Parent & Family Engagement
October 15-17, 2025
Statewide Conference
Waco, TX
Waco Convention Center
Conference Presenters
Dr. Adolph Brown
Dr. Adolph Brown aka "The World's Greatest Edu-tainer" (the name given to him by friend Doug E. Fresh - "The World's Greatest Entertainer,") is an internationally renowned credentialed master teacher, character education leader, servant leadership consultant, educational & clinical psychologist, author, researcher, entrepreneur, and an influential thinker/practitioner in the fields of education, human behavior, and neuroscience. He was once the youngest tenured full professor in our nation even after his extremely humble beginnings and being the first in his family of 5 to graduate from high school.
Head Start gave Dr. Brown his aptitude for learning and he continues to grow and learn to this very day. Dr. Brown is a graduate of the College of William & Mary with degrees in Psychology, Anthropology, and a minor in Education. He completed his graduate studies in clinical psychology at the College of William and Mary extension of the Virginia Consortium for Professional Psychology (Child & Family and Education tracks). He completed his residency at the Eastern Virginia Medical School.
He writes and teaches from a unique perspective of an experienced passionate & award-winning educator & research scientist, an innovative & effective business leader, and an engaging consultant. Dr. Brown has devoted his life’s mission to positive human development. Adolph loves to receive invitations to present any number of his vast array of master classes. He is not your typical “motivational speaker” or self-proclaimed “guru.” He educates, informs, challenges, and delights with some amusement and a little "show and tell.” Adolph customizes each masterclass or workshop for the audience with lots of audience participation, profound challenges, multiple takeaways, and BIG FUN!
Catch Dr. Brown and Ali Wentworth on their new television show “The Parent Test” on ABC primetime.
Dr. Karen Mapp
Karen L. Mapp, EdD, is a Professor of Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Over the past twenty-five years, her research and practice focus has been the cultivation of partnerships among families, community members and educators that support student achievement and school improvement. Dr. Mapp holds a Doctorate and Master’s of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a Master’s in Education from Southern Connecticut State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.
From 2008 to 2022, Dr. Mapp served as the Faculty Director of the HGSE Education, Policy and Manangement (EPM) Master's Program. She is a founding member of the District Leaders Network on Family and Community Engagement, and serves on the boards of the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) and The Hyams Foundation (Boston). From 2010 to 2023, she served as board member and six years as board chair of the Instutute for Educational Leadership (IEL).
From 2011 to 2013, Dr. Mapp served as a consultant on family and community engagement to the United States Department of Education (USDOE) in the Office of Innovation and Improvement where, in collaboration with the USDOE, she developed the first version of the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships.
Dr. Mapp joined the HGSE faculty in January of 2005 after serving for eighteen months as the Deputy Superintendent for Family and Community Engagement for the Boston Public Schools (BPS). While working with the BPS, she continued to fulfill her duties as president of the Institute for Responsive Education (IRE). She joined IRE in 1997 as Project Director, was appointed vice-president of IRE in May of 1998, and served as president from September 1998 to December 2004.
Dr. Mapp is the author and co-author of several articles and books about the role of families and community members in the work of student achievement and school improvement including: A New Wave Of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement (2002); Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships (2010); Debunking the Myth of the Hard to Reach Parent (2010); Title I and Parent Involvement: Lessons from the Past, Recommendations for the Future (2011); A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform (2011); Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships (2014); “From Private Citizens to Public Actors: The Development of Parent Leaders through Community Organizing” (2015); "Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success” (2017), Embracing a New Normal: Toward a More Liberatory Approach to Family Engagement (2021), and Everyone Wins!: The Evidence for Family-School Partnershiips and Implications for Practice (2022).
Dr. Steve Constantino
Leader, teacher, speaker and best-selling author Dr. Steve Constantino has a long and distinguished career in leadership and bringing innovation to educational and business organizations.
Dr. Constantino is internationally recognized for his work in family engagement and his innovative, non-conventional, entrepreneurial and outlier approaches to leading organizations and acquiring impressive results. As a master of the stage, he has captivated thousands of teachers, administrators, school board members and business people from the United States and around the world. His amazing keynote presentations and workshops have been featured in local, state, regional, national and international conferences. With the gifts of storytelling, humor and the knack for telling it like it is, Dr. Constantino is a much sought-after speaker and leadership consultant because he is the rare combination of someone who can both lead and teach others how to lead.
Dr. Constantino’s work quickly gained national prominence and soon he began traveling the United States speaking and working with all types of educators, school board members, and businesses to promote sound practices in the leadership of organizations and the leveraging of family engagement as an essential element in increased academic achievement for all students and workforce productivity for businesses.
As a result of his experiences and his practical approach to engaging families, Steve has authored five books on the subject. His first book, Making Your School Family Friendly (NASSP, 2002) was published after being selected by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the MetLife Foundation to create the first-ever family friendly schools national symposium, held in Washington DC.
His second book Engaging Every Family (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003) soon followed. This book expanded on the conceptual framework of the four domains of family engagement. In 2008, Steve released his third book 101 Ways to Create Real Family Engagement (Engage Press, 2008). Steve’s fourth book, released in 2016, is Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles and is published by Corwin Press. In September 2020, the new improved, second edition of Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles was released. Both editions of the book quickly became best sellers.
Steve began his career as a teacher and moved through the ranks to district superintendent. At the state level, Steve held positions as Chief Academic Officer and Acting State Superintendent. Today, Steve is an Executive Professor in the Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership Department at the William & Mary School of Education and continues to accept numerous invitations to speak and consult with schools, districts, states and business organizations around the world.
Patricia Weinzapfel
Patricia Weinzapfel brings a fresh, unique perspective to the intersection of family engagement and communication, built on two pillars: her role as a district leader and administrator in education, and her experience as a broadcast news journalist.
For 10 years, Patricia served as the Executive Director of Family Engagement and Community Schools for the third-largest school district in Indiana. In that role, she created and managed the district’s approach to partnering with families. She also helped direct the implementation of its Community School model by supporting and cultivating community partnerships. Patricia currently serves on the Indiana Statewide Family Engagement Advisory Committee and as Co-Chair of the Indiana Community School Network.
Before entering the field of education, Patricia spent 15 years working in television news. She holds two degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University: a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Social Psychology, and a Master of Science in Broadcast Journalism with a concentration in economic and business reporting..
Patricia is the author of the best-selling book Closing the Loop: A Powerful and Practical Guide to School-Home Communication. The book helps educators build relationships with families through effective school-home communication.
Patricia and her husband, Jonathan, have three children—Nathaniel and twins Benjamin and Eleanor—and are the parents of two rescue dogs, Archie and Addy.
Shanceler Terry & Maria Ovalle-Lopez
This dynamic session introduces new Parent-School Liaisons to their essential role in creating strong school-family partnerships. Participants will explore core responsibilities, relationship-building strategies, and practical tools for success while understanding the importance of maintaining professional boundaries and self-care.
This session emphasizes practical application, peer learning, and sustainable practices while building a supportive network among new liaisons. The interactive format ensures engagement while delivering crucial information for success in their role.
Dr. George and Lisa Otero
Born and raised in New Mexico, USA, Dr. George Otero is well known as an international consultant, social entrepreneur, and author. Otero has worked with a diverse body of clients throughout the USA, Australia, and the UK. George has spent his career insisting that positive relationships are the key to effective education, learning, and leadership. Relationships First are the result. He learned from thousands of conversations and social interactions that putting the relationship first in every aspect of personal and organizational life results in positive growth, joy, happiness, and success. These insights and practices apply to everyone. He discovered how play, games, story, dialog, art (music, dance, food), and ceremony were ways of relating that could empower participants of any age or stage to intentionally create the way they were relating. More recently in his work with hundreds of organizations, schools communities, and thousands of individuals, he has been highly successful in helping individuals, teams and social systems put relationships first in all they do; transforming sense of self, organizational culture, and strengthening community. Learning how to be relational first has led in every case to greater equity, inclusion, social justice, and organizational and personal alignment. His work is designed for each client and tailored to their specific relational needs.
Lisa Otero works as a private educational consultant and Associate at the Center for RelationaLearning in Northern New Mexico. She just retired from serving as the Principal of Many Nations Academy in Portland, Oregon. Many Nations Academy is the only culturally specific, Native American focused high school in Portland, OR. As an educator for over 32 years, Lisa has developed an educational philosophy that is rooted in “Relationships First”, culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies, healing-centered engagement and leadership presence.
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