December 9, 2020
Dear Partners:
State Superintendent of Instruction Tony Thurmond has affirmed that the family voice is a top education priority for his administration by naming a true family engagement champion as the director of the newly-formed family engagement division at the California Department of Education. The Parent Organization Network (PON), strongly supports the selection of Ms. Lisa Borrego to lead this new division, at a time when parent engagement plays a critical role in how our children learn and succeed in school.
Supt. Thurmond has turned words into action by providing a much-needed resource for parents, students, and teachers to work together during these unprecedented times of the coronavirus and distance learning. This recognition of the central role of parents in the education of their children is long overdue, and we are confident that after countless years of hard work by advocates, including PON parents, we have a solid commitment from the top of the State Superintendent’s office and the California Department of Education that parents do indeed count.
Studies conducted by PON on parent engagement this past year have clearly demonstrated the need for more direction from the state to ensure that high-quality, universal standards to engage families are designed and implemented with fidelity. Strong rules and guidance on paper have been diluted during implementation because of variances in family engagement standards among state agencies with differing responsibilities. Ms. Borrego is in the ideal position to help align training for educators during pre-service, induction, and professional development which, to date, has been sporadic in its implementation, causing confusion among both educators and parents, and resulting in wide discrepancies in the effectiveness of family engagement practices.
As the new Director, Ms. Borrego can improve family engagement in several key ways:
- Coordinate the efforts of the state agencies, and promote research-based frameworks and best practices, for the optimum engagement of families;
- Play a greater role, with heightened visibility, in guiding school districts to improve family engagement, by expediting a shift toward culturally responsive, relationship-based engagement focused on student learning and school improvement; and
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Provide expertise to California’s System of Support to build the capacity of local education agencies (LEAs) to support the continuous improvement of student performance and ensure family and student engagement are integrated into this System.
The new division and Ms. Borrego’s selection to lead the work is perhaps one "silver lining" in the COVID-19 pandemic. We know that in order to have healthy children we must have healthy families. Schools are trying to meet the needs of the whole child, as well as address the ever-increasing levels of poverty in American communities. Today it is now widely recognized that family-school partnerships are more critical than ever for student success. We know that effective collaboration requires that we support families and school staff in every way possible.
Ms. Borrego’s background and experience in family and parent engagement run deep. We recognize and appreciate that she has worked closely with parents at various levels, including local school districts and the California State PTA, along with numerous youth and community-development organizations. She has provided intervention and prevention programs and supports for youth, prepared our youngest learners for success, and ensured that the parent voice remains active, heard, and valued. We look forward to working with Ms. Borrego and seeing the positive impact we know she will have on family engagement in schools throughout California.
Sincerely,
Parent Organization Network Members
