Principals, Partnerships & Data

1. Principals, Partnerships & Data Title I Network May 8, 2013

2. Today: • Changing nature of family-school-community partnerships • Ideas for how principals can structure partnerships • How schools can share data with families.

3. New Definition of Family Engagement Family engagement is a shared responsibility of families, schools, and communities for student learning and achievement; It is continuous from birth to young adulthood; and It occurs across multiple settings where children learn. From “Beyond Random Acts” Report; http://www.nationalpirc.org/engagement_forum/beyond_random_acts.pdf

4. The Change to Systemic Family Engagement Old Way New Way • Individual responsibility for student learning • Deficit-based interactions • Add-on programs • One-shot projects • Compliance-driven engagement From “Beyond Random Acts” report • Shared responsibility for student learning • Strength-based interactions • Integrated programs • Sustained efforts • Shared ownership for continuous improvement

5. Principals: the bridge between teachers and families Schools with effective partnerships have principals who prioritize family engagement: • Create a structure for family engagement • Enact school policy encouraging engagement • Practice effective family engagement by • Giving teachers time and training to plan and work with families • Giving families many opportunities to support children’s learning and connect with school • Frequently communicate the importance of family engagement Fege, 2006: http://www.sedl.org/ws/ws-fam-comm.pdf

6. Structuring family engagement into school life • Need is clear • Desire is there • Benefits are clear • Difficult to do Goal of family engagement philosophy: • Build capacity of both school and families for partnership • Increase connections • Boost confidence • Improve results for students

7. Goal-Oriented Partnership Program SCHOOL GOVERNANCE COUNCIL (SGC) writes or approves School Improvement Plan with Specific Goals Action Team for Partnerships Using the Six Types Goal 1 Academic Goal 3 Attendance Goal 2 Academic Goal 4 Partnership Climate Family & Community Involvement Activities 1. 2. 3. 4. Family & Community Involvement Activities 1. 2. 3. 4. Family & Community Involvement Activities 1. 2. 3. 4. Family & Community Involvement Activities 1. 2. 3. 4.

8. Taking the Plunge:The Partnership Action Team Easy because • Research-based, proven • Parents and teachers have equal voices • Authentic decision making and review process Not-so-Easy because • Time-consuming • Difficult to find parents • Staff buy-in required

9. Alternatives to the Action Team: The Sprinkler Method Charge each staff committee with engaging families • Every staff committee must devote meeting time to developing activities that communicate, support, or engage families and the community • Spreads effective practices throughout staff and school • Piecemeal approach? Who’s in charge of coordinating? Implementing? • Staff buy-in required.

10. Spotlight School Example: Staff Committees

11. Alternatives to Action Team:The “Toe-Dip” One Staff Committee with targeted parent feedback • Assign partnerships to one new or existing committee • Requires significant effort to obtain the parent voice • Committee’s effort must be communicated/connected to other school efforts • Too little impact on too few families? • Staff buy-in required.

12. How Can My School Get Parent Feedback? At Events and Activities: • Parent Surveys on-line, at-event, and telephone • Family Night Evaluations • Coffee with the Principal • School Walk-throughs • Neighborhood Walk-throughs • Parent group meetings • Suggestion Boxes

13. Connecting with Families: Many New Tech Possibilities • Webstreamhome-school meetings live from community locations: anymeeting.com • Twitter parents: school event reminders, good news about child, weekly “PTchat” question • Poll Everywhere: instant response from families • Skype parent-teacher conferences and student performances for distant family members • Online administrator blogs • Online school newsletters • Teacher websites and Moodle http://efacetoday.blogspot.com/

14. How Can Groups at My School Get Parent Feedback? With Groups that invite parents: • Focus Groups • Study circles • Book clubs • PTA/PTO • ELL task forces • Learning communities • PBIS/RtI committees • Ad hoc to SIP • Title I parent advisory committees • Community planning task force

15. Parent Leadership Roles • Mentor for Other Parents • Co-Trainer • Event Organizer • Participant in Focus Groups • Member of Hiring Committees • Participant at Conferences and Working Meetings • Participant in Quality Improvement / Evaluation Activities • Grant reviewer • Contributor to Written and Audiovisual Materials • Advocate for Individuals, Families and / or Programs • Translator of materials or interpreter for families • Task Force, Advisory Board, or Steering Committee Member

16. Parent-Teacher Action Research Investigates a question important to school community (p 196, Beyond the Bake Sale): • Form a team and choose a facilitator • Determine parents’ priorities and interests by conducting surveys, interviews • Decide on plan of action for further study • Compile and communicate results • Decide on next steps for school, community See: How Can Elementary Teachers Collaborate More Effectively with Parents to Support Literacy Learning? www.hfrp.org

17. Whatever family engagement structure a school decides to use Principals, plan to • Know your families: demographics, funds of knowledge, challenges • Aim for staff ownership and buy-in by providing the tools for family engagement • Know your school’s learning strengths and gaps • Be prepared to share student/school data with families.

18. Know Your Families! Public Agenda study of Kansas City parents found: • 31% are Potential Transformers willing to play a bigger role, comfortable taking action, but waiting to be invited. • 27% are School Helpers willing to do more to volunteer, help child’s school. They trust staff, but are less drawn to policy or politics. • 20% are Help Seekers, worried about their child’s learning, more critical of and more disconnected from schools. http://www.publicagenda.org/pages/ready-willing-and-able

19. Next Steps for Kansas CityLessons for All • Parents want to know how be more involved at home in children’s learning • Parents want workshops on how to improve students’ habits and schoolwork • African American and Hispanic parents preferred face-to-face meetings over e-mails • Address parents’ top concerns first: school safety, bullying, quality education opportunities for all children, extra help for those who need it • Make schools, staff more welcoming to Help Seekers

20. Sharing data with families

21. Why Share Data with Families? “Without data, you are just another person with an opinion.” -- The Education Trust “When the teacher and parent look at a child's work together, the parent is …… learning, analyzing, and seeing the rationale behind the teacher's instructional decisions.” Sharing Data with Families at Parent-Teacher Conferences http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=490

22. Create a Data Sharing Culture in School Principals can impact staff: • Emphasize the importance of sharing data • Help staff understand effective data-sharing practices • Encourage teachers to share data with families in many ways and keep it updated • Allow staff time to share challenges. Principals can impact families: • Orient families to understanding and using data • Designate computers at school and in community for parents to use • Survey parents about usefulness of data.

23. Wisconsin’s Data Tools • School Report Cards • PALS-K screener • MAPS scores • WKCE Scores • Smarter Balanced Assessment • PLAN Test • AP results • ACT/SAT • WINSS, soon WISEdash

24. Sharing Student Data:what Families want to know • #1: How is my child doing? • #2: How can I help my child improve? • #3: How is my child’s school doing? • Why sharing data is important and valuable • Education terms: differential instruction, benchmark, formative, MAPS, Lexile, PALS, etc. • Learning benchmarks and goals • What reading/math instruction looks like in child’s classroom • Specific activities parents can do to meet goals • Online resources they can use • Who to contact how with concerns

25. How are Parent Portals used? One study found parents : • used the portal to check child’s grades, but not assignment completion or attendance • Used the portal more than any other form of home-school communication • Felt more engaged when they used the portal • Felt it encouraged them to communicate more with child’s teacher • Did not understand how to access detailed grade information on the portal

26. How Schools Can Help Families Understand School Data • Hold data workshops to explain how data are used to improve achievement • Send home rubrics for class projects • Display high-quality student work in school and on website to exemplify high standards • Include family learning activities in newsletters and hold family literacy/family math nights; • Use student achievement data to help families focus on specific grade-level academic goals; • Include families on school improvement teams and grade-level planning meetings.

27. Start 2013-13 with a Learning Goals for Families Workshop • Review your School Report Card • Identify School Goals • Identify school-wide efforts to achieve goals • What are teachers doing to meet goals in classrooms/subject areas? • How will child’s progress be communicated to parents? • How will school invite feedback from parents about progress and needs? • How can parents support child’s learning? • How can parents support the school?

28. Examples of Effective family-School Data-Sharing Practices • Parent-Teacher Academic Teams Wisconsin RtI Activity: http://www.wisconsinrticenter.org/parents-and-family/understanding-rti/femodule/ba-overview/aptt.html • College Readiness Tracker System: http://jgc.stanford.edu/our_work/cris/VUE35.pdf • Nevada PIRC’s “Parent Basics of Elementary & Secondary” and Road to College courses: http://www.nevadapirc.org/programs-initiatives/parentschoolpartnership/. • “Dust off” School-Parent Compacts (CT): http://schoolparentcompact.org/about/ • Ohio’s Welcoming Walk-Through Toolkit

29. Continuum of Parent Empowerment in Children’s Learning School’s goal is to: Examples:

30. New DPI Resources for Families • Agenda 2017 Overview, Fact Sheets, and video: http://dpi.wi.gov/sprntdnt/2017_resources.html • School Report Cards and Parent Guide: http://dpi.wi.gov/oea/acct/accountability.html • Common Core State Standards families page: http://standards.dpi.wi.gov/families/families • WKCE scoring changes: http://oea.dpi.wi.gov/oea_dacnwltrs/#infoho • PALS-K for parents: http://www.palswisconsin.info/parents.html • Family and Community Engagement Toolkit: http://dpi.wi.gov/files/ssos/pdf/toolkit-family_community_engagement.pdf

31. Resources for Implementing A System of Family Engagement • SEDL’s Working Systemically in Action Guide: http://www.sedl.org/ws/ws-fam-comm.pdf • Beyond Random Acts: Family, School & Community Engagement as an Integral Part of Education Reform: http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/beyond-random-acts-family-school-and-community-engagement-as-an-integral-part-of-education-reform • Handbook on Family and Community Engagement: http://www.families-schools.org/downloads/FACEHandbook.pdf • National Network of Partnership Schools website: www.partnershipschools.org

32. Data-Sharing Resources Working with Families Staff Training Resources • Tips for Administrators, Teachers, and Families: How to Share Data Effectively: http://www.hfrp.org • Data Sharing through Parent Portals: http://www.hfrp.org/ • Sharing Data with Families at Parent-Teacher Conferences: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=490 • NEA Power of Family School Community Partnerships: http://www2.nea.org/mediafiles/pdf/FSCP_Manual_2012.pdf • Making Data Work: A Parent and Community Guide http://www.edtrust.org/dc/publication/parent-and-community-data-guide