The WASFEC team includes Director Timothy Speth and multiple key leadership staff members from Education Northwest as well as representatives from each partner organization. The advisory board, with over 51 percent representation from families, statewide organizations, and community-based agencies, plays a critical role in informing and guiding our work.
Education Northwest
The benefits of meaningful family engagement are well documented. Through the Washington Statewide Family Engagement Center, we hope to build a system where family engagement is seen as essential in supporting the overall well-being and success of students, families, and educators alike.
Tim Speth, Co-Director
When families and educators work together, students thrive. Trusting relationships are at the core of any meaningful family, school, and community partnership. It is my hope that the Washington Statewide Family Engagement Center can work with systems to create the conditions necessary for impactful partnership that centers equity and families’ funds of knowledge.
Ashley Sheppard, Co-Director
Equitable collaborations between families and educators are essential to fostering racial justice in schools. To me, family engagement means honoring families’ expertise and funds of knowledge, sharing power, and building solidarities to enact policies and practices that advance racial justice and community well-being.
Mary Padden, Asset Mapping & Content Expert
Building strong and enduring family and community relationships is critical not only to student academic success but supports the whole child in a holistic way and fosters authentic sharing of decision-making and power within a school system. When we are able to recognize, value, and leverage the assets and ways of being that students and families bring to school, we disrupt and positively impact systems to benefit everyone.
Jennifer Johnson Content Expert
Family engagement is essential for providing students with school experiences that are welcoming, relevant, and focused on preparing them to be life-long learners. Authentic family engagement means valuing families as an expert in their children’s learning needs. It means establishing school-family collaborations that value shared decision making and incorporating the expertise of families, educators, and community members to promote equity and excellence in education for each student. Family engagement means schools working alongside families to ensure each student experiences school as welcoming, engaging, and supportive of their academic, social, and emotional learning.
Vicki Nishioka, Board Liaison & Content Expert
Community Center for Education Results (CCER)
Carlina Brown-Banks, Senior Director of Antiracist Engagement
All my work is about centering and being in the right relationship with the community. Right relationship: mutual love and respect. Awareness and understanding of expectations. Clear communication. Solidified agreement. Trusting all contributing parties to follow through. Believing in each other’s value and capabilities.
Tiesha Clark, Director of Community and Family Engagement
Roots of Inclusion
Family and community engagement in school centers the creation of equitable partnerships and a collective commitment to promoting an environment of belonging that allows every child to reach their full human potential.
Sarah Butcher, Co-Founder and Director
Jennifer Karls, Co-Founder and Director
Washington Family Engagement
Family engagement in education is not a program that comes and goes, but an integral part of public education and the day-to-day business of a school with a direct impact on student outcomes. When students see their families and their teachers and principals working respectfully in partnership, they feel safe, supported, and guided through their educational journey and therefore do better in life.
Adie Simmons, Executive Director and Founder
Family engagement is about recognizing that families are the experts. It's about valuing the entire family's contributions to their children's lives and education. It's about learning together, in partnership with families.
Vesla Tonnessen, Operations Director
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Authentic family engagement is an opportunity for our schools and communities to unite, share knowledge and resources, and collaborate in ways that empower the educators and families who support our students. I’m passionate about and committed to creating equitable systems that ensure a culture of belonging and reinforce our collective support.