The Open System Institute

I was thrilled to present earlier today at the NAFSCE (National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement) conference, where I shared an intervention developed as part of my EdD dissertation from American University in collaboration with Possip. This project focuses on helping schools and communities collaboratively review and make sense of family feedback. I created a meeting protocol and an equity-noticing tool that schools can use with a team of 8-15 members—comprised of administrators, teachers, staff, and families that reflect the diversity of the school community. Together, this group reviews feedback from families, interprets it from multiple perspectives, takes action, and communicates both the feedback and resulting steps with the families. The process helps teams continuously refine their approach to family feedback, with a clear focus on equity. This process can be done in as few as three one-hour sessions, either in-person or virtually, and generates significant impact. The ultimate goal is to empower families and communities to recognize their power and privilege, improve feedback mechanisms, and center the needs and perspectives of non-dominant families. Through this, schools can build equitable communities grounded in relational trust and an appreciation for the cultural capital of all families. I'm excited to join day two of the virtual conference tomorrow, and I wish the best to those attending the in-person event in Denver later this week! Michael Andrews, Ed.D, Coaction Collective, Kate Garvin, Shani Dowell. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to learn more!

Are you looking to do some reading before the election? HEP has you covered! We've compiled a list of books that address the role that democracy plays in education, teaching, and learning. Find out more here: https://bit.ly/3M3JXhY

Grateful to the team at LearnerStudio for the chance to present on The Cornerstone Project - An EduDemocracy Network up at Lone Rock last week in front of so many educators and system leaders I admire. Thanks to Dr. Diane Robinson for sharing her amazing new documentary on The Young Vote and to the entire community for diving into the big questions around education and democracy. To all the great friends and colleagues - I cannot wait to be with you again! (and thanks Vriti Saraf for the pic!)

In honor of National Family Day today, I'm excited to share that I'll be presenting a session virtually at the National Assembly for Family Engagement in Education run by the NAFSCE (National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement) on October 21. I hope to see you there!

Completely invigorated by spending the day with 115 passionate + innovative leaders from 42 school districts working together to advance future-driven learning! Thank you, Doannie Tran and Valerie Truesdale for joining us! AASA, The School Superintendents Association Remake Learning

Cornerstone Co-Founders Ben Austin, Sandra Boyd, and Doannie Tran pen an op-ed in 74 Million about the launch of the National EduDemocracy Landscape Analysis. “Our goal is that by the 2030s, the nation should have a transformed educational election landscape, where innovations like expanding voting rights to 16-year-olds in school board elections, attaining school board turnouts as high as those for presidential elections and enshrining high-quality public education as a civil right are the norm, not the exception." https://lnkd.in/ghTSHiJ2