What is the research saying about community engagement?: Check out open access teaching cases until Dec. 13th

by, Kristen C. Wilcox

I have served on the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership (JCEL) Editorial Team for the past few years and appreciate the practical contributions the journal makes. The articles offer what are called “teaching cases” meant to be used to promote discussion and learning around a wide variety of education topics.

Each case includes activities and discussion starters that school board members, leaders, teachers, parents, and community members can use to examine their beliefs, learn about related research, and craft school or district plans, among other documents, to address different issues of import.

A few years ago I shared a case from NYKids research based on NYKids COVID-19 Pandemic Study. I highlighted some of the lessons learned about research-practice partnerships and the use of improvement science in supporting school adaptations and innovations.

In the most recent JCEL themed Special Collection titled, “Community Engagement” I was delighted to see some topics NYKids is currently exploring in our study of persistent and positive outlier studies.

As NYKids research has found, community engagement looks different in different school settings. Yet, we have found that community engagement is consistently a top priority in persistent and emergent positive outlier schools and when done purposefully reaps many benefits for youth, family members, and educators alike.

In the JCEL special collection, one article I highly recommend checking out – entitled “Cultural Proficiency: The Necessary Link to Family Engagement” invites readers to examine family engagement strategies using a “cultural proficiency” framework. This includes examining family engagement through the lenses of:

• Caring
• Culture
• Community
• Connectedness
• Collective responsibility
• Courageous engagement

This teaching case along with others in the special collection may be useful resources for leaders and educators who are focusing some of their attention on improving family engagement efforts. Check out these publicly available teaching cases for free on the JCEL homepage:

Make sure to click on the “articles” link and enjoy!

Thank you for your interest in NYKids’ research. Full case studies from our latest study are available on our website and stay tuned for our cross-case report to come in the next few weeks!

Reach out to us at nykids@albany.edu or follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!