DC Public Schools Partnership
Flamboyan Foundation has partnered with DC Public Schools (DCPS) on family engagement in multiple capacities since 2012.
Flamboyan partners with DCPS’ Office of Family and Public Engagement (OFPE) to support the Family Engagement Partner (FEP) schools. Flamboyan provides intensive training and coaching for FEP school leaders and teachers, and funds academic partnering meetings between teachers and families; while DCPS funds teacher home visits and teacher lead stipends. Together, OFPE and Flamboyan also select partners from the applicant schools during selection cycles.
Since 2013, OFPE has offered educators in DCPS schools not currently partnering with Flamboyan an opportunity to bring strong family engagement skills to their classrooms through the Family Engagement Collaborative (FEC) — a yearlong professional learning community for teachers. Teachers come together six times throughout the school year to learn and share about a variety of family engagement topics while working to complete relationship-building home visits. Flamboyan supports the FEC by providing teacher trainers to facilitate the sessions.
Flamboyan has also partnered with OFPE since 2013 to facilitate family engagement training for aspiring school leaders through the Mary Jane Patterson Fellowship (MJP) — an 18-month DCPS program that prepares talented DCPS employees to become principals. Flamboyan and OFPE jointly facilitate a five-session learning experience for the Patterson Fellows where they learn practical strategies for leading family engagement in their schools.
School Year 2014-15 introduced the Flamboyan partnership with DCPS’ Early Childhood department to carry out the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Home Visit Initiative, which trains and supports all Title I ECE teachers to conduct relationship building home visits. Flamboyan is also partnering with DCPS’ Division of Specialized Instruction to offer a seven-month l teacher fellowship for Special Education teachers who care deeply about family engagement to learn from them if and how family engagement practices should be adapted to best serve this population.
