Connecting Families, Schools, & Communities

IEL President Martin J. Blank reflects on the moving words of Khalil Bridges. The Renaissance Academy High School student from West Baltimore spoke at the 2016 National Forum for Community Schools. Khalil’s is the story of too many young people of color in disinvested communities across the nation. Blank reminds us that our society often […]

IEL’s District Leaders Network on Family and Community Engagement and the Family Engagement State Leaders Network convened a Learning Lab in Washington, D.C. A professional development opportunity for district family and community engagement leaders, the event featured a federal policy debriefing and listening session in conjunction with officials from the U.S. Departments of Education and Health

IEL’s Dr. Reuben Jacobson, deputy director of the Coalition for Community Schools, recently wrote a chapter in an important new book, Learning from the Federal Market-Based Reforms: Lessons for the Every Student Succeeds Act. The volume contains chapters by widely respected education researchers that address topics such as accountability, school choice, segregated schools, equity in

This June, IEL hosted the annual National Family and Community Engagement Conference in Pittsburgh. With over 1,200 participants from all 50 states, the event lived up to its theme, “Owning Our Movement, Maximizing Our Impact.” It was the IEL’s highest attended family and community engagement event to date. The impressive growth speaks to the mounting

With the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) returning significant authority over K-12 education to the states, it’s more important than ever for stakeholders at all levels—from educators to superintendents, state-level administrators to parents and the public—to be engaged and feel ownership over ESSA implementation. In an Education Week commentary, IEL president and Coalition for Community

This year’s Community Schools National Forum in Albuquerque, N.M., was the largest community schools convening yet. Co-hosted with the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Community School Partnership, the Forum attracted over 1,700 participants from 44 states and 9 countries. With the theme of “Rising Together: Learning across Family, School, and Community,” learning remained a focus throughout the entire

Broome County Promise Zone in upstate New York is one of the Coalition for Community Schools’ many partners and is working to build a countywide community schools network to support children, families, and neighborhoods. The Coalition spoke with Luann Kida, community schools director for Broome County Promise Zone, about the initiative’s partners and milestones, how

As co-chairs of the Coalition for Community Schools’ Superintendents Leadership Council, Teresa Weatherhall Neal from Grand Rapids, Mich., and Dr. Steven Webb from Vancouver, Wash., have seen the positive impact of community schools in their districts. They spoke with Marty Blank, president of IEL and director of the Coalition, about how community schools have helped

IEL’s Coalition for Community Schools recently released A Framework for More and Better Learning through Community Schools Partnerships. The framework begins with a discussion of community school learning principles and the conditions essential for better learning. Next, it articulates a learning framework for community schools that relies on results-based school and community partnerships to create health

For the last decade, advocates for community schools determined that it was necessary to renew a core American value—that our public schools should be centers of flourishing communities where everyone belongs and works together to help our young people thrive. This movement is still growing. In April, hundreds of community school leaders and supporters will