A 2020 study found that texting alone led to improvements in math scores, while texting and receiving a personal phone call led to math scores that were twice as high compared to receiving only a text message (Angrist et al.). Frequent teacher-parent communication such as this leads to students who are more likely to participate in class discussions and activities; remain on task; and complete homework (Kraft & Dougherty, 2013).

SACs and DACs have a legislated opportunity to expand stakeholder engagement in READ plans.

The READ Act was passed to ensure that 3rd-grade students have the necessary reading skills to succeed in higher grade levels, setting up mechanisms to ensure that all K–3 students receive reading instruction based on the science of reading and students identified with Significant Reading Deficiencies (SRD) receive appropriate science-based interventions to address their needs

Families have reported frustration with lack of communication and engagement opportunities with the SRD identification process, with 70% of surveyed parents reporting challenges

with READ Act communication, and others sharing challenges with a lack of inclusion of dyslexia, issues with testing, and lack of parent involvement.

The SAC can be a pathway to share information on the identification process, gather feedback from parents, and brainstorm ideas on how to get READ Act information out to all families. Consider developing guidance for SACs to gather feedback on READ Act implementation including family involvement, and share those resources back with CDE!

The SAC and DAC homepage on the CDE website has a lot of information for districts to use for training accountability committee members.