IEL's National Family and Community Engagement Conference Highlights Effective Strategies at Various Levels to Successfully Engage Families and Improve Student Outcomes

    WASHINGTON, DC, June 29, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is expecting over 1,000 attendees from across the country to attend its annual National Family and Community Engagement Conference; scheduled for July 11-13, 2018 at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio. IEL's National Family and Community Engagement Conference is one of the largest convenings in the country with a focus on engaging families for effective family-school-community partnerships as a strategy to improve student outcomes.

Under The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), family engagement is seen as an impetus factor for student improvement. Local Education Agencies and schools must meet basic requirements in how they communicate with parents and ensure that parents and families are involved in the creation and implementation of school activities, polices, and procedures. Understanding that students perform best when they are in school, all 50 states are also now required to report on chronic absenteeism. 36 states and the District of Columbia have selected chronic absenteeism as their non-academic indicator for their state plans.

Over 50 years of research confirms that programs and special efforts to engage families make a difference and have a positive impact on student achievement. And, family engagement is a key strategy for addressing chronic absenteeism. Unfortunately, many school districts and administrators lack the knowledge and/or tools needed to implement, evaluate and sustain such programs. IEL's National Family and Community Engagement Conference helps fill this void. For five years, IEL has convened state and district leaders, administrators, educators, community-based partners, parent leaders and stakeholders engage in peer learning, learn about the latest research, and examine how schools and communities around the country are realizing mutual goals and maximizing impact through productive family-school-community partnerships.

"Engaging in relationships and building trust with parents is really the first step to improving our students' academic outcomes and well-being. IEL's National Family and Community Engagement Conference is one of the only national conference to focus on this topic and is the seminal event of the year." – Dr. Karen Mapp, Senior Lecturer on Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Conference attendees will attend pre-conference sessions to get an in-depth understanding of different aspects of family engagement, visit schools and speak with staff to see how programs are being implemented, hear from thought leaders via plenary sessions and attend over 100 workshops. Workshops are categorized by multiple entry points and strands, including: Early Learning & Literacy; Relationship Building & Trust; Promote Inclusion, Ensure Equity & Create Opportunity; Research, Evaluation & Data Collection; Integrated, Systemic Approaches; and, Parent Leadership, Advocacy & Community Organizing.

Opening remarks will be given by Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson and Eric S. Gordon, CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Additional keynote speakers include:
• Dr. Karen Mapp, Senior Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Yolie Flores, Chief Program Officer, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
• Hedy Chang, Executive Director, Attendance Works
• Carlos Moreno, Co-Executive Director, Big Picture Learning
• Julia Baez, Executive Director, Baltimore's Promise
• Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, National Field Organizer, Dignity in Schools Campaign

A limited number of media passes are available. Plenary sessions will broadcast from the Institute for Educational Leaderships Facebook page and we will live tweet from our twitter handle (@FCENetwork) using #FCEConf18.

Since 1964, IEL has equipped leaders to work together across boundaries to build effective systems that prepare children, youth, and now adults for postsecondary education, careers, and citizenship.

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