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IEL Initiatives & Partnerships

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships

Celebrating Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week: RAMP Mentor Spotlight

Building Pathways to Adulthood, Connecting Families, Schools, & Communities, Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Leading Across Boundaries /

Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week 2024 is April 22-26 and it’s the perfect time to recognize, appreciate, and advocate for those who work with young people during out-of-school hours. As part of the collective efforts to encourage appreciation and support for all the afterschool professionals who make a profound difference in the lives of young people, […]

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After 8 Years of Leadership and Service, National Director of IEL’s Education Policy Fellowship Program Passes Baton to IEL Senior Director of Policy

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Policy/Legislation, Preparing Leaders /

(Washington DC, August 18, 2022) The Institute for Educational Leadership’s Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP™) National Director Dr. Helen Janc Malone will be transitioning from her role after eight years, and will be succeeded by colleague Mary Kingston Roche, Senior Director of Policy at IEL.  EPFP is a nationally recognized fellowship program that engages a diverse and

After 8 Years of Leadership and Service, National Director of IEL’s Education Policy Fellowship Program Passes Baton to IEL Senior Director of Policy Read More »

IEL Supports Self-Advocates at Florida Advocacy Summit

Building Pathways to Adulthood, Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Policy/Legislation, Preparing Leaders /

 IEL staff joined the Family Café to facilitate the first Florida Advocacy Summit (funded through the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council), which included self-advocates with disabilities, family members, and allies. Together, the attendees created advocacy action plans to address barriers to affordable, accessible housing and transportation for people with disabilities in Florida.   The IEL team designed

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Partners for Community College Student Success and Economic Growth in Appalachia

Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Local/State Government, Preparing Leaders, Resources /

The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) hosted a 3-day virtual convening, Partners for Community College Student Success and Economic Growth in Appalachia, designed to bring together experts and learners from across Appalachia to lift up partnerships that grow enrollment, increase student success, and provide a workforce that promotes economic development and regional prosperity. Participants heard

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IEL’s 2022 National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference Reflects, Transforms, and Soars with 3,500 Educators and Practitioners in L.A.

Building Pathways to Adulthood, Connecting Families, Schools, & Communities, Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Preparing Leaders /

By Eddie Koen  Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining over 3,500 people at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where we came together to share, learn, and inspire one another in the work we do to build leadership around educational equity. For many, it was the first time in almost three years we

IEL’s 2022 National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference Reflects, Transforms, and Soars with 3,500 Educators and Practitioners in L.A. Read More »

IEL’s Education Policy Fellowship Program Graduates its 58th Cohort

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Local/State Government, Policy/Legislation, Preparing Leaders /

Fellowship program supports education leaders to promote equitable education policy (Washington DC, May 31, 2022) The Institute for Educational Leadership’s Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP™) is graduating its 58th cohort of Fellows this spring.  EPFP is a nationally recognized fellowship program that engages a diverse and collaborative community of strategic leaders to promote equitable education

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IEL Doubles Down on a Place-Based Strategy to Promote Racial, Disability Inclusion, and Education and Economic Equity

Connecting Families, Schools, & Communities, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, IEL Leaders /

Welcome IEL’s four new Regional Deputy Directors Four Regional Deputy Directors join the IEL team to support our organization’s place-based strategy work, which strengthens our Coalition for Community Schools’ efforts to scale Community Schools in the Midwest, South, Northeast, and Western regions of the country. Building on IEL’s trusting relationships and core practices of leadership

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Family Engagement can Help Increase Vaccine Access and Equity

Connecting Families, Schools, & Communities, Federal Government, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Leading Across Boundaries, Local/State Government, Policy/Legislation /

Keeping our kids safe and healthy, and in turn protecting our communities, should be our priority. As an organization with a platform and a wide network of leaders, we have a responsibility to mobilize our communities to take action and continue to further prevent the spread of COVID-19. With the fresh recommendation by the Centers

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Register now for the 2021 National Family and Community Engagement Conference!

Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships /

The National Family and Community Engagement Conference is an annual convening where state leaders, school and district leaders, administrators, educators, non-profits, community-based organizations, researchers and families come together to focus on solutions that enhance and expand engagement through family-school-community partnerships. With pre-conference sessions, site visits, plenaries, workshops, deep dive sessions and more, it is an

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Crisis or not, family and community engagement benefits schools

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Resources /

written by Executive Director and President of Attendance Works Hedy Chang and Vice President for Leadership and Engagment at IEL Kwesi Rollins Looking back, we thought the spread of Covid-19 would be under control by the time the new school year began. We thought we would know how to ensure that school buildings provided healthy

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Listen to Us: Youth with Disabilities Speak Up During the Pandemic

Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Resources /

What do we know? The prevalence of disability among youth (ages 14-24) is 6.1% nationally, but rates vary from 10.1% in Maine to 4.1% in Hawaii (Cheng & Shaewitz, 2019). In every state, youth with disabilities are less likely to graduate high school, enter and complete postsecondary education, or enter employment (ibid). Youth with disabilities

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IEL Supports Parent Leaders’ call for healthy, equitable, and quality education

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, IEL Leaders, Local/State Government, Policy/Legislation, Resources /

On Monday, July 20th, a group of national parent leader organizations released a letter to education leaders and policymakers laying out their clear guidelines for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year. In order to safely and equitably resume schooling in the fall amidst the current global pandemic, health and safety must be a priority – for

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Discussing Systemic Racism and Supporting Youth of Color

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, IEL Leaders, Resources /

On Tuesday, June 30th, IEL’s Y-TAC hosted a “Discussion on Systemic Racism and Supporting Youth of Color” as part of Y-TAC’s Virtual Network series of peer-to-peer conversations for VR professionals. Their special guest Hasan Davis joined the discussion to talk about experiences of systemic racism that youth of color with disabilities regularly encounter and implications

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Rising Up For Equity in the Face of Two Pandemics

Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships /

Building a New Normal Together: A Virtual Summit on Community Schools and Family Engagement 20 days, 80 sessions, 100 hours, and one giant opportunity for more than 2,000 participants to come together and share their collective knowledge and experience, to inspire each other in these uncertain, challenging times. That’s what our first ever virtual summit

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Addressing Inequities: IEL’s Response to the Pandemic

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships /

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global issue that we did not expect or anticipate. One key lesson we are learning is that the pandemic is exacerbating existing inequities. Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected. Fewer are tested. Too many lack access to intensive care. Many have lost their jobs. Others take huge

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Pandemic Further Erodes Rights of People with Disabilities

Events, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Policy/Legislation /

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the inequalities in our country, and this is especially true for people with disabilities.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2019 that people with disabilities make up nearly 26% of our population—1 in 4 Americans. Opportunity youth with disabilities, defined as young people between the ages

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Promoting “Closer Encounters” Between Education and Workforce 

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships /

Betty Hale, Senior Fellow, IEL and Sarah McCann, IEL Consultant The need for increased collaboration is a primary theme across nearly all recommendations for resolving the workforce challenges facing rural places and organizations. Increasingly, there is also a call for increased collaboration between the education and workforce systems to address today’s workforce and workplace needs

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West Virginia’s Innovation in Career and Technical Education: The Simulated Workplace Program

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships /

Through its Simulated Workplace Program (SWP), West Virginia is changing the culture of career and technical education (CTE), changing the way students learn at school and gain work experience, and simultaneously helping to meet the demand for skilled labor in the state.

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IEL Welcomes Presidential Candidates to the Community Schools Movement

Federal Government, IEL Initiatives & Partnerships, Policy/Legislation /

Contact:                  Leilah Mooney Joseph202-822-8405 x 131 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) President Johan E. Uvin issued the following statement this week after Elizabeth Warren became the third presidential candidate in recent months to include the Community Schools Strategy in her education platform. Warren’s plan

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Engaging, Empowering, and Inspiring Students and Parents in Appalachia

IEL Initiatives & Partnerships /

Guest post by Elaine Weiss, former National Coordinator of the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education For those who do not live in the region, the term “Appalachia” conjures up images of hollowed-out towns, ramshackle houses, and long country roads that don’t lead to much. Recently, the region has also become painfully synonymous with overdoses of

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