New National Group Aims to Advance Family-School Engagement Efforts
By Karla Scoon Reid
October 17, 2014
Some of the nation's leading advocates and practitioners of family, school, and community engagement have joined forces to found a new organization to elevate their efforts to a higher level of influence in discussions about improving student achievement.
The new National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) hopes to lead efforts to garner much-needed financial and legislative support for an issue that many acknowledge is heralded as a crucial component of school improvement but is often neglected. The organization also will work to strengthen the network of family engagement experts and researchers nationwide to share best practices and develop more research-based policies in the field.
The association officially opened its office in Bethesda, Md., in September and tapped Vito Borrello to serve as the group's executive director. Borrello spent almost two decades leading EPIC - Every Person Influences Children, Inc., a Buffalo, N.Y.-based, national nonprofit dedicated to family, school and community engagement.
Borrello told me that NAFSCE would work toward aligning and mobilizing practitioners and researchers in the field behind a strategic effort to garner greater support for family and community engagement.
