Delaware Supporting Innovative Family Involvement Initiatives

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Superstars in Education recognition event. It’s an important initiative that seeks out and calls attention to great projects happening in schools around the state – projects that are having a real, demonstrated impact on student success. In addition to the seven Superstars honorees (Congrats to you all!), the Lt. Governor also gave two awards for “Excellence in Parental Involvement” efforts – one to Bayard Middle School and one to Gallaher Elementary School (both in the Christina School District, which got a big shout-out from Secretary Lowery at last night’s event). Everyone recognizes how critical it is for families and communities to be involved and engaged in their children’s education, and I’m proud that schools in Delaware are being recognized for their efforts.

Schools and districts now have another opportunity to share what they are doing related to family and community engagement, and can apply for additional resources from the state to build upon promising programs that will positively impact student performance. The Delaware Department of Education recently released a Request For Applications (RFA) for family and community engagement projects that accelerate a charter school or district’s engagement plans, as outlined in their Race to the Top plans.

Each district or charter school’s application can request up to $50,000, and submissions are due June 1, 2012. We are looking forward to learning about more great family engagement programs – like Indian River’s “Student Success STEMs from Parental Support” educational series and Seaford School District’s Homework Center and Family Resource Center (both funded in a previous round of family and community engagement projects).

Related Topics: Grants