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Principals at New Partnership Schools Take On Family Engagement to Improve Student Outcomes

Amidon-Bowen Elementary School, Friendship Armstrong Public Charter School, Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School (East End campus), Digital Pioneers Academy, and Browne Education Campus join the Family Engagement Partnership (FEP)

Flamboyan Foundation has selected five new schools –  Amidon-Bowen Elementary School, Friendship Armstrong Public Charter School, Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School (East End campus), Digital Pioneers Academy, and Browne Education Campus – for the Family Engagement Partnership (FEP), an impact-driven, whole-school strategy where educators partner with families to improve student learning, build relationships, and address systems of inequity that hinder academic progress.

For the next few months and over the course of multiple school years, Family Engagement Coaches will work closely with small teams from each new school. In the first year of the multi-year partnership, coaches build the capacity of teachers and leaders to listen to and learn from families so they can understand what their families need and value, and how those reflections can translate into highly effective family engagement strategies. These practices, when implemented consistently, are proven to create a welcoming school culture where teachers feel supported in the classroom, students feel motivated to learn, and parents feel that they can make a meaningful contribution to their child’s learning.

When Flamboyan opened the search for schools in Washington, D.C., nearly one-dozen schools applied for the FEP. The Effective Family Engagement Team spent weeks reviewing applications, hosting informational sessions, and interviewing school leaders before selecting the finalists – Amidon-Bowen Elementary School, Friendship Armstrong Public Charter School, Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School (East End campus), Digital Pioneers Academy, and Browne Education Campus.

Here’s what principals had to say about why family engagement and partnering with families is a strategy they plan to implement next school year and beyond.