Partners for has produced a comprehensive tool to be used by all states to assess their current stakeholder engagement efforts and further develop their engagement strategies: A Handbook for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement:A Tool to Support State Education Agencies in Planning and Implementation of ESSA, and the companion brief, "In Consultation With..."The Case for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement.
ESSA presents new opportunities for shaping education policy by recasting the federal, state, and local roles in ensuring educational equity. Input and support from a broad and politically inclusive set of stakeholders is critical for advancing equity through the implementation of ESSA and its ultimate sustainability in states and districts across the country.
This Handbook is a tool to support SEAs as they design and put into place effective and meaningful Stakeholder Engagement Strategies throughout ESSA transition and implementation, and while this document has been written to support State Education Agencies, we hope that it will also be informative to all stakeholders. The Handbook also builds on key principles articulated in the U.S. Department of Education's (US ED) June 23, 2016 guidance letter on stakeholder engagement in ESSA transition and implementation, and shows how those guidelines can be put into practice through thoughtful engagement with stakeholders on Key Decision Points.
The Handbook is meant to complement the efforts of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and their publication “Let’s Get This Conversation Started,” which provides a set of guidelines for stakeholder engagement.