Family Engagement in San Francisco's Mission Promise Neighborhood: Strategy, Implementation, and Outcomes

• In Event: 56.054 - Family Engagement in Promise Neighborhoods: A Critical Look at Interventions in Four Federally Supported Sites

Abstract

Presentation Objectives: To share what site leaders and research partners in the Mission Promise Neighborhood (MPN) in San Francisco, CA are learning about the links between family engagement and student behaviors (e.g., academic engagement) and outcomes (e.g., grade-appropriate performance, persistence, and graduation). The presentation will describe MPN’s family engagement strategies and early outcomes as measured by both the federal requirements and locally developed progress measures, as well as identify challenges encountered during the first three years of implementation, and propose areas for future research.

Perspective/Theoretical Framework: Researchers involved in the MPN implementation study have built on the existing literature related to three overarching practice strategies to build effective relationships between families and schools:
• Effective two-way communication and relationship building (e.g., Baquedano-López et al., 2013; Bryk, 2010; Epstein, 1995);
• A welcoming school environment with meaningful opportunities and supports for families. (e.g., London 2016, HFRP, 2010; Henderson and Mapp, 2002; Epstein, 1995); and
• Family advocacy, leadership, and empowerment in school and community spaces (e.g., Baquedano-López et al., 2013; Bolivar & Chrispeels, 2010; Lee and Bowen, 2006).

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry: This presentation will focus on results from a three year mixed methods, design-based implementation study of the MPN initiative by researchers at Stanford University.

Data sources and evidence: Research presented will include a quantitative review of administrative data from the San Francisco Unified School District as well as other MPN partners, a neighborhood survey, and a qualitative design-based implementation study of the initiative. The qualitative portion of the study includes participant interviews, focus groups, and site visits to four MPN focus schools. The four schools include two elementary, one middle, and one high school. At each school, researchers conducted interviews with the principal, community school coordinator, family success coach, community-based organizations partnering with these schools (partners), MPN staff, and where appropriate, teachers and other school staff who are funded all or in part through MPN resources, including social workers, and nurses. Researchers also conducted a family focus group consisting of 8-12 family representatives at each of the four MPN schools. The object of these interviews was to identify patterns in implementation of key MPN program elements, draw lessons to support continuous improvement and scale-up efforts, and to inform policymakers and other researchers.

Results: From 2011-12 to 2014-15, we observed reductions in chronic absence, increases in 8th graders’ readiness for high school, and growth in the graduation rate at MPN focus schools. We will present these and other trends in context during this presentation. Findings from implementation study pending completion of the interim report, September 2016.

Scholarly significance of the study: This research builds on the literature on family engagement in schools and will assess the challenges and successes that MPN is having at employing strategic family engagement to:
• Improve student academic success and social-emotional outcomes, particularly for Latino and newcomer immigrants in the MPN footprint; and
• Enable parents to be more effective advocates for their children and to support their children’s learning at home.

Authors

• Laurel Sipes, Stanford University

• Jorge L. Ruiz-de-Velasco, Stanford University