ESSA Stakeholder Engagement “Meeting in a Box”Cover Page Guidance

Purpose:This “Meeting in a Box” toolkit contains templates for state-level stakeholder engagement meeting materials around five topical working groups related to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA):

Accountability Assessment Educators and leader development The whole child School improvement

The meeting structure consists of a plenary opening, two successive breakout sessions during which all five topical working groups meet (so stakeholders can attend two topical groups of their choice) and a final plenary closing session. Facilitators lead each working group session, supported by a designated note-taker who records stakeholder feedback. States can take these templates and localize the content and structure for their own process and vision, including adjusting or adding to the five topical working groups. For more information about localizing this toolkit, click here.

How to use:Review each resource carefully. In Microsoft Word documents, any yellow highlighted areas flag a piece of information that the SEA must update before distributing to participants. In Microsoft PPT documents, areas in [brackets] flag a piece of information that the SEA must update before distributing to participants. This toolkit contains eight primary resource documents and two folders with more support materials, below is an explanation of each resource document and folder:

Individual Resources Overview:Resource File Name Description How to Use1. START HERE- Meeting in a

Box Guidance, ESSA Stakeholder Engagement

(This document) Read before beginning to learn how to use the templates and resources in the “Meeting in a Box”

2. ESSA Feedback Sessions Facilitator Training_TEMPLATE

Provides guidance and content for training the stakeholder feedback session facilitators to conduct their sessions

Prior to the stakeholder engagement meetings, use this PPT deck to facilitate a virtual training with the staff or volunteers who will facilitate and take notes during the topical stakeholder working group sessions

3. ESSA Stakeholder Session Slides_TEMPLATE

Presents agenda and guidance for the full stakeholder engagement meeting (includes slides for plenary opening and closing sessions)

Project and use this PPT deck for facilitating the plenary introductory session of the stakeholder engagement meeting (to orient participants to the agenda and basic ESSA facts) and to close the meeting

4. ESSA Stakeholder Sessions Facilitator Agenda & Guide_TEMPLATE

Contains a facilitator agenda for the full stakeholder engagement meeting and a sample guide for facilitating the topical working group

Distribute and go over with stakeholder working group session facilitators during their virtual training (see resource #2); facilitators should use this as a reference during the meeting to guide their working

Resource File Name Description How to Usebreakout session groups and remain oriented to the entire

flow of the meeting5. ESSA Stakeholder Sessions

Facilitator ESSA OverviewDescribes ESSA features and requirements in these areas: Stakeholder Engagement, Accountability System Design & Indicators, Reporting, School Improvement, Educators, Standards & Assessments, Funding & Other Issues

Distribute and go over with stakeholder working group session facilitators during their virtual training (see resource #2)—this resource will help ensure all facilitators have the same understanding of ESSA going into the stakeholder engagement meeting; SEA staff should also scan and update this resources according to USED ESSA regulatory changes

6. ESSA Stakeholder Sessions Technology Options (note-not a template)

Lists and describes several web-based technology solutions that facilitators could use to enhance engagement during the sessions (e.g., Poll Everywhere, Survey Monkey)

Review this document to consider where these web-based technologies could enhance or simplify the stakeholder engagement feedback process, for example, other states have used PollEverywhere at the beginning of working group sessions to gauge stakeholder familiarity with ESSA

7. ESSA Stakeholder Sessions Post-Meeting Feedback Memo_TEMPLATE

Contains prompts that encourage analysis and reflection of the stakeholder engagement sessions after the meeting

Members of your team responsible for collecting and synthesizing/analyzing the stakeholder feedback can use this template to summarize the takeaways from each working group and send those takeaways to other SEA team members

8. ESSA Stakeholder Sessions Public Flier_TEMPLATE

One-page flier template for public distribution providing details about the stakeholder engagement meeting

Localize this flier template to provide the date, time and location of all stakeholder engagement meetings you and your team will conduct in your state; fliers can then be distributed to local communities to build awareness about where/when stakeholder meetings will occur

Folder: Topical Breakout Session Materials

Materials for each breakout working group session by topic, these materials are:

A one-pager overview of ESSA’s features and requirements for the topic

A breakout session notes template for the session note-taker to record participant feedback by facilitation question (note-taker and then sends to session

Customize and distribute these materials to working group session facilitators before the meeting; facilitators will provide the one-pagers and exit tickets to stakeholders and the note-taking template to the designated Note-Taker for that working group session, being sure to collect any exit tickets after the session

Resource File Name Description How to Usefacilitator) click here

A template for exit tickets for participants to complete at the end of each breakout session

Folder: Logistical Items Contains a template sign-in sheet for the stakeholder engagement meeting and a checklist for SEA staff to track completion and collection of all meeting documents by location and date of each stakeholder engagement meeting

Set-out the sign-in sheet at the stakeholder engagement meetings to create a record of attendance to follow up with those stakeholders later; the SEA logistical lead for the meetings can use the notes tracker to internally confirm receipt of all notes, exit tickets, sign-in sheets, etc. from each stakeholder engagement meeting

Customizing for Your State’s ProcessPresident Obama signed ESSA into law in December 2015; since then, SEAs have embarked on different timelines for ESSA planning and implementation. Some states plan to submit their plans in early 2017 while others aim to submit for one of the official USED deadlines: April 3 or September 18, 2017. With these options for submission, states may find themselves engaging stakeholders in one of these three phases in their process:

1. Creating a New Vision: Especially for SEAs aiming to submit ESSA plans in September, they may still be in earlier, brainstorming phases of ESSA planning and therefore seek broad input to create a brand new state vision for public education;

2. Building Support for Existing Vision: Some SEAs may aim for an April (or earlier) ESSA submission deadline or might have recently engaged stakeholders to create a refreshed vision for public education (e.g., for a statewide strategic plan). These states will likely gather feedback on a draft ESSA plan or on how the ESSA plan can support an existing, stakeholder-vetted state vision for public education; or

3. Seeking Continuous Feedback: SEAs that solidified ESSA plans through prior stakeholder engagement will focus on following-up with stakeholders who have already weighed-in and look to establish permanent pathways for ongoing feedback

Depending on which phase your state is currently in, it will be important to customize the questions you pose to stakeholders to gather the appropriate level of detail and depth. For example:

1. States that are creating a new vision should pose broad, big-picture questions that probe stakeholder priorities and opinions that avoid getting “in the weeds” of policy details

2. States that are building support for their existing vision should pose questions that hone in more on the finer points of the policy details and possibly ask for pointed feedback on sections of a draft ESSA plan

3. States that are seeking continuous feedback should pose questions that build on stakeholders’ original feedback and focus on implementation of the ESSA plan

For a closer look at best practices at kicking-off ESSA stakeholder engagement, see this guide from CCSSO; for information on how to sustain stakeholder conversations, see this next generation of the CCSSO engagement guide.