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Measuring the effectiveness of parent engagement initiatives
It’s the start of a new year, and many of us are in the mindset of evaluating where we are and setting goals to work toward. As you consider your school’s parent engagement initiatives, you may also be thinking about goals. How will you know if your efforts are effective? Recently, an educator submitted a… READ MORE →
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Building coalitions: A new requirement of many grant applications
First, what is a coalition, exactly? A coalition is a group of organizations that collaborate to work on improving a larger social problem. The idea behind a coalition is that a group of organizations working together will have a larger impact on the social problem being addressed than a single organization operating on its own.… READ MORE →
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How to capture the effects of parent engagement for funders
One of the most important parts of a grant proposal is the outcomes section. The outcomes you outline in a proposal must be specific, measurable, and attainable. That being said, talking about the effects of parent engagement can be difficult, as the positive effects of parent engagement are diverse. Writing about parent engagement outcomes: Through… READ MORE →
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It takes a village: Parent engagement in non-school settings
Most conversations about parent engagement focus on schools, but there’s recognition that schools can only do so much. Family involvement in non-school settings, such as early childhood programs, after school activities and within communities, increase a child’s chance at success. Researchers at the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) have labeled this approach, complementary learning, and define… READ MORE →
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Where do most education and family-focused not-for-profits procure their funding?
While a large focus of our recent posts have been about securing grant dollars (which we will continue!), it is important to note that almost 70% of giving does not require any grant process. In fact, 70% of donations come from individual contributors in 2015. This aligns with what we see in the funding sources… READ MORE →
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Advice on how to approach a funder
One of the best ways to improve your chance at securing grant dollars is by getting to know staff at the foundation or any other type of grantmaker from which you are seeking funding. However, we know there are many barriers that exist for getting in the door and speaking with those who believe to be… READ MORE →
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Locating quality research about parent engagement
Type “parent engagement” in an internet search engine and you’ll receive more than 3.6 million results. The amount of information on the topic is overwhelming and you might find some recommendations that are not based on best practices. How do you know which practices are based on quality research and which might be outmoded? One… READ MORE →
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Expanding parent engagement to include culturally diverse families
Reflecting the changing demographics of the United States, students in our schools are more diverse than ever. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, from 1993-2003, minorities increased as a percentage of total public school enrollment, from 34 percent to 41 percent. That means your school’s parent engagement initiatives should include strategies to… READ MORE →
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Building relationships with families through home visits
Communicating with families can be challenging, because both educators and parents are juggling multiple priorities and demands on their time. As a result, home-school communication is often limited to messages about what’s being taught in the classroom or maybe a phone call home if a student is struggling. To establish more personal relationships, some educators… READ MORE →
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Searching, identifying, and beginning the grant writing process
Before thinking about writing grants, it is important to ensure you have a streamlined process for searching, identifying, selecting and then prioritizing grant opportunities. Here are a few ideas for beginning the process of grant writing. How does my organization find the right grants? As we talked about in a recent blog post it is important to… READ MORE →
