Preparing and Supporting Emerging Family Leaders

1. Preparing and Supporting Emerging Family Leaders

2. Today’s Presenters/Facilitators Darla Gundler Federation for Children with Special Needs/ Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC) gundler@uchc.edu Julia Martin Eile U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs julia.martin.eile@ed.gov Stephanie Moss Parent to Parent of Georgia/ Region 3 Parent Technical Assistance Center stephanie@p2pga.org Amy Nicholas Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center/ Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy) amy.nicholas@unc.edu

3. Session Outcomes Participants will be able to: Describe the role of family leaders in high-quality IDEA early childhood systems. Articulate the challenges that early intervention and preschool special education systems face with recruiting and retaining family leaders. Identify strategies, practices, and approaches for effectively preparing family leaders to engage in programmatic and policy decision-making. Locate resources that can be used to support family leadership development.

4. Getting Set-up with Poll Everywhere These photos by Unknown Author are licensed under CCBY-NC-SA Mobile Phone: Text ECPCTA to 37607 Tablet or Laptop: Go to PollEv.com/ecpcta

5. Who’s in the room?

6. What’s the first word that comes to mind when you hear the term “family leadership?”

7. Beliefs about Leadership Source: Serving on Groups That Make Decisions Leaders are not born – they rise out of a person’s passion for how they want the world to be. Leadership isn’t a gift – it’s accessible to anyone who wants it. Leadership isn’t a calling – it’s a matter of listening to a question and trying to come up with an answer. A leader is anyone who has a very big and compelling story of how it could all turn out.

8. What We Know about Family Leadership • When families are engaged as leaders, they can: • Place concerns on policy and program agendas that were not previously acknowledged; • Suggest and act on new ways to solve problems; • Draw on their own political and organizational networks to influence change; and • Bring to bear supportive resources (Fine, 1993). • Family leadership efforts are most effective when they are broadly supported by program staff (Dyrness, 2011; Ishimaru, 2014). • For family members to effectively engage in leadership and advocacy activities, they must be met with trust and respect by professionals and other family leaders (Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, Soodak, & Shogren, 2015).

9. Definition of Family Engagement Family engagement refers to the systematic inclusion of families in activities and programs that promote children’s development, learning, and wellness, including in the planning, development, and evaluation of such activities, programs, and systems. Source: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services/Dept. of Education’sPolicy Statement on Family Engagement in the Early Grades

10. Frameworks and Policies that Emphasize the Importance of Family Engagement

11. A System Framework for Building High-Quality Early Intervention and Preschool Special Education Programs Family engagement cuts across all components of high-quality systems. Governance Result Quality Standards Finance Implementation of Effective Practices Good outcomes for children with disabilities and their families Building High-Quality Systems Accountability & Quality Improvement Personnel / Workforce Data System Available at: ectacenter.org/sysframe

12. Federal Legislation • Head Start Act • Child Care Development Block grant (CCDBG ) • Maternal, Infant and Child Health Home Visiting Program • Public Health, Title V • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) • Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

13. U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)Parent Training & Information Centers Work with families of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities, birth to 26 Help parents participate effectively in their children’s education and development Partner with professionals and policymakers to improve outcomes for all children with disabilities Collaborate with early childhood TA centers Find your parent center at: https://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/

14. U.S. Department of Education’s Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships Partnering with families in multiple roles:Supporters Encouragers Monitors Advocates Decision Makers Collaborators

15. U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services/Dept. of EducationPolicy Statement on Family Engagement in the Early GradesProvides recommendations to early childhood systems and programs

16. Connecting Family Engagement Practices and Family Leadership

17. DEC Recommended Practices: Family Practices Available at: http://www.dec-sped.org/dec-recommended-practices 10 family engagement practices • F10: Practitioners inform families about leadership and advocacy skill-building opportunities and encourage those who are interested to participate.

18. DEC Recommended Practices Ambassadors

19. Professional Values and Commitments Programs with strong family engagement have certain values and commitments in common that, in turn, promote family leadership (Geller, McAlister, & Tung, 2015): Build upon family members’ strengths and assets Value and support family members’ ideas and opinions Incorporate family voices into decision-making and implementation of new initiatives/reforms Provide multiple ways of soliciting family input Provide continuous feedback to families, with honest and open sharing of thoughts, ideas, and information Additional references: Martinez-Cosio, 2010; Ishimaru 2014; Warren & Mapp, 2011

20. Supporting Families in Leadership Roles

21. Takeaways • Develop authentic partnerships • But what does that mean? • How does that happen? • Identify programmatic activities in which families can participate and articulate a clear, intentional clear purpose for their involvement • Use a variety of methods to inform families of opportunities to become involved • Close the loop about decisions

22. Providing Roles for Family Leaders • Some family members may not see themselves as leaders. A personal invitation let’s them know that you recognize leadership traits in them. • Ask family members to take on a specific role that is compatible with what you know about their individual experiences, expertise, or skills. • Provide opportunities to: • Attend and present at conferences • Serve on committees or task forces • Participate in staff and family development • Plan special events

23. Family Leadership Development: Training Topics Resource: http://familieslead.org/index.php/what-family-leader • Foundations of leadership • Advocacy skills • Personal relationship building strategies • Functioning in a team • Communication skills

24. Additional Training Topics Resource: http://familieslead.org/index.php/what-family-leader Understanding and working with people from different cultures and backgrounds Understanding and using data IDEA requirements Cycle of continuous improvement Developing organizational constitution, bylaws, policies, and procedures

25. Example of a Family Leadership Development Program Pennsylvania’s C2P2EI (Competence and Confidence Partners in Policymaking for Families of Children in Early Intervention) • A free training program for families of children who receive Infant-Toddler or Preschool Early Intervention Services • Provides participants with up-to-date information, leadership development training, resources and skills • Participants learn about local, state and national issues that affect children with disabilities • Funded by Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL)/Departments of Education and Human Services and offered by Institute on Disabilities at Temple University https://www.temple.edu/instituteondisabilities/programs/leadership/c2p2ei.shtml

26. Resources for Supporting Family Leadership Development

27. Measuring Family/Stakeholder Engagement Helps program staff gauge how well they are doing with engaging families as members of stakeholder groups Available at: https://ecpcta.org/resources-eci/

28. Guidelines for Exploring Interagency Opportunities Helps family members make decisions about what type of advisory group would be the best fit for them Available at: http://www.pacer.org/parent/php/PHP-c99.pdf

29. Parent Leadership Individual Effectiveness Plan Supports family members with planning to serve on a Special Education Advisory Council Available at: http://www.mnseacinfo.org/leadership/handouts/PHP-c154IEPParent.pdf

30. Online Toolkit: Building Stakeholder Knowledge About Data https://dasycenter.org/building-stakeholder-knowledge-toolkit/ Provides stakeholders (including family stakeholders) with an orientation to IDEA data and other data-related topics to help them meaningfully participate in conversations about important programmatic issues and decisions Available at:

31. Serving on Groups: Online Module & Book Assists family members in developing skills essential for active and meaningful participation in decision-making groups Available at: http://www.servingongroups.org/guidebook

32. Webinar Series: Engaging Families & Creating Trusting Partnerships http://ectacenter.org/~calls/2017/familyengagement.asp Four-part webinar series with Ann and Rud Turnbull aimed at supporting early intervention and early childhood special education systems leaders with building capacity in personnel and families to develop trusting partnership Available at:

33. 10 Great Things You Will Find on the “CPIR Hub” at parentcenterhub.org Resources Galore Buzz from the Hub Daily Facebook and Twitter Posts Private Workspaces for Parent Centers Survey Item Bank Materials from Other Parent Centers Buzz from the Hub Webinars & Webpages on Priority Topics Central Event Calendars Who Knows What?

34. How likely are you to return home and use at least one of the resources shared today?

35. References Dyrness, A. (2011). Mothers united: An immigrant struggle for socially-just education. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Fine, M. (1993). Parent Involvement: Reflections on parents, power, and urban schools. Teachers College Record, 94(4), 682–709. Geller, J., McAlister, S., & Rosann, T. (2015). The Family Leadership Self-Assessment Rubric: An indicator tool for school districts and lessons from Central Falls, Rhode Island. Providence, RI: Brown University, Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Ishimaru, A. (2014). When new relationships meet old narratives: The Journey towards improving parent-school relations in a district–community organizing collaboration. Teachers College Record, 116(2), 1-49. Martinez-Cosio, M. (2010). Parents’ roles in mediating and buffering the implementation of an urban school reform. Education and Urban Society, 42(3), 283–306. Turnbull, A.P., Turnbull, H.R., Erwin, E., Soodak, L., & Shogren, K. (2015). Families, professionals, and exceptionality: Positive outcomes through partnerships and trust (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Merrill/Prentice Hall. Warren, M., & Mapp, K. (2011). A match on dry grass: Community organizing as a catalyst for school reform. New York: Oxford University Press.

36. Find Us Online ECTA Center: http://ectacenter.org DaSy Center:http://dasycenter.org ECPC: https://ecpcta.org/ Parent to Parent of Georgia: http://p2pga.org/

37. Resources The ECTA Center is a program of the FPG Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, funded through cooperative agreement number H326P170001 from the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Project Officer, Julia Martin Eile. The DaSy Center is a program of SRI International, funded through cooperative agreement number H373Z120002from the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Project Officers, Meredith Miceli and Richelle Davis. The Early Childhood Personnel Center is a project of the A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the University of Connecticut Health, funded through cooperative agreement number H325B120004 from the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Project Officer, Dawn Ellis Parent to Parent of Georgia is the Region 3 Parent Technical Assistance Center funded through grant number H328R130008 from the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education. Project Officer, David Emenheiser.

38. Thank You The contents of this presentation were developed under grants from the U.S. Department of Education (#s H326P170001, H373Z120002, H325B120004, H328R130008). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project Officers: Julia Martin Eile, Meredith Miceli, Richelle Davis, Dawn Ellis, and David Emenheiser.