Family Engagement in Education: The Dual Capacity-Building Framework

Collaborating for student success

Build authentic family-school partnerships that foster equity, trust, and student success.

Featuring faculty from:
Self-Paced
Length
8 weeks
2-3 hours a week
Certificate Price
$149.00
Program Dates
Start Family Engagement in Education today.

What You'll Learn

The Covid-19 pandemic changed the education landscape quickly and permanently. Once bustling school yards and extracurricular activities were shut down and schools abruptly shifted to an online- or hybrid-learning format. This impacted students, teachers, and families, and allowed important new research to be conducted on these core groups. In the years since the launch of Introduction to Family Engagement in Education, Harvard University faculty Karen L. Mapp has used her expertise in the field alongside new research conducted during the pandemic to inform fundamental changes to the Dual Capacity-Building Framework, which was previously developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education.

In this course, Mapp will lead you through the framework, providing real-world scenarios and case studies from experts in the field—helping you not only understand how the framework is structured, but also how to apply it directly in your engagements with partners like parents, guardians, educators, community leaders, and policymakers.

With the Dual Capacity-Building Framework as your guide, you will explore each component of the framework in-depth—identifying key personas and conditions that impact outcomes, and learning how to influence change to drive better educational environments and student learning successes. The course and framework emphasize accountability and respect, providing the skills and resources to develop meaningful, authentic, and trusting relationships between families and schools. By creating a shared language and knowledge of the pillars to effective partnerships, both students and schools will benefit in the long-term.

Additionally, the course explores inequalities in education, such as income, race, and access, bringing to light the importance of developing deeper connections and growing the confidence of educators and family members to support students in marginalized populations and areas where education is key to student’s social development and success.

Join your peers to share stories and cases that reflect your own communities—building a toolkit that helps foster student success, encourages unity and harmony across communities, and creates more inclusive and supportive educational policies and programs.

The course will be delivered via edX and connect learners around the world. By the end of the course, participants will learn:

  • Understand the importance of the family-educator-community partnership as a key to student success.
  • Explore the Dual Capacity-Building Framework, focusing on incorporating the takeaways into your school system and community to support student learning in school and in the home.
  • Seek to understand socioeconomic factors and the impact that has on student outcomes, including families with language barriers, educational trauma, and cultural differences.
  • Know how to develop shared accountability between educators and families by creating connecting and welcoming practices.
  • Utilize real-world examples and in-field research and experiences to design more inclusive policies and programs to engage families and students.

Your Instructor

Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D, is a Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and the Faculty Director of the Education Policy and Management Master’s Program. Over the past twenty years, Karen’s research and practice focus has been on the cultivation of partnerships among families, community members and educators that support student achievement and school improvement. She served as the co-coordinator with Professor Mark Warren of the Community Organizing and School Reform Research Project and as a core faculty member in the Doctorate in Educational Leadership (EDLD) program at HGSE. She is a founding member of the District Leaders Network on Family and Community Engagement, is a trustee of the Hyams Foundation in Boston, MA, and is on the board of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) in Washington, DC. From 2011 to 2013, Karen served as a consultant on family engagement to the United States Department of Education in the Office of Innovation and Improvement. She currently serves as a consultant to the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) division of Scholastic, Inc.

Ways to take this course

When you enroll in this course, you will have the option of pursuing a Verified Certificate or Auditing the Course.

A Verified Certificate costs $149 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate. 

Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.

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