North Carolina community leaders ventured to Louisville for the National Center for Families Learning conference in November to learn how to boost family engagement in public schools.

The national conference 

National Center for Families Learning’s (NCFL) mission is to eradicate poverty through equitable education solutions for families across multiple generations.

The three-day event highlighted the work the organization has done in other states, while also giving attendees the opportunity to hear from presenters about adult learning, literacy, incorporating play, multilingual families, and other barriers and solutions to inspire more family involvement in education. 

Attendees were able to hear from representatives in and outside of NCFL, including the first lady of Kentucky and corporate sponsors such as Toyota, plus researchers and policy analysts with a focus on family engagement and literacy. 

“NCFL has always been committed to this work, but our impact over the years is a testament to something much bigger. It’s a testament to all of you — educators, the advocates, the community leaders, the funders, and most importantly, the families with whom we serve and are honored to serve alongside. Families are at the heart of learning,”Dr. Felicia Smith, president and CEO of NCFL, said to attendees. “When we engage multiple generations, both children and parents and adults, in the learning process, we create a ripple effect that strengthens families as a unit, fostering lifelong success and communities as a whole.”

NCFL also leads a national network of Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC). According to the U.S. Department of Education, the purpose of an SFEC is “to provide financial support to organizations that provide technical support with training state education agencies and local education agencies in the implementation and enhancement of systemic and effective family engagement policies, programs, and activities. This programming is intended to lead improvements in student development and academic achievement.”

In other words, SFEC grantees are tasked with promoting and implementing systemic evidenced-based family engagement strategies over five years.

Many of the conference sessions focused on the key components of the federal definition of family literacy. Those elements include parent and child together time, parent time, adult education, and children’s education. 

What are SFECs?

In 2023, the department selected NCFL to lead the new North Carolina Statewide Family Engagement Center (NC SFEC), including a five-year grant totaling nearly $5 million. 

Dr. Cecily Darden, director of family outreach in the Office of Communications and Outreach for the department, also gave remarks to conference attendees. She said there is overwhelming evidence that when you build partnerships between home and school, you see outcomes. 

“You see outcomes that are academic outcomes, well-being outcomes. You see outcomes not just for the students, but for their community — the whole community and educators themselves. We called it, ‘fueling the future field,’” Darden said. 

Outreach in North Carolina 

During the first fiscal year of being a grant recipient, NCFL North Carolina Director David Sisk said that they were focused on assessing needs and reaching out to community partners. 

He said they are currently working with three North Carolina school districts: Winston-Salem/ Forsyth County Schools, Hoke County Schools, and Durham Public Schools. 

Entering year two of the grant program, Sisk said they are focused on creating hubs in three regions throughout North Carolina. They hope to have hubs facilitated by the SFEC in all eight regions of the state by the end of year four.

“That consortia hub is really about bringing together both service providers and practitioners in that particular region and working with them to deliver training and technical assistance, professional development, insights into family engagement, family leadership, and family literacy,” Sisk said 

Sisk also mentioned three partnerships North Carolina’s NCFL has. They collaborate with North Carolina Parents as Teachers to provide home-visiting support. And the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is leading a research process to identify how communities were impacted by COVID-19, look at educator and family needs, current family engagement efforts, and opportunities for collaboration.

Book Harvest, a nonprofit focused on literacy, is another NC NCFL partner. Mary Mathew gave a presentation at the national conference on instilling summer reading. As the nonprofit’s director of advocacy, Mathew said they were excited to be a part of the work that is unfolding in school districts and regions across the state.

“My hope is that it will continue to grow trusting relationships and partnerships that center parent voices, promote family literacy, and benefit all students, especially those in under-resourced communities,” Mathew said.

Mathew said that she was inspired by the work that had been done in other states. 

“For example, I learned about how school district leaders in Scott County, Kentucky are partnering with parents and businesses — from Toyota to local laundromats — to co-design solutions for their community. It’s good to know we have this network to tap into,” Mathew said.

NCFL has also recently released five-year program results for the Nebraska and Arizona SFECs. For example, Arizona was able to establish school-based family literacy programs in 14 public schools across 6 school districts. Additionally, they launched a parent leadership council to deepen family-school connections and incorporate family voices into education decision-making.

Another collaborator in attendance was Dr. Ernetta Cagle, Title I and family outreach coordinator for Durham Public Schools. On behalf of her district, Cagle said she wanted to see how other states were incorporating events centered around parent time and parent-child time.  

Overall, Cagle said they are focused on identifying community partners that can help support the work they want to do, while making sure they are not doing families a disservice.

“Because it’s not just a matter of having them come in. It’s also a matter of really getting the feedback from our parents about what they need,” Cagle said. “And then being able to shape a program that works best for them, versus us putting together a program and implementing it and it not being what our families need.”

Looking forward, Cagle said the support from an SFEC will give families the chance to have their voices heard and be advocates.

“I think that that’s the biggest thing, is just really people understanding that this work is never-ending. And we often talk about that our children are our future, but they’re actually our present, and if we don’t prepare them now, then there will be no future,” Cagle said. “Just really getting people to understand the importance of this work and the true impact that we can have in making a difference in the lives of not just our children, but our families as well.”