This summer marks the conclusion of the Family Engagement Impact Project (FEIP), an investment by the Heising-Simons Foundation’s Education program totaling more than $3 million to better coordinate family engagement efforts across organizations. The project supported multiple collaborations between school districts, community organizations, and early childhood providers.
Through this investment, FEIP sought to improve some of the ways communities, professionals, and parents engage in children’s learning, and to promote positive educational outcomes for low-income immigrant children from birth through age 8. The initiative took place in two California counties, San Mateo and Santa Clara, and consisted of three phases: (1) planning (2013), (2) implementation (2014- 2016), and (3) sustainability (2016-2017).
In 2016, FEIP engaged Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. to evaluate the implementation phase. The full report can be accessed here.
Drawing from the evaluation findings, another FEIP partner, James Bell Associates, oversaw the development of a series of tips and resources for funders, practitioners, and policymakers to reference and learn from. I invite you to read the six briefs below.
In addition, I had the pleasure of co-presenting a workshop on FEIP at the 2017 National Family and Community Engagement Conference, and you can see those slides here.
Click on each image below to access the full document.
The Family Engagement Impact Project (FEIP): Overview. A visual representation of the initiative’s goals, strategies, and outcomes.
Building Capacity for Family Engagement. Read how grantee partnerships that were part of FEIP built the capacity of families, professionals, and organizations to work together and bolster educational outcomes for young children.
Evaluating Family Engagement. Discover key steps used to evaluate FEIP and glean insights into methods and instruments that can be used to assess family engagement services and outcomes.
Implementing Raising A Reader Plus. Learn about the successes and challenges of FEIP grantee partnerships in implementing Raising A Reader Plus, an early literacy and parent engagement program that helps improve reading skills of children birth through age 8.
Supporting Teachers to Engage Parents. Read five important lessons learned about building teachers’ knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage families.
Building Community Partnership in Support of Family Engagement. Take a look at 10 tips for community partnerships seeking to coordinate a family engagement initiative.
