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Parent Engagement: One School’s Story

Parent Engagement: One School’s Story. Parent and Community Involvement at Carpenters Middle Terri Bradshaw and Mike Crabtree. Our Essential Questions. What do we know about parent engagement in secondary schools? What have been our failures? Why fail?

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Parent Engagement: One School’s Story

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  1. Parent Engagement: One School’s Story Parent and Community Involvement at Carpenters Middle Terri Bradshaw and Mike Crabtree

  2. Our Essential Questions • What do we know about parent engagement in secondary schools? • What have been our failures? Why fail? • What have we learned? What is our approach? What are the five areas of parent engagement we use as a guide? • What are our successes?

  3. What We Know • Increases student achievement • Improves attendance • Reduces dropout rate • Improves social skills and behavior

  4. What We Know • Parent involvement progressively declines during the elementary school years • By middle school, parent involvement is significantly reduced by 50 percent

  5. Traditional parent meetings, teas, breakfast • PTSO WHY?? What have been our failures? • Minimal opportunities • Poor communication • Parents think children don’t want them involved • Time and job pressures

  6. What We Have Learned • Blend the effort of all stakeholders – teachers, students, parents, and community • Set the goal of emphasizing the breadth of literacy skills in all aspects of learning • Reach across the usual lines of curricular areas • Extend the opportunities for parental involvement • Allow students to apply authentic, meaningful use of knowledge • Broaden the involvement of the community

  7. How We Built Our Plan • Communicating • Fostering effective channels and methods of communication to meaningfully engage parents • Volunteering • Recruiting or organizing parents to support school activities, both internal and external • Decision making • Empowering parents as advocates on decision-making committees or programs

  8. How We Built Our Plan • Collaborating with the community • Effectively coordinating resources and services for the community and /or implementing creative parent outreach strategies • Learning • Organizing and coordinating activities to showcase student work and involve all stakeholders in conversation about learning

  9. Communicating: Reach parents where they are Parents of middle school students are: • On the internet • In the car

  10. 2. Volunteering • 46 Cougar Volunteers • Office • Copying • Library • Friday Activity Day • After school events • Guest Speakers

  11. 3. Decision MakingTitle I Leadership Team & Parent Advisory Council

  12. 4. Collaborating Technology Open House Reading Rocks Adopt-a-School Carpenters Day Cougar Book Rescue Community Services Open House

  13. 5. Learning Organizing and coordinating activities to showcase student work Involve all stakeholders in conversation about learning Cougar Coffeehouse Student-Led Conferences Reading Rocks Movie Premiers Related Arts Showcase World Book Night Local History Extravaganza Cougar Drive-In Books of Hope

  14. Sixth Grade Event Students share learning with family End of first nine weeks Attendance: 2013 – 249 parents 2012 – 172 parents Student-Led Conferences “I was standing at the end of the hallway, and I looked up and saw the entire hallway filled with parents. It’s a fantastic way to have parents engaged in how their student is doing.”

  15. Books of Hope:Combining literacy skills with community service “Iput in a lot of work to make it perfect for a little kid, who may not own a book.” - A seventh-grade girl • Seventh Grade Event • Parent Night: • Books on display • Students read their books • 2014 – 126 family members “My book is about adventure, kids, and magical powers. I want the person who reads my book to know that even little things can become an adventure.” - a seventh-grade boy “It’s a remarkable story. She sounded it off me, and I love it. I’ve never seen her write a story.” - A parent

  16. Cougar Coffeehouse:An evening of poetry sharing • Eighth Grade Event (started in 2001) • Student-led: decorate, entertain (music), serve, read poetry • On average 45-50 students share their poetry • 2014 – 218 family members “I liked the performance nature of the Coffeehouse and getting to work together.”

  17. Movie Premiers:The Hunger Games &Catching Fire “I connected with the novel. The movie adaptation was the best.” • Purchase tickets for the first afternoon show on “premier day.” • Sell at school • Sell out theater (205 seats) “It’s something we can do together. We’ll be talking about it [the movie] for a while.”

  18. “…when parents are involved in school, children go farther in school and the schools they go to are better."  - Anne Henderson and Nancy Berla

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