Building Bridges: Uniting Family, Community, and Equity for Inclusive Growth & Trust

Outline

Connecting Family, Community, and Culture for Real Change

Introduction and Welcome

Content: Brief introduction of the workshop objectives, facilitators, and an overview of the importance of family, community engagement, and DEI in education.

Engagement: Icebreaker activity

Process: Participants will interact in small groups to discuss their experiences, helping to build rapport and set the tone for collaboration throughout the session.

Understanding Cultural Gaps and SEL

Content: Presentation on the role of social-emotional learning (SEL) and cultural responsiveness in creating inclusive environments. Discuss how cultural gaps impact family and community engagement in urban education settings.

Engagement: Participants will engage in a quick poll via devices to gauge their familiarity with SEL and cultural responsiveness, followed by a discussion of the results.

Process: Polling and real-time feedback using interactive technology to facilitate reflection and peer-to-peer sharing of insights.

Equity and Data-Driven Strategies

Content: Present dynamic, real-time data visualizations of equity gaps in K-12 education using interactive dashboards. Showcase how family and community engagement can help bridge these gaps. Introduce innovative, data-driven strategies that leverage partnerships and technology to build equity and inclusion.

Engagement: Participants will engage in an immersive "Data Dive" where they can manipulate variables in the dashboard (e.g., demographics, performance metrics) to see how different factors affect equity. This will be followed by a "Hackathon" style brainstorming session, where small groups rapidly generate and prototype solutions for addressing the gaps they’ve uncovered.

Creating Collaborative Action Plans

Content: Walk through the process of creating action plans to bridge cultural gaps and strengthen partnerships with families and communities. Introduce specific tools and resources for effective implementation.

Engagement: Participants will work in groups to begin drafting their own action plans for their schools or communities. They will receive facilitator guidance and feedback during this activity.

Process: Hands-on collaborative work in small teams, with facilitators providing support and answering questions.

Wrap-Up and Q&A

Content: Recap key takeaways from the workshop and open the floor for a question-and-answer session.

Engagement: Participants will be invited to share one action step they plan to implement based on the session.

Process: Open Q&A, closing with individual reflection on action steps to create accountability for applying the strategies discussed.

Supporting research

Books:

"Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain" by Zaretta Hammond

"The Power of Family-School Partnering (FSP): A Practical Guide for School Mental Health Professionals and Educators" by Gloria Maccow

Articles:

"The Importance of Equity in Education" (Edutopia)

Edutopia Article on Equity
"Family Engagement in Schools: A Key to Student Success" (Harvard Family Research Project)

Harvard Family Research Project Article
Websites:

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Learning Policy Institute
A nonprofit research organization that provides evidence-based insights on how educational equity can be achieved through family and community engagement.

Recognized Experts:

Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (President, Learning Policy Institute)

Dr. Karen Mapp (Harvard Graduate School of Education)