PRIORITY NOTICE: Upcoming Opportunities to Strengthen Family Engagement Practices; Informational Session on June 3

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Office of School and Student Supports is pleased to announce two upcoming opportunities for schools, school administrative units, and/or individual educators to strengthen their family engagement practices.

Please share the following information with your appropriate networks to ensure all who are interested are able to participate! These opportunities are free, grounded in research, and designed to benefit entire learning communities.

2025-2026 Family, School, and Community Engagement Community of Practice

The first opportunity is a free community of practice for teams of Maine educators, designed to strengthen family, school, and community partnerships across Maine’s pre-K-12 education system. A virtual informational session will be held on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, at 1 p.m. Please register for that session here. 

Research has shown that family and community engagement are associated with improved outcomes in student achievement, attendance, school climate, and staff retention. This learning series will be facilitated by the Consortium for Engaging Families Across Maine (CEFAM). Participants will learn how to implement research-based, developmentally appropriate family engagement strategies. By the end of the series, participating schools will have: 

1. A foundational understanding of evidence-based family, school, and community engagement strategies;
2. Improved skills to analyze and apply data for informed engagement efforts; and
3. A concrete family engagement action plan tailored to their school community. 

At the June 3 informational session, participants will learn about the structure of this community of practice, as well as goals and expectations to earn a team stipend. There will also be an opportunity for participants to ask questions. Additional dates to add to the calendar include:

• August 5 or 6, 2025 (time TBD) – Session at the Maine DOE Annual Summit
• October 9 or 10, 2025 (time TBD) – Fall Virtual Check-In Meeting
• January 15 or 16, 2026 (time TBD) – Winter Virtual Check-In Meeting
• March 12 or 13, 2026 (time TBD) – Spring Final Celebration

This opportunity will ensure that schools are moving from planning to actions that foster meaningful, sustainable engagement to benefit all students. Here is a flyer about this opportunity (PDF). For more information, you may email info@maec.org.
 
Reframing Academy

The second opportunity is a free series of virtual modules, delivered by national experts at the National Association for Family and School Community Engagement (NAFSCE). NAFSCE’s Reframing Academy leads learners through ten virtual modules, which break down the problems that stand in the way of communicating effectively about family engagement and identify research-backed strategies to solve those problems and change the way in which people think about family engagement.
 
In the first session, slated for August 7, 2025, participants will gain access to the course materials and receive a copy of the course learning journal. The facilitator will also provide insights into the course development and structure. Between sessions, participants will complete designated Academy modules, and the three subsequent sessions will focus on thoughtful discussions of the Academy content in a structured and meaningful way. The schedule is as follows:

• August 7, 2025 at 3 p.m. – Learning Block 1
• August 21, 2025 at 3 p.m. – Learning Block 2
• September 11, 2025 at 3 p.m. – Learning Block 3
• September 25, 2025 at 3 p.m. – Learning Block 4

Participation is free, and participants from Maine who complete the course activities and attend all course sessions may be eligible for contact hours. All participants who complete the Academy modules may earn a certificate of completion. Please register for this opportunity here.

For more information, you may email Laurie Ascoli at ascolil@nafsce.org.

More About CEFAM

These opportunities are available in Maine thanks to a five-year Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program grant. CEFAM was established by the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC). The Maine DOE has been collaborating with MAEC since the start of this grant in late 2021.

SFEC grants provide financial support to organizations that offer technical assistance and training to state educational agencies in the implementation and enhancement of systemic and effective family engagement policies, programs, and activities. To learn more about this work in Maine, please refer to a previous priority notice from December.