On The Same Team with Ari Gerzon-Kessler — How to Bring Educators & Underrepresented Families Together

For this episode, it was a pleasure to speak with Ari Gerzon-Kessler about the critical topic of authentic family engagement. Ari leads the Family Partnerships department for the Boulder Valley School District (CO) and is an educational consultant working with schools and districts committed to forging stronger school-family partnerships.He’s author of On The Same Team: Bringing Educators & Underrepresented Families Together, which was just named the Independent Publishers Book Award 2024 IPPY Gold Medal for the best education bookThe conversation covers:Do educators and parents feel like we’re on the same team?Defining what we mean by “underrepresented families”The difference between “family involvement” and authentic partnerships4 Pillars of Authentic Partnerships How to design Families and Educators Together Teams (FETs)The goals of FETs and the problems they preventCapacity-building for educatorsLearn about Ari’s book and get free reproducibles here: https://www.solutiontree.com/on-the-same-team.htmlAccess Ari''s free resources HERE. Learn more about bridging the gap between educators and families on Ari's webpage. Read Ari’s recent articles on Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/article/parent-teacher-conference-tips About today’s guestAri Gerzon-Kessler is author of On The Same Team: Bringing Educators & Underrepresented Families Together, which won the Independent Publishers Book Award 2024 IPPY Gold Medal for the best education book.  He leads the Family Partnerships department for the Boulder Valley School District (CO) and is a speaker, trainer, and coach working with schools and districts committed to forging stronger school-family partnerships. Ari has been an educator since 2000, having served as a principal and bilingual teacher. His leadership efforts to strengthen partnerships with underrepresented families and dismantle unjust practices was featured in Education Week in 2015. Ari regularly presents at national and international conferences on Families and Educators Together (FET) teams and other innovative family partnership best practices. He received his bachelor’s in African American Studies from Wesleyan University and a master’s in instruction and curriculum from the University of Colorado. Connect with him on LinkedIn. About the hostRoss Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossromano I also host Sideline Sessions, a podcast for coaches and parents of student-athletes. The show features conversations with coaches and performance experts in the NFL, NBA, NCAA, Olympics, and more. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3Rp0QGt