UPLAN parents brought their voices to the U.S. Department of Education’s (US ED’s) online forum for public comment on the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFECs). This program is part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In March 2018, the U.S. Congress approved $10 million for the program, which will support state-level organizations to develop policies and programs on family engagement in education.
US ED is responsible for designing the program – what the SFECs will do, the process of granting the funds, and how SFECs will be evaluated. They invited public comments on their blog, and will consider all comments as they design the program.
UPLAN members from the policy committee on real parent engagement and the governing council helped develop UPLAN’s comments. They focus on the need for parent and family leadership of the SFEC program itself. UPLAN calls on US ED to require SFECs to demonstrate that parents are in leadership roles with regard to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of their programs. Read UPLAN’s full comments:
UPLAN Comments SFECs May 2018 v2
UPLAN asks organizations and individuals from our membership to submit comments as well. Click here to access the US ED blog post, and scroll down to enter your comments. If you would like an editable (Word document) version of UPLAN’s comments, please contact National Organizer Erin Moore at erin@unitedparentleaders.org or 312-226-5141.
