Reflecting on Our First Two Years

About Us
Written By Michael Andrews

In September 2023, the Coaction Collective celebrated its second anniversary! It’s been two years of partnering with school districts, collaborating with families, and teaming up with educators to strengthen bonds between communities. 

Five people smiling during a video web meeting.

Our first team photo, taken September 3, 2021.

We have traveled nationwide — facilitating trainings, coaching district staff, organizing summits, and presenting at national conferences. 

Our work took us to Dallas, where we coached family engagement staff, and Philadelphia, where we presented on the power of community listening at The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL)’s national conference.

“Based on what we learned from listening to Dallas Independent School District (ISD) educators, we customized a three-day family engagement retreat and professional development series. Over the three days, I got to experience first-hand the warm and welcoming culture that the team has cultivated, both amongst themselves with the schools and families they serve. The retreat was full of laughs, creativity and growth.”
— Justin Stephens

“I really enjoyed working a 3-day retreat with the Family Engagement team at Dallas Independent School District. The educators were so passionate and came to the retreat every day with so much energy and love for each other and their community.”
— Mike Andrews

We conducted a listening tour in Rapid City, South Dakota, to inform new strategies to support the 21st Century Out of School Time team at the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative (BHSSC). 

“During the two years we’ve worked with the BHSSC, we’ve made some dear friends. Every time I go to South Dakota I come away with the certainty that the BHSSC team has an impact on their community and I appreciate all the ways they leverage their influence on the family engagement community on the national scale. If you want to learn some new best practices, particularly for rural family engagement, visit the BHSSC team in South Dakota.”
— Diana Suarez

In Washington, DC, we facilitated professional development for school and district staff, and in Charlotte, North Carolina, we had our first Coaction Collective retreat.

“Getting together in person with the whole team is hard so I super appreciate the last time we did. Hanging at our rental by the bonfire debriefing our day and dreaming about our future, taking group runs in the mornings, and just seeing the faces of each person on our team for morning coffee was like medicine for my soul.”
— Kyle Evans 

Man and woman in front of wall that says KC Loves Teachers

We ventured to Kansas City, Missouri, where we trained a new cohort of school leaders on family engagement strategies, and Chicago, where we facilitated a retreat for KIPP school leaders.

“I had the opportunity to celebrate my birthday while Mike and I were in Chicago. Our session participants included family and community engagement experts from around the country. That day, we had an awesome conversation focused on co-designing the future of family and community engagement with families and students. After the session our participants joined us for a lovely evening of dinner, celebration, and some karaoke. Mike Andrews singing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in front of an enthusiastic Chicago crowd was hilarious and filled my birthday cup.”
— Diana Suarez

We have supported districts, state education agencies, nonprofits, and corporations in transforming their approaches to engaging educators and families.

Other highlights from year two included:

  • Creating a NEW statewide family engagement micro-credential
    In New Mexico, Coaction Collective gathered feedback from educators and school leaders around the state to support the development of a new Family Engagement micro-credential.

  • Designing and leading a Regional Family & Community Engagement Summit
    The event brought together educators and community leaders from across the Albuquerque area to collaborate on their approach to family, school, and community partnerships. 

  • Launching Amazon Future Engineer’s Teacher Ambassador Fellowship
    After gathering information from computer science teachers, resource creators, and school leaders, the Coaction Collective designed and launched Amazon’s Future Engineer Teacher Fellowship to support teachers in utilizing computer science curriculum and resources in their classrooms.

“One of my favorite moments this year was launching the Amazon Future Engineer’s Teacher Ambassador program with an in-person convening in Seattle. It felt incredible and empowering to have a vision for this program, then recruit and select teachers, and finally bring them together. The teachers repeatedly told us how special it was and it was a cherry on top to be in-person with Diana and Mike for a few days.”
— Megan Lucas

We are so grateful for all we accomplished together this year, and we can’t wait to see what year three brings!

Michael Andrews https://www.ideaofmanhood.com
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