Preparing For Change

1. Preparing For Change • Knowing the context of your environment • Acknowledging resistance to change • Meaningful context • Builds bridge between the past and the future

2. 1,224 Hours of Change Melissa Courtney – Spring 2014 How might we better utilize our 1,224 teacher contract hours to discover leverage points that reenergize our efforts to connect with families and raise student achievement?

4. Resources

5. Understand the System • Plan Events Avenues of Communication Power School Electronic Sign Up for Conferences Parent/Teacher phone calls (optional) Email (optional) PTA/Booster Club Volunteer opportunities for parents of students who are involved in extra curricular activities • Incoming 8th Grade Orientation • Open House • Fall (only) Conferences • IEP meetings • Various events for select students • Concerts • Athletic events • National Honor Society • Senior Recognition Night • Graduation

6. Understand the System • Plan (’13-’14) Parent Conference Turn Outs (’13-’14) Parent Conference Sign-Ups • 98% Turn Out (of those that signed up) • 1500 Scheduled Conferences • 1475 Actual Conferences Held • 25 No-Shows • 525 Drop-ins

7. Feedback Loop • Plan

8. & select the team • Plan

10. Parents don’t want to embarrass student Curriculum priorities Teachers are not paid for their time Parent hours do not match up with school hours Rapidly changing demographics Cultural Responsiveness Cultural differences Trying to not be “helicopter parents” Collaboration Time Different philosophies Language barriers Negative past experiences with school Conferences are only in the fall Parents working several jobs Not as many planned events like elementary Teachers don’t care Parents don’t care Technology- have it but don’t know how to use it Poor attitudes towards school They come with an agenda- don’t listen Not talking about the same things Stereotypes & Deficit Thinking Negative family reputation Parents lack of education Food and nutrition transportation communication Environment is not welcoming Grades Students are not invested so what is the point? School is not cool Learned helplessness- vicious cycle Community Resources Childcare for younger children at home Difficulty meeting daily living needs Not aware of how to help confidentiality Power School Broken homes- single parent or not parent Funding at the federal level Homeless & transient students Low conference turnouts School is not organized

11. “As we try to improve, we are drawn to the large, dramatic, and splashy programs for change, but we are impacted more by the small and simple changes in our daily routines. We don’t change the world through epiphanies, but by doing lots of little things that add up to sustained transformation. Simple things are not always easy to change, but by improving one thing at a time, we make progress toward great things” —Dave Ulrich, writing to his great-great-grandfather From Bill Jensen, What is your life’s work?

12. Define the ProblEtunity • Plan • What is the opportunity? • Who are the clients and what do they need? • What is our vision for excellence?

13. Study the Current Situation • Plan • Survey- Resource Providers (inside and outside of school), Parents, Staff • Display results in a bar chart • Take highest frequency items and analyze their causes Example- Unrelated Activity

14. Analyze the Causes • Plan Labeling Resource Logistics Time Money Free & Reduced Lunch Only during school hours Cultural Biases Transportation Too much attention Poor communication Unnecessary attention Minority Legal Repercussions Time Childcare Breach in confidentiality Tracked Assumptions about parenting skills Effect: Community resources are disorganized and under utilized. Environment Student is indirectly treated differently Organization Access Format Trust Message that they are not valued Offices are in low traffic places Some are not in the schools Difficult access for parents Time What do they need? Never ventured out of our building Few and poor relationships with staff Time Environment Negative Association No Classes/Events When they were in school Low levels of education Reactive Unclear Roles & Responsibilities No communication of roles with parents Lack of content knowledge Past Experiences Alignment Don’t regularly interact with staff Administration, counselors, teachers refer as part of the discipline process – data point Change Often Discipline intervention No communication of roles with parents Optional Parent Education Resource Providers

15. Select & develop a Theory for Improvement • Do If we… We can track their presence, purpose and direct them to the right place. Greet parents at the door, If we… Let parents enter from the outside, We need to design entry procedures and greet parents. (safety) move offices to counseling area, Parents could enter from outside door. (easier access) If we… How do we organize our community resources so that they are more accessible to parents?

16. Implement the Theory for Improvement • Do

17. Implement the Theory for Improvement • Do What Data Are You Collecting Along the Way? Parking Lot (Plus, Delta, Questions, Comments) after events & classes Structured Feedback/Survey (Qualitative Data) Parents, resource providers, teachers Quantitative Data Teacher Participation (hours- sign up) Data Collection Form (google) Parent access and types of support (no names) Survey

18. Study the Results

19. How might we better utilize our 1,224 teacher contract hours to discover leverage points that reenergize our efforts to connect with families and raise student achievement? “…by doing lots of little things that add up to sustained transformation.”