Step 4: Evaluate the Outcomes

A thoughtful approach to evaluation leads to a deeper understanding of the current state of your partnership programs and activities, and where you want them to go. As highlighted in Step 2: Follow a Framework, schools with strong FSCP programs use the goals they set to guide partnership practices as an anchor for their evaluation practices. They also engage families, students, and teachers in a process to collect feedback on partnership practices, positioning themselves to improve the way they serve students and their families. How a FSCP program is observed, documented, measured, and/or monitored over time can determine the success of that program (Epstein, 2019).

The FSCP Team should consider how they are going to document and measure progress and outcomes for each goal (Epstein, 2019). While the number of participants at an activity is important to track for future planning, it is not representative of evaluating true engagement that impacts student outcomes. According to Sheldon (2019), FSCP teams assess the quality and progress of:

Program development;
Outreach to families and the community;
Impact on and outcomes for parents;
Impact on and outcomes for schools; and most importantly,
Impact on and outcomes for students.

FSCP Teams dedicate time to completing and reviewing evaluations of programs and partnership practices. This includes at the start of planning a program (which activity will contribute to which Major Improvement Strategy?), spending ten minutes at each team meeting to debrief and reflect on the quality of practices, taking more time at a midyear meeting to discuss the quality of teamwork and how to improve collaborations among themselves and with others, and using the final meeting of the year to review the cumulative record of partnership practices to decide what to keep, what to improve, what to stop, and what to start in the next year (Sheldon, 2019).

Templates for Tracking Data

Courtesy of Brittany Newswanger, Denver Public Schools

Resources for Evaluating Outcomes

Colorado's P-12 FSCP Framework and Rubrics
The rubrics associated with the P-12 FSCP Framework will help schools identify current levels of engagement with families and community partners, as well as understand next steps toward equitable partnership programs. Once programs have been implemented, FSCP Teams can return to the rubrics as an evaluation tool.
Family and Community Partnerships Reflection Tool for Family-Facing Professionals
Developed by the Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center with the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement, the goal of this tool is to serve as a springboard for self-reflection and a catalyst for ongoing conversation around family and community engagement practice.
Colorado's School-Family-Community Partnership Survey (link to more info)
Developed by CDE specifically for Colorado schools, this instrument assesses the outreach efforts of a school or district based on the perceptions of school personnel and families.
Conversation Starter Tools
These tools can help education decisionmakers understand the level of alignment between different members of the school community (teachers, families, students) and their vision for what makes a quality education.
Starting Points Inventory (PDF)
This inventory, based on the National Standards, can be used in a number of ways to help plan, implement, and evaluate partnership initiatives.
Multi-Tiered Family, School, and Community Partnering Supports Checklist (PDF)
This checklist provides examples of how schools engage families and communities, based on the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).
Measure of School, Family, and Community Partnerships (PDF)
This instrument helps assess whether your school is involving parents, community members, and students in meaningful ways.
FSCP Scales and Measures
A collection of scales selected by the Expelled and At-Risk Student Services (EARSS) staff and researchers at the University of Northern Colorado that can be used to measure parent improvement in their ability to support their child(ren)’s learning.