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San Bernardino school district credits higher family survey participation and workshops with rising student outcomes
Summary
District officials presented a detailed family engagement report showing a 32.6% Panorama family survey participation rate and described Family University workshops, a volunteer dashboard, parent guides and a superintendent parent advisory council that the district says is informing policy and correlating with test-score gains.
The San Bernardino City Unified School District on Wednesday laid out a multi-year strategy to treat family engagement as a system, not a series of events, and showed early indicators the approach is linked to improved student performance.
Dr. Beatrice Gonzalez, director of family and community engagement, told the board the work is grounded in the Dual Capacity Framework and aims to build parents’ and educators’ shared skills and systems to support achievement. "When families are engaged, we see real academic impact," she said.
The district highlighted four measurable tools: the Panorama family survey, an in-house family engagement dashboard, the Raptor volunteer tracker and qualitative input from the Superintendent Parent Advisory Council (SPAC). Program specialist Gina Perez said the district’s Panorama family survey achieved 32.6% participation — "the highest in the country," she said — and flagged improvements in customer service and understanding of Title I programs.
Family University, a suite of workshops the district runs, recorded 6,118 participants this year, including 2,601 in computer-literacy classes, and officials said they track parent attendance using student IDs. Manager Victor Hernandez described an analysis that links frequent parent workshop attendance to gains on NWEA and state assessments: staff match workshop sign-ins to student IDs and compare growth bands in reading and math in Unified Insights.
Board members pressed for methodology details and disaggregated data. "Do you have what the response is at the elementary level versus the secondary level?" one board member asked; staff replied they maintain that breakdown and will provide it.
The presentation also previewed parent-facing materials. Elementary and secondary "parent guides" aligned to classroom curricula are slated for an August 2026 rollout in English and Spanish through the student portal and schools, said Sheena Kane and Cynthia Zavala. The guides are unit-based, include essential skills and at-home activities, and emphasize local field-trip suggestions to make learning concrete for families.
SPAC leaders and staff described efforts to convert "street data" — parent feedback gathered in monthly SPAC meetings — into operational changes. Examples: parent AI workshops that introduced tools such as Gemini and ChatGPT, adjustments at the district Welcome Center (added seating, plants, elevator fixes), and a parent-crafted "How to Make Things Go Right" brochure that lays out steps for raising school concerns.
Michelle McNeel reported the district has more than 10,000 volunteers enrolled in Raptor and that Family Engagement provides onboarding and training for site-level volunteer coordination. Staff said many workshops are recorded or offered in hybrid format; officials said they are working to expand recordings and online access.
Why it matters: District leaders said the family-engagement program is a strategic lever for equity and achievement, not merely a set of activities. They emphasized that bringing parents into planning — and converting their feedback into visible changes — improves trust and helps align supports with classroom instruction.
The board asked for follow-ups on several points: a disaggregated Panorama report (elementary vs. secondary and subgroup participation), a written explanation of the district’s methodology linking workshops to test results, and targets for increasing Panorama participation next year. Staff agreed to provide the requested data in a forthcoming report to the board.
Next steps: Staff will share disaggregated survey results and a written methodology for the Family University–outcomes correlation. The district plans a public roll-out of the parent guides in August 2026 and to make more workshop content available virtually.
Ending: The presentation drew repeated praise from board members and parent leaders, who emphasized that the district’s strategy of centering parent voice and tracking concrete measures has begun to produce measurable and anecdotal results for students.
