Family Engagement: From Expected to Effective

1. Family Engagement:From Expected to Effective June 27, 2014 Anne T. Henderson Annenberg Institute for School Reform AnneTHenderson1@yahoo.com @laspdg www.laspdg.org

2. LaSPDG • Louisiana State Personnel Development Grant • Federally funded through IDEA • Support improved outcomes for students with disabilities through personnel development • Funded in 2011 for 5 years • Project staff housed at LSU • Collaborate with LDOE

3. LaSPDG • Four Focus Areas: • Data-Based Decision Making • Inclusive Practices • Family Engagement • Culturally Responsive Practices

4. www.laspdg.org • Resources include FREE tools, webinars, and articles

5. Additional SPDG Questions? Contact Melanie Lemoine lemoinem@lsu.edu The contents of this PowerPoint presentation were developed under a grant from the US Department of Education, #H323A110003. However those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

6. People First Language “People First Language puts the person before the disability and describes what a person has, not who a person is.” Kathie Snow. (n.d.) A few words about People First Language. Disability is Natural. Retrieved August 1, 2012 from http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/images/PDF/pfl-sh09.pdf

7. Beyond the Bake Sale At this time, please write your name on the inside cover of your book. We will need it for an activity today.

8. Today’s Agenda • Tap into your knowledge and experience • Learn about new research on engaging families to improve student achievement • Discuss high-impact strategies for engaging families in improving student learning • Assess your practices of family engagement • Redesign your activities for families

9. Why Does This Matter?

10. Icebreaker What do we know about engaging families?

11. Is there a Link between Family-School Partnerships and Student Achievement?

12. A New Wave of Evidence: Family Engagement Has a Powerful Impact on Student Achievement By Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp www.sedl.org/connections

13. If Parents are Engaged, Students from All Backgrounds Tend To: • Earn higher grades and test scores • Enroll in higher-level programs • Be promoted and earn credits • Adapt well to school and attend regularly • Have better social skills and behavior • Graduate and go on to higher education

14. Overall Finding: When families are engaged at home and at school: -- Children do better in school and -- Schools get better, all the way through high school.

15. School Practices are KEY The strongest, most consistent predictors of whether parents are involved at home and school are the specific school programs and teacher practices that encourage and guide parents to become involved. Dr. Joyce Epstein Johns Hopkins University

16. News Flash Important new studies reveal high-impact strategies

17. Organizing Schools for Improvement • Long-term study of Chicago schools found five essential supports for school improvement • Without all five, schools were substantially less likely to make gains. • The presence of strong family and community ties made it much more likely that students would make significant math and reading gains. Anthony S. Bryk et al, (2010) Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)

18. Organizing Schools for Improvement

19. What did they measure? • Teachers’ties to community: Understand local issues, spend time in community, use local resources. • Teacheroutreach to parents: Invite parents to observe in class, try to understand parents' concerns, and embrace parents as partners • Parentresponse: Become involved in school activities and respond to teacher concerns about schoolwork. Anthony S. Bryk et al, (2010) Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)

20. How Likely Is Major Improvement, Given Weak or Strong Supports Reading 50% 47% 45% 43% 45% 40% 40% 36% 35% 30% Weak Percentage of Schools that Substantially Improved in Reading 25% Strong 20% 16% 15% 11% 10% 10% 9% 10% 5% 0% School Work Safety & Curriculum Parent Leadership Involvement Orientation Order Alignment

21. Achievement for All / 3As • Program focus is raising achievement for UK students with special needs, ES-HS • Four pieces: Leadership, Instruction, Wider Outcomes, and Conversations • Linchpin of program: Structured Conversations between teachers and parents Establish new Learning Behaviors Share Strategies Focus on Skills Welcome families Develop a plan

22. Gains of Students With Disabilities in AfA • Humphrey and Squires (2011) Achievement for All National Evaluation: Final Report. London: Department for Education https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-RR176

23. Impact of Teacher Outreach Strategies Students’ reading and math scores improved 40-50% faster when teachers: • met with families face-to-face • sent materials on ways to help their child at home • telephoned routinely about progress Westat and Policy Studies Associates, 2001

24. School-Family Partnership: Secondary School • Sharing high expectations for success with advisor and team • Planning for future education • Knowledge of courses and classes • Monitoring progress • Helping students prepare for university / post-secondary education Ascher and Maguire, Beating the Odds, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, 2009

25. What Creates Strong Ties with Families?

26. Learning Conversations Aligned to School Improvement Plan

27. Why Conversations about Learning? • Parents and teachers become partners in improving achievement • Drilling down to grade level allows focus on specific skills in Common Core • Explaining Common Core standards helps everyone understand them better • Ideas that come up will shape family engagement throughout the year • Family capacity to support learning becomes stronger Handout: Parent-Teacher Conversations about Learning

28. Common Core: Explain to Parents • Grade 1 Writing: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure. • Grades 7-9 Reading: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. 

29. Be Systemic: Align all Resources • Title I Budget • Parent Workshops • Staff Development • Family Center • Volunteers • Community Partners • Evaluation Learning Conversations Year Level Strategies Family Engagement Action Team

30. Keys to Powerful Partnerships

31. Our Current Practices

32. Beyond the Bake Sale The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships Anne T. Henderson, Karen L. Mapp, Vivian R. Johnson and Don Davies The New Press, 2007

33. Chapter 5 Book Study • Each group will read one of four sections of this chapter and develop a report • Count off, 1-4. If you are group 1, you’ll read the assigned section marked #1. • Follow the instructions on your handout • Design a poster to show the major ideas • Reflect on your practice and be prepared to report on your work

34. LUNCH! Take a Gallery Walk Joe Mazza, The Social Media Principal Video

35. What are Your SIP Goals? • Pick two goals in your school improvement plan. • Translate them into family-friendly language. What does this goal really mean? No jargon, plain English. • How will you explain these goals to students and families? • BRAINSTORM: How can you work with families to reach the goals?

36. Family Friendly Language • Reading: The percent of students scoring at grade level in reading will move from 65% to 80% in 3 years. We will focus on: • - Vocabulary development in grades K-4 • - Making text connections in grades 5-6 • Reading: Reading proficiency scores will increase five percentile points a year for the next SIP period.

37. Low vs. High-Impact Engagement ? impact: • Show parents how to do a read-aloud • Hold learning conversa-tions with parents • Co-construct ideas for math learning games • Host class visits to model what students learn and do in class ? impact: • Tell parents to read 30 minutes a day • Offer parenting classes • Ask parents to drill math facts at home • Have a back-to-school night in the cafeteria

38. Redesign Team • Re-design your school’s open house or curriculum night • What changes will you make to help families build relationships with teachers and with each other? • How will you share data with families about how students are doing? • In what ways will you share information about what students will be learning and doing in their classes? • Prepare to model for the whole group what your new program will be like!

39. Feedback Forum • What is one important thing you learned today? • What was the best idea you heard? • What will you use when you get home? • Different points of view: • Family facilitator perspective • District perspective • School perspective

40. Keep this in mind…. Involving parents in (not just informing them about) learning standards or outcomes, creates opportunities to develop a deeper dialogue between parents and teachers about teaching and learning Hargreaves and Moore