STEM Family Partnership & Empowerment Project (2024)

Does your out-of-school time (OST) program want to empower K-12 families in STEM? 

Learn how to effectively partner with parents and caregivers using the STEM Family Engagement Planning Tool/CARE Framework with the Institute for the Study of Resilience in Youth (ISRY) at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, thanks to support from a Cambiar Thrive Grant.

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.
Thank you for your interest!

Thank you to everyone who applied and to everyone who took an interest in our project!

Please stay tuned for further news on our selected participants and their exciting projects.

More about this project:

  • ISRY will select K-12 OST programs (10 programs total) to participate in STEM family engagement professional development, action planning, and learning community support.

  • Selected programs will receive $2,500 upon project completion.

  • Each program will commit two staff to participate in two virtual trainings (4 hours total) on February 1 (12pm to 2pm ET) and February 15 (12pm to 2pm ET) and monthly community check-ins (60min, March to June 2024).

  • Each program will launch one STEM event* in March 2023 that brings together families and practitioners using strategies/practices from the Planning Tool/CARE framework. (*The event is a “kick-off” or “starting point” for developing partnerships over time.)

  • Programs will implement a family engagement action plan that will help families support their children’s success in STEM (to be completed by June 2024).

  • Program staff and parents/caregivers will be asked to provide project-related feedback through surveys. Programs will also be encouraged to share stories and visual media for others to learn from (e.g., pictures, videos, artifacts from STEM activities).

If you have any questions about this project, please email Dr. Patty Allen at pallen@mclean.harvard.edu. Applications are due January 10, 2024. Selections will be made by January 12, 2024.

PROJECT DETAILS

Key Activities

  • Virtual Learning: Actively engage in two live and interactive virtual learning sessions to learn how to “CARE”–Connect, Act, Reflect, and Empower–for families of children engaged in STEM using the STEM Family Engagement Planning Tool.

  • Family Partnering: Host an event that intentionally brings parents/caregivers’ voices into conversations about vision and goals for STEM learning, and to learn families’ strengths, goals, interests, perceptions, and concerns related to their children’s STEM learning and development.

  • Team Building: Invite parents/caregivers as equal members of the family engagement leadership team/planning process and support their role as decision-makers in how the program can support families in STEM.

  • Action Planning: Co-create a STEM family engagement plan with families that provides parents/caregivers with meaningful and actionable information or resources that meet their needs and help them support their children’s STEM learning and development.

  • Solutioning: Act on the STEM family engagement plan, and invite parent/caregiver feedback on the information or resources provided to determine whether, and to what extent, the solution addresses the goals or concerns of parents/caregivers.

  • Peer Sharing: Engage in monthly community check-ins with peers from across the country to share lessons and receive support that will further advance family engagement goals.

  • Field Building: Provide ideas and feedback to improve the Planning Tool/CARE by having staff and families respond to surveys and share unique stories of family partnering and engagement.