SFEC Director Survey

OMB Control No: XXXX – XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC)

Director Survey

THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995

This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to provide the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, with information to help refine and guide program development in the area of family engagement. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 130 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number and expiration date for this collection are XXXX-XXXX, Exp: XX/XX/XXX. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to [email protected] and reference the OMB Control Number XXXX-XXXX. Do NOT return the completed survey to this address.

March 2022

Welcome to the Statewide Family Engagement Centers director survey!

The U.S. Department of Education has hired our organization, Mathematica, to conduct a study of the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program. We are interested in understanding how the SFECs are developing partnerships with state education agencies (SEAs), building capacity statewide, and providing technical assistance and direct services. We want to learn about both successes and challenges. The results of this study will be summarized in a report that will be available to the SFEC program, Congress, and the public and may inform subsequent SFEC grant competitions.

The survey should take about 90 minutes, although you do not need to complete it in one sitting. You can also get input on responses to the survey from others in your SFEC most knowledgeable about any particular topic, for example, about financial resources.

Your responses on the survey will be used only for research purposes. Study reports will not name you as an individual. Information collected for this study comes under the confidentiality and data protection requirements of the Institute of Education Sciences (The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183).

Here are a few important points:

• The survey will take you about 130 minutes to complete, including the time to look up requested information related to funding.

• Complete the enclosed survey. Once complete, you may scan and return the survey via email to [email protected] or use the enclosed FedEx materials to return the hard copy. If returning via FedEx, we recommend saving a copy for your records and for reference during a follow up telephone call.

• A researcher from Mathematica will reach out to schedule a time for a 60-minute telephone interview. During the interview, we will follow up on some of the survey questions to discuss further the implementation of the SFEC program.

• If you have any questions while completing the survey, please reach out for support. You may email Elizabeth Mugo at [email protected].

In developing the questions in this survey, we reviewed responses to all SFECs’ 2019–2020 final Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and notes from the quarterly calls between SFECs and the program office. Nonetheless, we recognize the survey responses may not fully capture the scope of your SFEC’s work.

Before beginning, please review definitions of two terms that we use to categorize SFEC activities—technical assistance and direct services. We recognize you may not categorize your activities in this way in your day-to-day work, but as part of this study we are interested in learning about the emphasis you place on certain kinds of activities compared to others. Because we use these terms in wording certain questions, it is helpful for you to know what we mean:

• Technical assistance, as defined in this survey, are activities that require the recipient to reach out to access the service, as opposed to being actively recruited to participate in the service. In general, these services are broadly disseminated so that a potentially unlimited number of recipients may obtain access. They may also require a time-limited amount of effort by the SFEC because the materials, once created, do not need to be repeated or tailored to multiple audiences. Some common examples of these activities include large conferences that any interested parties may attend, resources on websites, webinars, framework implementation guides, and meetings with partner networks.

• Direct services, as defined in this survey, are services that require both SFECs to actively recruit participation as well as recipients (families, schools, LEAs) to accept involvement. These services are not broadly disseminated but rather provided to a targeted set of recipients, with limited SEA assistance, to families, schools, and LEAs. The goal of direct services is to intensively support families, schools, and LEAs in enhancing their engagement within the context of specific, identified needs to improve student achievement and behaviors for school success. These activities may be time-intensive for the SFEC because they include, for example, face-to-face or virtual interactive parent communities; intensive trainings for school and LEA leaders, teams, and educators to implement specific family engagement interventions or strategies (such as supporting families in guiding homework or and communities of practice.); home visits to families; and training parents in family literacy. Direct services typically require more active engagement by the SFEC and customers than does technical assistance.

Thank you for participating in the SFEC Director survey.

SECTION A – Technical Assistance and Direct Services

This section asks about technical assistance and direct services that your SFEC offers.

For the purposes of this survey, please use the definitions for technical assistance and direct services provided.

Technical Assistance and Direct Services Activities

A1. This question asks about the products and activities your SFEC funded as part of this grant using GRANT FUNDS. For this question, we ask you to report for two time periods. Record your responses for October 2020–September 2021 (the last full fiscal year) in the white columns and for October 2021–May 2022 (the current fiscal year to date) in the blue columns.

For each time period, please check those activities you conducted and record the percentage of fiscal year funds you spent on that activity. For example, if you funded multiple statewide and regional trainings, add the approximate amount of funding spent across all of these activities. DO NOT INCLUDE MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS OR THE VALUE OF IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PARTNERS. Your best estimate is fine.

	Select all that apply each year			Select all that apply each year
	October 2020–September 2021 (last full fiscal year)			October 2021–May 2022 (current fiscal year to date)
Enter the estimated amount of your SFEC funding for each fiscal year.		$ ________				$ ________
	Check if activity was conducted	Percentage of fiscal year funding spent on activity	Check if activity was conducted			Percentage of fiscal year funding spent on activity
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
a. Providing broadly available information (through website or Facebook page, email listservs/distribution lists, or newsletters)	1 	________%	2 			________%
b. Developing electronic or hard-copy fact sheets and other materials (e.g., parent guides, instructional packets, strategies and tips for parents)	1 	________%	2 			________%
c. Conducting in-person or virtual statewide or regional webinars, conferences, workshops, seminars, symposia, institutes, or forums	1 	________%	2 			________%
d. Creating data dashboards and tools for schools and districts to use	1 	________%	2 			________%
e. Providing the infrastructure to support greater collaboration on family engagement topics across a state (e.g., statewide support to develop family engagement frameworks and policies)	1 	________%	2 			________%
f. Constructing and fielding surveys for families to provide data to SEAs, LEAs, and schools	1 	________%	1 			________%
g. Other technical assistance activity (Please describe) _______________________	1 	________%	2 			________%
DIRECT SERVICES
h. Communicating with parents about education matters (e.g., providing telephone or texting for parents’ questions, an ombudsman to handle complaints, or a telephone list for robocalls to parents)	1 	________%	2 			________%
i. Delivering in-person services to individual families to enhance student achievement	1 	________%	2 			________%
j. Providing services to families to support parent well-being (e.g., providing adult education services, financial education training, parenting classes, peer/parent-to-parent support)	1 	________%	2 			________%
k. Conducting training for families to encourage family leadership in advocating for children or understanding the school or district system (e.g., family leadership institutes, action teams and partnerships, school improvement teams, parent advisory committees)	1 	________%	2 			________%
l. Conducting school or district personnel topic-specific training (e.g., in assisting family literacy, family math, family involvement in student course choice/placement) in person or virtually	1 	________%	2 			________%
m. Conducting training for schools or districts to encourage family shared/participatory leadership (e.g., advocating for children or understanding the school or district system, encouraging shared/participatory leadership)	1 	________%	2 			________%
n. Conducting other training for families, schools, or districts not captured above (Please describe)	1 	________%	2 			________%
o. Providing services to SEAs (e.g., recruiting and convening advisory committees, performing statewide needs assessments, helping develop statewide family engagement frameworks, funding a state coordinator position, performing research on family engagement in the state)	1 	________%	2 			________%
		Total should sum to 100%			Total should sum to 100%

A2. For the technical assistance activities your SFEC provided, please indicate the intended recipients.

Select all that apply per row

	District leadership statewide	School leadership statewide	Teachers statewide	Families statewide	Was not offered in either period
a. Providing broadly available information (through website or Facebook page, email listservs/distribution lists, or newsletters)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
b. Developing electronic or hard-copy fact sheets and other materials (e.g., parent guides, instructional packets, strategies and tips for parents)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
c. Conducting in-person or virtual statewide or regional webinars, conferences, workshops, seminars, symposia, institutes, or forums	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
d. Creating data dashboards and tools for schools and districts to use	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
e. Providing the infrastructure to support greater collaboration on family engagement topics across a state (e.g., statewide support to develop family engagement frameworks and policies)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
f. Constructing and fielding surveys for families to provide data to SEAs, LEAs, and schools	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
g. Other technical assistance activity (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 

A3. For each direct services activity your SFEC has conducted, please indicate whether the activity was intended for families with specific characteristics (or schools serving high numbers of these families) or had no specific target population.

	Select all that apply per row
	Families with low incomes	English learner students and families	Racial/ ethnic minority families	Families of students with disabilities	Rural families	Migrant families	Homeless/ transient youth families or advocates	Foster families	No specific target population
a. Communicating with parents about education matters (e.g., providing telephone or texting for parents’ questions, an ombudsman to handle complaints, or a telephone list for robocalls to parents)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 
b. Delivering in-person services to individual families to enhance student achievement	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 
c. Providing services to families to support parent well-being (e.g., providing adult education services, financial education training, parenting classes, peer/parent-to-parent support)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 
d. Conducting training for families to encourage family leadership in advocating for children or understanding the school or district system (e.g., family leadership institutes, action teams and partnerships, school improvement teams, parent advisory committees)	1 ad	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 
e. Conducting school or district personnel topic-specific training (e.g., in assisting family literacy, family math, family involvement in student course choice/placement) in person or virtually	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 
f. Conducting training for schools or districts to encourage family shared/participatory leadership (e.g., advocating for children or understanding the school or district system, encouraging shared/participatory leadership)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 
g. Conducting other training for families, schools, or districts not captured above (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 
h. Providing services to SEAs (e.g., recruiting and convening advisory committees, performing statewide needs assessments, helping develop statewide family engagement frameworks, funding a state coordinator position, performing research on family engagement in the state	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 

A4. For each direct service provided during the last full fiscal year (October 2020–September 2021), the current fiscal year (October 2021–May 2022), or both, please indicate whether you targeted the direct services to families with children in the following grade level (or schools at these grade level).

Select all that apply per row

	Preschool	Elementary	Middle school	High school	Post-secondary	Was not offered in either period
a. Communicating with parents about education matters (e.g., providing telephone or texting for parents’ questions, an ombudsman to handle complaints, or a telephone list for robocalls to parents)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 
b. Delivering in-person services to individual families to enhance student achievement	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 
c. Providing services to families to support parent well-being (e.g., providing adult education services, financial education training, parenting classes, peer/parent-to-parent support)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 
d. Conducting training for families to encourage family leadership in advocating for children or understanding the school or district system (e.g., family leadership institutes, action teams and partnerships, school improvement teams, parent advisory committees)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 
e. Conducting school or district personnel topic-specific training (e.g., in assisting family literacy, family math, family involvement in student course choice/placement) in person or virtually	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 
f. Conducting training for schools or districts to encourage family shared/participatory leadership (e.g., advocating for children or understanding the school or district system, encouraging shared/participatory leadership)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 
g. Conducting other training for families, schools, or districts not captured above (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 

A5. Thinking about the period from the start of the previous fiscal year (October 2020) through now, please indicate whether each of the following topics were a focus of any of your program technical assistance activities or direct services (in the white column).

For each topic that was a focus, please select the school levels of the students whose families would have been involved in the activities (in the blue columns).

	Focus		Grade level
	Select one per row		Select all that apply per row
	Yes, was a focus	No, was not a focus	Preschool	Elementaty	Middle school	High school	Post-secondary
a. Literacy (e.g., family literacy approaches, financial literacy)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
b. STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
c. Educational choice (related to opportunities to choose where and how a student is educated)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
d. Course placement and academic tracking (e.g., math or reading placement)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
e. Dual capacity building (an approach for family–school partnerships that emphasizes mutually respectful relationships among schools, families, and communities, where these groups collaborate intentionally to support family engagement)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
f. Social-emotional learning/Social-emotional development	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
g. Family–school communication and engagement around academic achievement	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
h. College and career readiness	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
i. Supporting parents’ decisions about school choice (e.g., providing information on choosing and applying to schools across a district, on Facebook pages, other strategies)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
j. Training parents and community members to understand school report cards	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
k. Helping parents understand state academic standards	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
l. Supporting parents in understanding student course placement and academic tracking in math and literacy classes	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
m. Conducting events to help identify career and postsecondary options (e.g., college and postsecondary education career fairs)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
n. Providing supports for families of disadvantaged students, such as help understanding individualized learning or development plans (IEPs or IDPs)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
o. Other topics (Please describe)	1 	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 

A6. Are any of the following evidence-based direct services or activities part of your project? By evidence-based, we mean activities that individual grantees cited as evidence-based in their applications for the SFEC program:

Evidence-based refers to an activity, strategy, model, or intervention that demonstrates a statistically significant effect on improving student outcomes or other relevant outcomes based on promising evidence from at least one well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with statistical controls for selection bias.

Select one per row

	Yes	No
a. Academic Parent Teacher Teams	1 	0 
b. National Network of Partnership Schools	1 	0 
c. Parent Teacher Home Visitation	1 	0 
d. Parent and Child Together (PACT)	1 	0 
e. Families and Schools Together	1 	0 
f. Family Friendly Schools	1 	0 
g. Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY)	1 	0 
h. The Model PTA	1 	0 
i. Other models or approaches of the National Center for Families Learning	1 	0 
j. Other evidence-based direct services or activities (Please describe)	1 	0 

A7. Are any of the following dual capacity-building activities part of your project? Dual capacity building is an approach for family–school partnerships that emphasizes mutually respectful relationships among schools, families, and communities, where these groups collaborate intentionally to support family engagement. For many activities, the SFEC or partner organizations may have implemented the activity. Please include all as you consider responses.

Select one per row

	Yes	No
a. Hosting advisory committee meetings	1 	0 
b. Forming academic parent–teacher teams	1 	0 
c. Conducting home visits	1 	0 
d. Creating parent leadership institutes to equip parents with information about becoming a part of organizations such as parent–teacher associations and school boards	1 	0 
e. Implementing models to support stronger family–school communication	1 	0 
f. Forming collaborations with community-based organizations to support sustained family–school partnerships	1 	0 
g. Hosting webinars, conferences, or other events for parents to support the use of technology	1 	0 
h. Creating spaces like Facebook groups or weekly online support meetings, panel meetings, or focus groups to support families and provide information	1 	0 
i. Holding conferences, trainings, or professional development about family engagement for districts and schools	1 	0 
j. Supporting increased information communication (text messages, emails, phone calls, and the use of Apps to support this)	1 	0 
k. Providing support for parent-teacher conferences	1 	0 
l. Other dual-capacity building activities (Please describe)	1 	0 

A8. Given a limited budget, suppose you had to select three direct services or technical assistance activities to continue to fund. Which three would you choose? Rank your top priorities in order from 1 to 3.

	Rank 1, 2, and 3 by top priorities
a. Providing broadly available information (through website or Facebook page, email listservs/distribution lists, or newsletters)	| |
b. Developing electronic or hard-copy fact sheets and other materials (e.g., parent guides, instructional packets, strategies and tips for parents)	| |
c. Conducting in-person or virtual statewide or regional webinars, conferences, workshops, seminars, symposia, institutes, or forums	| |
d. Creating data dashboards and tools for schools and districts to use	| |
e. Providing the infrastructure to support greater collaboration on family engagement topics across a state (e.g., statewide support to develop family engagement frameworks and policies)	| |
f. Constructing and fielding surveys for families to provide data to SEAs, LEAs, and schools	| |
g. Other technical assistance activity (Please describe)	| |
h. Communicating with parents about education matters (e.g., providing telephone or texting for parents’ questions, an ombudsman to handle complaints, or a telephone list for robocalls to parents)	| |
i. Delivering in-person services to individual families to enhance student achievement	| |
j. Providing services to families to support parent well-being (e.g., providing adult education services, financial education training, parenting classes, peer/parent-to-parent support)	| |
k. Conducting training for families to encourage family leadership in advocating for children or understanding the school or district system (e.g., family leadership institutes, action teams and partnerships, school improvement teams, parent advisory committees)	| |
l. Conducting school or district personnel topic-specific training (e.g., in assisting family literacy, family math, family involvement in student course choice/placement) in person or virtually	| |
m. Conducting training for schools or districts to encourage family shared/ participatory leadership (e.g., advocating for children or understanding the school or district system, encouraging shared/participatory leadership)	| |
n. Conducting other training for families, schools, or districts not captured above	| |
o. Providing services to SEAs (e.g., recruiting and convening advisory committees, performing statewide needs assessments, helping develop statewide family engagement frameworks, funding a state coordinator position, performing research on family engagement in the state)	| |
p. Other direct service activity (Please describe)	| |

A9. This question has two components. First, rate the importance of the factors below when making decisions about the activities and services your SFEC provides (in the white columns). Then select the most important factor when making decisions about activities and services provided (in the blue column).

	Rating Select one per row			Select one only
	Very important	Important	Not important	Most important factor
a. Special advisory committee meeting discussions	1 	2 	3 	1 
b. Parent or family input	1 	2 	3 	1 
c. State or district input	1 	2 	3 	1 
d. School and educator interest	1 	2 	3 	1 
e. Research evidence	1 	2 	3 	1 
f. Needs assessments	1 	2 	3 	1 
g. Staffing expertise (SFEC staffing or SEA staffing)	1 	2 	3 	1 
h. Coordination with other activities in the state	1 	2 	3 	1 
i. Collaboration with other family education and engagement organizations, such parent training and information centers and community parent resource centers	1 	2 	3 	1 
j. Other factors (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	1 

The next questions ask about your partnership and relationship with the state education agency.

A10. On average, how often do you or someone else from the SFEC typically meet with or communicate with the state education agency? Please include all types of communications, such as email exchanges, telephone calls, and in-person or virtual meetings.

MARK ONE ONLY

1  About once a week or more

2  About 2 or 3 times per month

3  About once a month

4  About quarterly

5  About 1 or 2 times a year

6  About once per year

7  We do not have meetings with the SEA

A11. To what extent are the following issues challenging in your collaboration with your state education agency?

	Select one per row
	Largely challenging	Somewhat challenging	Not at all challenging
a. State education agency staffing capacity	1 	2 	3 
b. Time required to collaborate	1 	2 	3 
c. Support or engagement from the state education agency	1 	2 	3 
d. Communication	1 	2 	3 
e. Aligned focus on populations to serve	1 	2 	3 
f. Constraints from laws and regulations	1 	2 	3 
g. Staff turnover	1 	2 	3 
h. Policy shifts or SEA changing priorities	1 	2 	3 
i. Other issues (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 

The next questions ask about the special advisory committee.

A12. Was a special advisory committee already in place prior to the establishment of the Statewide Family Engagement grant program?

MARK ONE ONLY

1  Yes

2  No

3  I don’t know

A13. How frequently does the SFEC engage and collaborate with the special advisory committee?

MARK ONE ONLY

1  About once a week or more

2  About 2 or 3 times per month

3  About once a month

4  About quarterly

5  About 1 or 2 times a year

6  About once per year

7  We do not engage or collaborate with the special advisory committee

A14. To what extent is the special advisory committee a source of information and feedback from parents?

MARK ONE ONLY

1  It is the only source of information and feedback from parents

2  It is one of a few sources of information and feedback from parents

3  It is one of many sources of information and feedback from parents

4  It is not a source of information and feedback from parents

A15. To what extent does the special advisory committee influence the work conducted by the SFEC?

MARK ONE ONLY

1  Strong influence

2  Moderate influence

2  No influence

A15a. [IF A15=1]: Please describe how the special advisory committee influences the work conducted by the SFEC.

______________________________________________________________________

The next questions ask about your work with districts and schools recorded in your Annual Performance Report (APR) as “Participating School Districts and Schools.”

A16. Your APR indicates that you worked most intensively with [FILL NUMBER] districts. When working with a district, which are the most common approaches for providing direct services to the district?

SELECT ONE OR MORE

1 □ We typically provide direct services to only the district-level staff

2 □ We typically provide direct services to both district-level staff and to all of the schools under each identified district

3 □ We typically provide direct services to both district-level staff and to some of the schools under each identified district

4 □ Other (Please describe)___________

A17. How were the districts listed in the APR identified for receiving SFEC support?

SELECT ONE OR MORE

1 □ The district reached out to us directly requesting support

2 □ The district reached out to the state education agency directly requesting support

3 □ The state education agency identified the districts needing support

4 □ The SFEC identified the districts needing support

5 □ Other (Please describe)___________

A19. [IF SCHOOLS LISTED]: Your APR indicates that you worked intensively with [FILL NUMBER] schools. When working with a school, which are the most common approaches for providing direct services to the school?

SELECT ONE OR MORE

1 □ We provide direct services to the school leadership (for example the principal and other school-level administrators)

2 □ We provide direct services to classroom teachers

3 □ We provide direct services to non-classroom teachers (for example, school counselors)

4 □ We provide direct services to families of the school

5 □ Other (Please describe)___________

A20. [IF SCHOOLS LISTED]: How were the schools listed in the APR identified for receiving SFEC support?

SELECT ONE OR MORE

1 □ Schools reached out to us directly requesting support

2 □ The district reached out to us directly requesting support for a school

3 □ The district reached out to the state education agency directly requesting support for a school

4 □ The state education agency identified the schools needing support

5 □ The SFEC identified the schools needing support

6 □ Other (Please describe)___________

SECTION B – Challenges encountered

The following questions are about the children and families your program serves.

B1. Thinking about the intended recipients of the direct services, which populations have you found most difficult to reach?

SELECT ONE OR MORE

1 □ Families with low incomes

2 □ English learner students and families

3 □ Racial/ethnic minority families

4 □ Families of students with disabilities

5 □ Rural families

6 □ Migrant families

7 □ Homeless/transient youth families or advocates

8 □ Foster families

9 □ Other intended recipients (Please describe)

10  We have not had difficulty reaching our intended recipients

B1a. If you selected multiple intended recipients of the direct services in question B1, please indicate if there was a specific group that you prioritized or targeted the most.

MARK ONE ONLY

1  Families with low incomes

2  English learner students and families

3  Racial/ethnic minority families

4  Families of students with disabilities

5  Rural families

6  Migrant families

7  Homeless/transient youth families or advocates

8  Foster families

9  Other intended recipients (Please describe)

10  We did not prioritize or target a specific group

B1b. If you selected a specific group of intended recipients that you prioritized or targeted the most, what direct services did you commonly offer to this group?

SELECT ONE OR MORE

1 □ Communicating with parents about education matters (e.g., providing telephone or texting for parents’ questions, an ombudsman to handle complaints, or a telephone list for robocalls to parents)

2 □ Delivering in-person services to individual families to enhance student achievement

3 □ Providing services to families to support parent well-being (e.g., providing adult education services, financial education training, parenting classes, peer/parent-to-parent support)

4 □ Conducting training for families to encourage family leadership in advocating for children or understanding the school or district system (e.g., family leadership institutes, action teams and partnerships, school improvement teams, parent advisory committees)

5 □ Conducting school or district personnel topic-specific training (e.g., in assisting family literacy, family math, family involvement in student course choice/placement) in person or virtually

6 □ Conducting training for schools or districts to encourage family shared/participatory leadership (e.g., advocating for children or understanding the school or district system, encouraging shared/participatory leadership)

7 □ Conducting other training for families, schools, or districts not captured above

8 □ Providing services to SEAs (e.g., recruiting and convening advisory committees, performing statewide needs assessments, helping develop statewide family engagement frameworks, funding a state coordinator position, performing research on family engagement in the state)

9 □ Other direct services (Please describe)

10  We did not provide direct services to any specific priority or target group

B2. Reflecting on technical assistance and direct services you reported offering in question A1, please answer A and B.

A. Since October 2020, to what extent have you experienced challenges in providing the following technical assistance and direct service activities? If you did not have any challenges, select “Not challenging.”

B. For each row where you select “very or moderately challenging” please indicate whether the reason for the challenge was due to limited resources, limited technology, or other reason (Answer in blue columns only if when select ‘very or moderately challenging’).

	To what extent have you experienced challenges in providing each of these?
	Select one per row				Select one per row
	Very challenging	Moderately challenging	Not challenging	Did not offer during this time	Limited funding	Limited staff	Other
Technical Assistance
a. Providing broadly available information (through website or Facebook page, email listservs/ distribution lists, or newsletters)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
b. Developing electronic or hard-copy fact sheets and other materials (e.g., parent guides, instructional packets, strategies and tips for parents)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
c. Conducting in-person or virtual statewide or regional webinars, conferences, workshops, seminars, symposia, institutes, or forums	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
d. Creating data dashboards and tools for schools and districts to use	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
e. Providing the infrastructure to support greater collaboration on family engagement topics across a state (e.g., statewide support to develop family engagement frameworks and policies)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
f. Constructing and fielding surveys for families to provide data to SEAs, LEAs, and schools	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
g. Other technical assistance activity (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
Direct Services							3 
h. Communicating with parents about education matters (e.g., providing telephone or texting for parents’ questions, an ombudsman to handle complaints, or a telephone list for robocalls to parents)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
i. Delivering in-person services to individual families to enhance student achievement	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
j. Providing services to families to support parent well-being (e.g., providing adult education services, financial education training, parenting classes, peer/parent-to-parent support)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
k. Conducting training for families to encourage family leadership in advocating for children or understanding the school or district system (e.g., family leadership institutes, action teams and partnerships, school improvement teams, parent advisory committees)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
l. Conducting school or district personnel topic-specific training (e.g., in assisting family literacy, family math, family involvement in student course choice/placement) in person or virtually	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
m. Conducting training for schools or districts to encourage family shared/participatory leadership (e.g., advocating for children or understanding the school or district system, encouraging shared/participatory leadership)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
n. Conducting other training for families, schools, or districts not captured above	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
o. Providing services to SEAs (e.g., recruiting and convening advisory committees, performing statewide needs assessments, helping develop statewide family engagement frameworks, funding a state coordinator position, performing research on family engagement in the state)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 
p. Other direct service activities (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 	2 	3 

B3a. What were your top three challenges in providing technical assistance?

1.

2.

3.

B3b. What were your top three challenges in providing direct services?

1.

2.

3.

B4. Did you employ any of the following strategies to address challenges you have faced?

	Select all that apply
	Strategy used
a. Deploying parent surveys regularly to obtain parent input	1 
b. Partnering with other local entities (e.g., schools or local education agency, Internet providers, food banks, hospitals) to deliver services	2 
c. Supporting schools in providing remote learning opportunities for children	3 
d. Providing remote supports for SEAs, LEAs, schools, and families	4 
e. Using multiple modes of communication to reach families	5 
f. Supporting families’ access to technology (e.g., facilitating Internet access, supplying Chromebooks/laptops)	6 
g. Other strategies employed to address challenges (Please describe)	7 

SECTION C – The Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on
SFEC Program Implementation

These next few questions are about challenges and successes you may have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular when the pandemic first started to impact districts, schools, and families, approximately March 2020.

C1. To what extent did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your ability to provide technical assistance or direct services? The responses include options for both negative and positive effects because, for example, the increased use of online trainings may have positively, rather than negatively affected, the delivery of direct services. Please select “Not applicable” if your program did not engage in the activity.

	Select one per row
	Negatively affected	Did not affect	Positively affected	Not applicable
a. Providing broadly available information (through website or Facebook page, email listservs/distribution lists, or newsletters)	1 	2 	3 	4 
b. Developing electronic or hard-copy fact sheets and other materials (e.g., parent guides, instructional packets, strategies and tips for parents)	1 	2 	3 	4 
c. Conducting in-person or virtual statewide or regional webinars, conferences, workshops, seminars, symposia, institutes, or forums	1 	2 	3 	4 
d. Creating data dashboards and tools for schools and districts to use	1 	2 	3 	4 
e. Providing the infrastructure to support greater collaboration on family engagement topics across a state (e.g., statewide support to develop family engagement frameworks and policies)	1 	2 	3 	4 
f. Constructing and fielding surveys for families to provide data to SEAs, LEAs, and schools	1 	2 	3 	4 
g. Other technical assistance activity (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 
h. Communicating with parents about education matters (e.g., providing telephone or texting for parents’ questions, an ombudsman to handle complaints, or a telephone list for robocalls to parents)	1 	2 	3 	4 
i. Delivering in-person services to individual families to enhance student achievement	1 	2 	3 	4 
j. Providing services to families to support parent well-being (e.g., providing adult education services, financial education training, parenting classes, peer/parent-to-parent support)	1 	2 	3 	4 
k. Conducting training for families to encourage family leadership in advocating for children or understanding the school or district system (e.g., family leadership institutes, action teams and partnerships, school improvement teams, parent advisory committees)	1 	2 	3 	4 
l. Conducting school or district personnel topic-specific training (e.g., in assisting family literacy, family math, family involvement in student course choice/placement) in person or virtually	1 	2 	3 	4 
m. Conducting training for schools or districts to encourage family shared/participatory leadership (e.g., advocating for children or understanding the school or district system, encouraging shared/participatory leadership)	1 	2 	3 	4 
n. Conducting other training for families, schools, or districts not captured above	1 	2 	3 	4 
o. Providing services to SEAs (e.g., recruiting and convening advisory committees, performing statewide needs assessments, helping develop statewide family engagement frameworks, funding a state coordinator position, performing research on family engagement in the state)	1 	2 	3 	4 
p. Other services or activities (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 

C2. To what extent did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your ability to serve each of the following groups? The responses include options for both positive and negative effects because, for example, the increased use of certain technology may have positively rather than negatively affected the delivery of technical assistance to certain audiences. Please select “Not applicable” if your program never intended to serve this population.

Select one per row

	Negatively affected ability to serve this population	Did not affect ability to serve this population	Positively affected ability to serve this population	Not applicable
a. State education agency officials	1 	2 	3 	4 
b. School district leadership	1 	2 	3 	4 
c. Community-based organizations	1 	2 	3 	4 
d. School leadership	1 	2 	3 	4 
e. Teachers	1 	2 	3 	4 
f. Families	1 	2 	3 	4 
g. Other groups (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 

C3. To what extent did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your ability to serve the populations your program intended to serve? Please select “Not applicable” if your program never intended to serve this population.

Select one per row

	Negatively affected ability to serve this population	Did not affect ability to serve this population	Positively affected ability to serve this population	Not applicable
a. Families with low incomes	1 	2 	3 	4 
b. English learner students and families	1 	2 	3 	4 
c. Racial/ethnic minority families	1 	2 	3 	4 
d. Families of students with disabilities	1 	2 	3 	4 
e. Rural families	1 	2 	3 	4 
f. Migrant families	1 	2 	3 	4 
g. Homeless/transient youth families or advocates	1 	2 	3 	4 
h. Foster families	1 	2 	3 	4 
i. Other populations (Please describe)	1 	2 	3 	4 

C4. This question has three parts:

A. What strategies did your program use to provide direct services to families and technical assistance during the pandemic (that is, starting in March 2020)? (Answer in first column)

B. How effective were the strategies used to provide services to SEAs, LEAs, schools, and families? (Answer in middle blue columns)

C. Will your SFEC continue using any of these in the future? (Answer in last column)

	A	B				C
		Effectiveness of strategy Select one per row
	Strategy used	Very effective	Somewhat effective	Not at all effective	Not applicable	Strategy may continue
a. Deploying parent surveys regularly to obtain parent input	1 	1 	2 	3 	4 	1 
b. Partnering with other local entities (e.g., schools or local education agency, Internet providers, food banks, hospitals) to deliver services	2 	1 	2 	3 	4 	2 
c. Supporting schools in providing remote learning opportunities for children	3 	1 	2 	3 	4 	3 
d. Providing remote supports for SEAs, LEAs, schools, and families	4 	1 	2 	3 	4 	4 
e. Using multiple modes of communication to reach families	5 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 
f. Supporting families’ access to technology (e.g., facilitating Internet access, supplying Chromebooks/laptops)	6 	1 	2 	3 	4 	6 
g. Other strategies for direct services (Please describe)	7 	1 	2 	3 	4 	7 

State Education Agency Contact Information

Please provide contact information for your primary state education agency contact. We will be asking the state education agency to participate in an interview.

Contact 1. Please provide the primary or main contact at the state education agency where most of the family engagement work is concentrated (that is, the person with whom the SFEC has worked with the longest and/or works with most frequently and knows the most about the SFEC’s work).

Name:

Job Title:

Email:

Role in working with the SFEC:

Phone Number: | | | | - | | | | - | | | | |

Area Code Number

Thank you for participating in the SFEC Director survey.

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