IEL’s community schools work was highlighted at this year’s International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement in Ottawa, Canada.The event focused on collaborative partnership.
The 2017 International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) brought together over 700 delegates from over 40 countries for its annual meeting, which focused on the theme: “Collaborative Partnerships for System-Wide Educational Improvement.” ICSEI is a Congress of global delegates, equal parts scholars, practitioners, and policymakers on all levels who come together at the nexus of research, policy, and practice to discuss collectively common challenges, innovations, and ways forward.
Dr. Helen Janc Malone, IEL’s director of institutional advancement and national director of IEL’s Education Policy Fellowship Program presented a workshop entitled “Community Schools are an Integral Strategy to Engage Students, Families, and Communities.” The session highlighted the work of IEL’s Coalition for Community Schools. Malone shared stories from across the U.S. that illustrate how education and community leaders are working together to improve learning conditions for all children, pursue shared governance, and scale up promising practices. The workshop was filled with people from around the world who are engaged in community schools on all levels.
Much of the conference centered on themes related to cross-boundary leadership, IEL’s principle focus in education and related fields. Cross-boundary leadership is a philosophy that acknowledges that children, youth, and communities are served through multiple, independent systems and that leaders must forge partnerships with each other across systems to improve outcomes for everyone.