The Capital Commitment Strategic Plan, first launched in 2012 and refined in 2017, declared DC Public Schools' (DCPS) earnest efforts to become a school system centered around educational equity and student achievement. In August 2022, DCPS started a year-long journey of reflection and refinement to produce the next iteration of the strategic…

Scholarship on the science of reading (SoR) has, in some instances, taken up more narrow views of reading in discussions and instantiations of reading assessment that do not center equity and justice, especially in schools. This can lead to less valid and even harmful reading assessment, especially for students from historically marginalized…

The first Early Intervention Conference was in Georgia in August of 2023. The first day of the conference was a tremendous success. Attendees called their friends and colleagues encouraging them to attend the following day. There was evidence of enthusiasm and enjoyment throughout the venue from snippets of networking conversations to selfies…

The global pandemic has meant that some schools are back in session with new and changing rules, and others are providing remote learning. The U.S. Department of Education has addressed specialized instruction through remote learning for children with disabilities, including addressing misconceptions about service delivery for children with…

The Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15CC) is federally funded to provide high-impact, customized, and responsive capacity-building technical assistance to state educational agencies (SEAs) in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. In 2022, R15CC established a regional Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Collaborative for SEA leaders in…

In the past three decades, there has been increased attention on the influence of culture on the teaching and learning of mathematics. Jews and Chinese both have a long history and a rich cultural heritage, and the populations in both communities are known to place high emphasis on education. Has this emphasis anything to do with the cultural…

There is growing interest in games as an exciting and engaging tool for professional development. At GFRP, we believe gamification holds promise for in-person and on-line professional development designed to build the capacity of teachers and all those who work to engage families in their multiple roles supporting their children's learning and…

The authors detail how 2,000 teachers facilitating summer camps for 8,000 students across a state for three years engaged families in authentic literacy practices. Building relationships, considering families' needs and strengths, and providing authentic learning experiences linked with literacy led to positive changes in family engagement and…

Engaging families in partnerships that promote student learning and build trust between music educators and the community can be challenging. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide suggestions to help music teachers engage families to support children's lifewide music-making. We share research and scholarship on family musical…

The Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center (OhSFEC) is implementing a comprehensive, scalable approach to enact state policy for family and school engagement at local levels. Joyce Epstein and Barbara Boone report how OhSFEC's research-based design, implementation, and evaluation of a leadership ladder has enabled state leaders to support…

The second of three "bright spot" briefs examines how states are leveraging ARP funds to improve SEL for all students through collaboration among schools, families, and communities. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) provided a $122 billion historic federal investment in K-12 education to help states and districts safely reopen…

Family engagement and family literacy are two of the most important or components for building a strong foundation for children's academic success. Family engagement is about spending quality time with children every day by talking, playing, and asking questions, which builds bonds and promotes language development. Family literacy supports…

A high school diploma should mean that all students are ready for college "and" a career, but in Rhode Island, it did not. According to a 2019 audit, just four in a hundred Rhode Island seniors were prepared for both college and a career, and more than half graduated without concrete career skills. When the author became commissioner of…

The author explores the Names, Journeys, and Dreams project, in which culturally and linguistically diverse learners and their families engaged with picturebooks that inspired dialogic conversations, authentic writing, and family-school connections. The author provides four recommendations for incorporating picturebooks within the reading support…

As a culturally diverse urban school, St. Mary's Nursery School has a unique landscape for work with young children. This diversity brings with it a myriad of different perspectives about the world, about education, and about children. At the school, using some of the tenets from Reggio Emilia have helped staff identify and use practices that…