Family Engagement Newsletter

And celebrate NATIONAL FAMILY ENGAGEMENT DAY - NOVEMBER 16th!

This easy-to-use site contains videos, strategies, training modules, and resources from PaTTAN, the PA Department of Education, community partners, advocacy groups, leading researchers in family engagement, national centers, and much more. Continue reading...

Last month, we introduced you to the new Student-Led IEP (SLIEP) Resource Hub. This site gives you ideas, insights, benefits, and strategies, by stakeholder, you can use today! Learn how your students and families can be actively engaged in implementing student-led IEPs. After all...it's THEIR IEP, THEIR LIFE! Teach children leadership, self-advocacy, and collaboration skills to help them succeed in life.

PLEASE SHARE THIS FLYER WITH TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, YOUTH, AND THEIR FAMILIES!

Check out the SLIEP Hub at www:bit.ly/sliep

See our Resources for Schools and Educators and other ideas for improving family-school partnerships, student skills and achievement, and ways to assist educators in designing and facilitating effective student-led IEP processes.

The Student-Led IEP (SLIEP) Hub has tools for youth to use and understand their role, tools for families to use as they grow and share their knowledge, and tools for teachers and schools to use as they begin introducing and working with students to learn to self-advocate and take ownership of their learning. Click on the SLIEP Assessment of Practices Tool image to reflect on your practices and determine an action plan that fits your school's needs

You can also visit PaTTAN's Customized Supports to learn more and submit an application for direct, individualized training and technical assistance.

"Transformative family engagement is a shared effort of families, schools, and community leaders to advance programs, practices, and policies that empower every parent to make their child’s potential a reality. Using research findings and best practices for family-school partnerships, we use the guiding principles of the 4 I’s of transformative family engagement—Inclusive, Individualized, Integrated, Impactful—with strategies you can use as a model to implement these principles in your school community..."

Learn more from the National PTA's Center for Family Engagement...

CADRE's Guiding Principles of Collaborative Advocacy combines highly effective communication strategies, facilitative behaviors, interest-based problem solving skills, and most importantly, a collaborative approach to empowering students with disabilities, their families, and other advocates for the student to effectively navigate the IEP process.

Read the article from CADRE HERE.

THE APR SERIES, NETWORKING AND LEARNING COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES, WILL SERVE AS AVENUE TO SHARE EFFECTIVE PRACTICES, ENGAGE IN PROBLEM-SOLVING, AND LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER. These networking and learning communities are designed for special education personnel to collaborate and grow professionally. We look forward to connecting with you this year!

For more information: tinyurl.com/PennsylvaniaAPR

Register on the PaTTAN Training Calendar

NEW LOCATION! Join us this Fall for HELIX: High Expectations for Students with Low-Incidence Disabilities, in historic downtown Lancaster, PA! This year, our hybrid conference will take place at the Lancaster County Convention Center. See why hundreds of educators, administrators, family members, related service providers, and experts in the field participate in this extraordinary event each year, touted as "a wonderful experience and opportunity to...revitalize ourselves for the rest of the year!"

Join us in Hershey for the 2024 PDE Conference:

Making a Difference: Educational Practices That Work!

Hybrid event! Virtual participation is an option, but in-person attendance is encouraged to get the greatest benefit--meet renowned speakers, network with colleagues across the state, see poster sessions on successful strategies, displayed by PA schools and Intermediate Units, get information on the latest supports, services, and products from educational vendors; not to mention...the FUN and EXCITEMENT of being in Hershey!

The PA Bureau of Special Education and PaTTAN consultants, along with IU partners, will provide LEAs direct support, at a local level, in various areas of need, including family engagement. Types of support offered: Systemic, Critical, Emergent Short-Term, and Professional Development Customized Supports

Visit PaTTAN's - Customized Professional Development and Technical Assistance and Watch this short video

Our PaTTAN Family Engagement Team is available to assist you through your family engagement request process! Email us at familyengagementconnect@pattankop.net

If you found this family and community engagement newsletter to be helpful, please share it with colleagues and families in your school, district, IU, or agency. Thank you!