Beyond Family Learning Nights

1. Beyond Family Learning Nights Grade-level Parent Meetings

2. Grade-level Parent Meetings are a great way to build meaningful relationships with families. The meetings are a way to: Welcome families’ presence, participation in learning, and questions. Honor families’ desire to help children succeed. Connect families to classroom activities and data, school staff, and each other.

3. What the research says: Parents need specific information about how to help their children, including what to do at home to support their children’s academic achievement. There is a strong correlation between family engagement and student achievement. When schools offer specific programs and practices to guide parents, more families become engaged in their children’s education in meaningful ways.

4. What is a grade-level parent meeting? Replace the text in this notepad by clicking on the text box is on top of the paper. Move any items where you want. Rotate it by clicking on any item and grabbing the green circle on the edge of the item, drag it in a circle to change the angle. Parents meet in “grade-level teams” to learn about curriculum, content standards, and classroom practices. Parents are taught specific strategies and activities to engage in with their children at home. If you don’t want an object to animate. Go to the animations tab at the top. Click on Animation Pane, top right. Find the object in the animation pane to the right. Select object from animation pane and delete. Be sure not to select the object in your page layout or it will be deleted.

5. Grade-level Parent Meetings benefit families AND teachers They offer an opportunity for parents and teachers to become true partners in children’s learning. • Parents get: • a deeper understanding of learning goals and classroom data • practical guidelines, tools and activities to use at home to help their children • a collaborative interactive forum to learn, discuss, and engage with one another and with staff These meetings help parents and teachers connect as a supportive community focused on the academic achievement of children.

6. All About Grade-Level Parent Meetings(Click on a topic to learn more) What is the structure of a grade-level parent meeting? How is the content of a grade-level parent meeting planned? How can the meeting be planned for maximum family engagement? Ideas for middle and high schools

7. What is the structure of a grade-level parent meeting? Back to main Parents gather as a whole group to learn the meeting’s purpose. Parents may split into small groups and rotate through classrooms to learn specific information about the evening’s topic or topics. These may include standards, curriculum, and classroom teaching practices. Parents participate in a student activity in each classroom. They are taught specific strategies and activities to do with their children at home. Parents are invited to ask questions. They complete a survey and take home interactive resources to support the strategies and activities they were taught to do with their children at home.

8. How is the content of a grade-level parent meeting planned? Back to main Content is planned around student needs. Guiding questions can help you decide what the focus of each meeting should be. What role can parents play? What key concepts do children have to master at this grade level? What challenges must the school address to help families be successful with the learning activities? What information and resources do parents need in order to carry out the learning activities at home? What school and community resources are available to families?

9. How can the meeting be planned for maximum family engagement? Back to main • Let parents know at least a month in advance, with weekly reminders. • Use technology: • phone (voice and texts) • e-mails • Twitter • website • school-parent newsletter Make the invitations personal --- from the child and the teacher. One teacher e-mailed a photograph of her class holding a “Please Come!” poster. Another teacher asked students to decorate paper invitations. • Emphasize parent empowerment. • How can the meetings be structured so that parents get opportunities to ask questions, give feedback, and swap ideas? • How can ideas, strategies and take-home materials to support children’s learning be given to parents who could not attend?

10. Ideas for middle and high schools Back to main Use meetings to target outreach to underrepresented families or families of at-risk students. Ask teacher teams from a house/pod or a subject area to target specific learning goals that families can help achieve. Appoint a personal staff contact for each parent. Teach parents how to use new technology and online resources. Connect learning goals to career and post-high school education planning. Record the meetings and post online materials for parents unable to attend. Break parents into small groups for networking and discussion.

11. Resources If you have questions or would like to share a best practice used by your school, please contact: How to Build a Better Parent-Teacher Night: http://www.teachingforchange.org/how-to-build-a-better-parent-teacher-night • Ruth Anne Landsverk • Family-School-Community Partnerships Coordinator • DPI Title I Team(608) 266-9757ruthanne.landsverk@dpi.wi.gov • Wisconsin Department of Public InstructionP.O. Box 7841Madison, WI 53707-7841