Dr. Eyal Bergman recently released “The Engagement Advantage,” the culminating report of a rigorous multi-year, mixed-methods study on family engagement. In the first stage, the study found that schools with strong family engagement pre-pandemic experienced far smaller increases in chronic absence post-pandemic, even after controlling for poverty and other community characteristics. In the second stage, the study sought to understand why some schools outperform expectations when others in their same community do not – and this session will illuminate the distinguishing factors at Bright Spot Schools. The session will conclude with a listening session on participants’ experience with family engagement measurement. Their input will inform Stage 3, which aims to build a tool schools can use to measure and track the practices that distinguish Bright Spot Schools.