The Innovations in Family Engagement Fellowship is a premier learning opportunity in Washington, D.C. that supports educators from early childhood education (ECE) through high school to design and implement innovative family engagement strategies that create enduring impact for students and families most impacted by inequity.
During the 15-month fellowship that spans Spring 2017 through the summer of 2018, Fellows will receive monthly coaching, ongoing professional development, opportunities to collaborate with other highly effective educators, and a cash stipend.
After a rigorous selection process, eleven D.C. public and charter school teachers were named Fellows and joined the inaugural cohort. Each Fellow has at least three years of classroom experience, with many having more than 15 years, and a track record of building relationships and academically partnering with families to drive positive outcomes for students.
To learn more about the Innovations in Family Engagement Fellows, read their bios here.
About the Work
In order to unearth high impact relationship building and academic partnering strategies of D.C. teachers that can be codified and scaled across the District, the goal of the Innovations in Family Engagement Fellowship is for Fellows to conduct a landscape assessment and barrier analysis to identify relevant strategies to overcome challenges in building trusting, authentic partnerships with English Language Learners (ELL) families, families of “at-risk” students, and/or families of students in transition grades (5/6th, 8/9th, 12th).
Based on their landscape assessment, which includes family interviews and a review of family engagement research, Fellows will develop a project proposal for an innovative family engagement strategy based on the unique needs of their students’ families that they will launch in the 2017-18 school year. To support implementation, Flamboyan will also provide up to $2,000 in funding for their initiative.
After implementing their project or innovative family engagement strategy, Fellows will convene with the Fellowship’s facilitator who will guide them as they refine or iterate as needed, and collect quantitative and qualitative data. In the summer of 2018, each Fellow will present their findings and learnings to the Fellowship cohort and local education influencers and leaders.
