The Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) is set to launch a comprehensive training program on December 1, 2023 that was developed in collaboration with esteemed partners, including the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, San Diego County Office of Education, Eskolta, University of San Diego, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Families In Schools, California Association for Bilingual Educators, WestEd, Dr. Jennifer Edic-Bryant, Inform2Inspire, and the California Community Schools Partnership Program. The goal is to equip key school staff with the knowledge, skills, and commitment to enhance their community and family engagement strategies, per the mandate in Education Code Section 52073.3. By participating in these trainings, local educational agencies and staff will gain best practice insights into effectively engaging with students, families, communities, and school staff.

The training series will be publicly available at no cost and periodically updated.

Key modules in the training series include:

• Collaborative Leadership Structures: Focuses on shared leadership in community schools and the shift in power dynamics for broader collaboration.
• Community Partnerships for Systems Change: Teaches about building capacity for community engagement and the importance of relational trust and meaningful participation.
• Engaging Your Community from the Roots Up: Addresses the six essential components of effective community engagement and includes a tool for assessing progress.
• Enhancing Engagement for LCAP Design: Details the importance of engaging educational partners in the LCAP development process for more informed decision-making.
• Fostering an Environment of Positive Community Engagement for School Administrators: Highlights the role of school administrators in fostering positive community engagement.
• Parents, Families, and Caregivers as Equal Partners: Aims to affirm the important role of families in the educational system and provides strategies for navigating it.
• Progress Monitoring and Evaluation: Provides tools for monitoring and evaluating school improvement efforts, emphasizing the importance of data collection and analysis.
• Walking Alongside Communities: Focuses on building authentic community partnerships, including conducting landscape analysis and resource mapping with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs).

This training series is an opportunity for educators and administrators to deepen their understanding and effectiveness in community engagement to strengthen the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) process. Engage with these modules to enhance your skills and strategies in this vital area and share your feedback to contribute to the ongoing improvement of these resources.

The CEI wants these learning modules to be valuable to educators and practitioners. If you have any feedback on these modules, or would like to suggest topics for future modules, please use the feedback button located in the footer of any page of californiaengage.org.