A practical, interactive companion to CEI's story, framework, and two-year Learning Journey, built for LEAs, county offices of education, and community partners building authentic partnerships across California.
Part of the California Statewide System of Support
Across California, there's growing agreement on something easy to say and hard to do: students do better when schools and communities work as true partners. Yet for many years, community engagement has been treated as a requirement rather than a practice. Meetings are held, input is collected, and plans are written, while many students, families, and community members still feel unheard or invited too late to shape real decisions.
That gap is exactly what the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) was created to address. CEI brings together students, families/caregivers/guardians, educators, district and county leaders, and community partners to build the relationships, skills, and structures needed to engage more relationally, more inclusively, and more connected to student learning and well-being.
"CEI is not a one-off program or a short-term campaign. It has grown into a statewide learning community."
Build the conditions for meaningful, inclusive, and effective community engagement across California's education systems, grounded in the belief that communities bring valuable racial, cultural, linguistic, and lived-experience assets that are essential, not "extra," to designing schools that truly serve students.
Policies like the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) were designed to elevate the voice of educational partners. But as they were implemented statewide, a persistent gap became clear: many LEAs lacked the structures, shared language, and trust-based relationships needed to engage communities meaningfully.
Engagement often became compliance driven. Meetings were held and feedback was collected, but decisions had already been made. For students and families, particularly from historically marginalized communities, this reinforced a sense of exclusion: voice was invited, but power was rarely shared.
Without these conditions, even well-intentioned efforts can unintentionally cause harm, reinforce mistrust, or silence voices that already struggle to be heard.
CEI began by bringing together professional learning networks focused on improving local student outcomes and community engagement, prompted by an assessment of LCAP engagement practices across the state. This first phase established the peer learning model that still defines the work.
CEI 2.0 expanded the work, deliverables, and scope of the initiative, extending its operational timeline through the end of the 2028-29 school year. The second phase deepened the emphasis on leadership, capacity-building, and alignment across California's Statewide System of Support.
CEI 2.0 is co-led by a statewide partnership that brings expertise in education improvement, research, and community-centered design:
A defining feature of CEI is its peer-led learning model. Experienced participants, known as CEI alumni facilitators or PLLX (Peer Leading and Learning Exchange), support learning spaces and mentor teams applying the work locally. Capacity is best built through relationships and shared learning, not top-down mandates.
"Authentic partnerships between students, families/caregivers/guardians, schools, and communities grounded in equity, built on trust, and nurturing relationships that lead to positive student outcomes."
Goes beyond listening sessions or feedback collection. Community members have real opportunities to influence priorities, decisions, and solutions.
Recognizes that not all communities start from the same place; engagement must address power, access, language, and historical exclusion.
Engagement happens early, consistently, and with transparency, not only when decisions are underway.
Directly connected to learning and well-being, not treated as a separate effort.
to student learning and wellbeing
relationships built on consistency and transparency
problem-solving across all partners
and participatory engagement, not passive input
The CEI Framework brings together multiple research-informed approaches to community partnership and systems change. Choose a layer, then a strategy, to explore how each part works.
Dual Capacity-Building Framework (Dr. Karen Mapp). Effective family-school partnerships require capacity-building on both sides, supported by relational trust, shared responsibility, and systemic supports.
Participatory Systems Change for Equity (WestEd and the California Center for School Climate). This approach centers community experience, addresses root causes, and engages those most impacted by inequity as co-designers.
Trust takes time. The Learning Journey is a two-year, session-based structure: flexible enough to adapt locally, consistent enough to keep teams aligned. Students travel the same journey as their adult teammates, with sessions designed for student leadership at every stage.
This is only the beginning. Part 1 introduces CEI's core concepts. Watch for Parts 2 and 3 of the Field Guide for a deeper dive into existing and future projects to expand community engagement across California.