Systemic FSCP - A How To

Overview

Sixty years of research indicate the level of impact that various family, school, and community partnership (FSCP) activities and initiatives have on student outcomes. All families care for their children and want them to succeed; students want their families to be partners with their school; and teachers who have trusting partnerships with families have higher job satisfaction (Epstein, 2019).

The research is clear - FSCP is not a "nice to have," but a must have. Integrating systemic FSCP practices and programs in your school and district will have long lasting impacts on student success. We define family, school, and community partnerships (FSCP) as families, early childhood programs, schools, and communities actively partnering to develop, implement, and evaluate effective and equitable practices to improve educational outcomes for children and youth (Colorado Department of Education, 2020).

FSCP strategies are appropriate for all schools and districts. It is a foundational strategy that should be integrated into all aspects of the improvement planning process and should also be woven throughout the Unified Improvement Plan as an essential school improvement strategy. Family and community voice on annual plans, policies, and compacts are mandated in state and federal education legislation. Similarly, schools with a Turnaround or Priority Improvement performance framework are required to have FSCP on their Unified Improvement Plan, either as a Major Improvement Strategy or somewhere in their action plan.

The only remaining question, then, is how to implement systemic and sustainable FSCP. Use the buttons below according to your role and needs to find out more.

Systemic FSCP for Schools

Systemic FSCP for Districts