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The Family - School Connection At the High School Level
By Ain Grooms & Michelle Lockwood Codman Academy Charter School
Massachusetts Charter School Association 2002
FAMILY - SCHOOL CONNECTION In education today educators and community members regularly debate issues such as teacher/student ratios, materials and texts, standardized testing, and teaching techniques. Few disagree; however, about the positive effect parent involvement has on student achievement. In fact, increasing parent involvement in schools is one of our country’s Eight National Education Goals and is a primary public policy objective of our current president (Duffet, Farkas, and Johnson 1999, 7). It is also a principal focus at Codman Academy Charter School (CACS). At CACS, we believe that the three elements key to education--family, school, and community--should work together in partnership, rather than as three separate entities. At CACS our mission (as printed in our September 2002-2003 Student/Family Handbook) is "to prepare students for full participation in the intellectual, economic an civic life of our society." In support of our partnership between family, school, and community, the mission statement continues, "We view parents and community members as integral partners in this endeavor (education)." Codman Academy Charter School is located in the Codman Square section of Dorchester, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston, and is the only charter high school in Dorchester. We received our charter on February 27, 2001 and opened on September 4, 2001 with 33 ninth-graders. 60% of our students are African-American, 18% are Haitian-American, 12% are Latino, 3% are Vietnamese, 3% are Cape Verdean, and 3% are Caucasian. Language barriers have posed a hurdle to our faculty, as 33% of our students speak a language other than English at home, and 6% of our students have been residents of the United States for less than five years. Another obstacle our program faces is that of economic instability. 85% of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, and 81% of our students entered our school in September reading below grade level. In addition, many of our students are members of non-traditional, single-parent homes, or come from homes where their grandparents are their guardians. At CACS while we have made great strides toward increasing parental involvement, there are always obstacles to overcome. Studies show that while affluent communities tend to have higher parent involvement, parents in economically depressed communities interact on a much more limited capacity. To assist our families in participating in the program, we meet with families outside of traditional school hours. We also have language interpreters available (our faculty members are fluent in the languages most in need of interpreting), and we extend our sessions with families as needed. In addition, we encourage our immigrant families to participate in the community organizations available to help them to develop a supportive and nurturing program for their family. Given the hurdles we face, it is essential that our program establish a trusting and open relationship with the families we serve, so staff members are privy to the economic, cultural, and social challenges that our students may be facing, and appropriate action can be taken to provide the services the family needs to be an active partner in the child’s education. We have had some successes. In May 2002 the CACS Dean of Enrichment conducted a survey of parents, in order to get their input on the school and their children’s academic achievement. 97% of parents responded, and of those, 61% reported that their child’s academic performance has improved since enrolling in CACS. Partnering with Parents: Goals and Objectives In order to provide the most supportive and nurturing learning environment for our students, the staff at CACS has made it a priority to develop trusting partnerships with its families and create programs that help support those partnerships. At CACS, we feel that when we accept a student, we accept that student’s entire family. As we work to carry out our mission, our primary objectives are to:
Key Components To Our Program Based on our goals and objectives and grounded in our mission, a team of educators at CACS developed a plan for creating a strong family-school connection. The plan was devised and inspired by the best practices and programs already succeeding across the nation in early childhood education--the many home visit and family-school connection programs. Unable to find a program designed for use in an upper grade school, we devised our own plan from these examples and adapted a template for our high school program. The main pieces of our plan include Family Intake Meetings, a Welcome Dinner, Parent Meeting Sessions, and Family Outreach Programs. Family Intake Meetings Through the Family-Intake meetings, which take place prior to the start of the school term, the staff becomes privy to academic, cultural, and familial background information on the students, information that will enable the teacher to create classroom environments that are a direct reflection of the students served. Through the Family Intake meetings teachers also gain information about students that can be used to directly influence and contribute to the academic content and lessons of the year. Because of these meetings, numerous students have the opportunity to study topics of interest on a personal level from the onset of the school year. During the Family Intake Meeting, the Head of School and/or Dean of Enrichment meet with the student and his/her parent(s)/guardian(s). All information gathered and shared during it is confidential and becomes part of the student's school record. The meeting normally lasts 45 minutes, and is divided into three sections: meeting with student and family together, meeting with parent alone, and meeting with student alone. During the first part of the meeting, the CACS staff member thoroughly reviews the unique aspects of the school (including academics, conduct, school philosophy, school days/hours, off-campus fieldwork sites, and dress code policies) with both the student and the parent(s). We gather information on the family’s routines (see Appendix A), and as a way to get to know students better, we also ask about the student’s name (see Appendix B). The student then fills out a questionnaire regarding his or her goals while at CACS (see Appendix C), and the student completes a writing sample (see Appendix D) while we meet individually with the parent/guardian. Parents often appreciate this time dedicated to private conversation, as it gives them the opportunity to speak candidly about their child (see Appendix E). Following the meeting with the parent, we meet with the student to learn about his/her academic and leadership goals while the parent fills out a questionnaire, providing us with information on such things as community involvement, library use, and important family events in the child’s lifetime (see Appendix F). We use this meeting to initiate a positive relationship with the family prior to the start of school. We want parents to feel comfortable discussing any aspects of their child's education and family life with members of the faculty. We have had 100% participation from all incoming families. In our May 2002 survey of our rising 10th grade families, 52 % reported that the Family Intake Meeting was helpful in setting the tone of the relationship between the school and family. Welcome Dinner Each spring we host a Welcome Dinner for our incoming families. Our first year, we accepted 33 families, and over 100 people attended the dinner. Our second year, we accepted 38 families and again, over 100 people attended the dinner, including parents, grandparents, cousins, and older and younger siblings. We feel the Welcome Dinner is a crucial aspect of our school community for numerous reasons. It gives students and parents the chance to meet each other and the faculty before the school has started. It helps family members become involved, right from the beginning. It also brings our community together. At the spring 2002 Welcome Dinner (to welcome students entering school in the fall of 2002), we invited parents from our current class to speak, and current ninth-graders volunteered to help serve food and welcome the new students. We see the Welcome Dinner as one of the many traditions of our school, created out of the need for inclusion of the family during this intense time of transition to high school. In the May 2002 survey, 45 % of the families responding stated that they felt the Welcome Dinner was helpful in introducing the family to CACS. Parent Meetings and Conferences We firmly believe that by keeping parents informed we help them remain invested in their children’s education. We have Parent Meetings once a month; here parents and the CACS Dean of Enrichment come together to discuss topics about which parents have expressed an interest, as well as topics that the faculty would like to share with the school community. Guest speakers have also been invited to Parent Meetings, such as the school nurse, who focused on nutrition and health, and a local banker who spoke on managing money. We have also created a Parent Advisory Group to keep parents abreast of many issues, ranging from uniform policies, to behavior/discipline issues, to classroom space. In addition, we have formal Progress Report Meetings (also known as parent, student, and advisor conferences) two times per year. In the fall of 2001, we had 100% participation at our Progress Report Meetings. During these meetings, the advisor, the parent(s) and the student review the student's academic progress throughout the term. The student is also expected to bring a piece of work or accomplishment that he or she is proud of, giving the student the opportunity to show his or her growth over the course of the grading period. In our May 2002 survey, 40% of parents responding reported that they had attended four or more monthly Parent Meetings, and 33 % reported they had had five or more phone conversations/informal meetings with faculty members during the 2001-2002 school year. Additional Outreach to Families Outreach embraces many areas. We have established an "open-door policy," for example. Parents are welcome to stop by the school at any time, unannounced, and sit in on classes, talk with teachers, or participate in school-wide events, such as our weekly Community Circle (a whole school gathering, once per week, led by students). We also invite parents to accompany faculty and students on fieldwork visits. These are full day trips (to the Huntington Theatre, colleges, museums, etc.) during which students work offsite. We feel it is always helpful to have an extra adult with us, especially one who is invested in the school. Joining our trips also gives parents the opportunity for a hands-on account of what their child is learning in school. We also have a school Web site (www.codmanacademy.org), which we keep updated, and we have recently put our students’ grades online for their parents to view as often as they wish. Our grading program assigns each student and parent a login name and password and allows the parents to not only view grades, but to read teacher comments, see which days their child was tardy, and e-mail teachers directly. In our May 2002 survey, 30% of the parents responding reported that they accessed our grading program at least once since we made it available to parents. Our biggest hurdle is that many parents do not have Internet access at home, but we give parents a password that can be used on any computer, and they are welcome to use computers at the school to access grades. Communication is crucial, and we are in constant communication with families through e-mail, standard mail, and phone calls. To facilitate communication and build relationships, our students are divided into small, single-sex groups (of about 10 students) called Advisories, each of which is led by a faculty advisor. Advisors gather information on their advisees at weekly faculty meetings and provide parents with an update on their children every two weeks, either by phone or e-mail. We not only call parents if we are concerned with a student academically or for behavior reasons, but also to commend children on their work in and out of class. The communication opens discussions between the school and family, and not only when there are behavioral or academic problems. In an effort to increase the education of the entire family, we have partnered with The Boston Globe and provide our families with free home delivery of the newspaper. This promotes literacy for the entire family, and the newspaper is an excellent resource for students to use for homework. Many parents have commented on the fact that they too now read the newspaper daily, and they feel the increased reading done by their children has helped bring about marked improvement in their children’s academic work. As a way to acknowledge parent involvement, we have created the Ain Grooms Family Support Award, named after our Dean of Enrichment. We give the award to a family member who has supported the mission of the school and has been instrumental in helping a student succeed. In 2002, the inaugural award was given to the grandmother (the guardian) of a student who has made great strides in both academics and conduct. We realize that this student could not have succeeded without the support, strength, discipline, and honesty of her grandmother. By creating the award, we hope to help all families see the value and necessity of including families in the educational process, and our dedication and commitment to fostering the family-school relationship. We also plan to implement a Parent Support Group, modeled after our advisories. Currently, our advisories meet with a licensed social worker for an hour a week to discuss issues of their choice, ranging from self-esteem and relationships, to family and academics. We recognize that our students need a "safe" place to talk and express themselves, and we understand that parents may need that same type of support. A licensed social worker has volunteered to lead a Parents' Group on Saturday mornings, and we hope that the parents of our students will take full advantage. Creating the Practice The benefits of forming and maintaining a partnership between parents, school, and community are many, but creating a practice like this is easier if a few elements are in place. Certainly Codman Academy has a strong advantage because it is a small school. Because a limited number of students are accepted each year, teachers have a limited number of parents with whom to develop relationships. However, with the right components and essential pieces, larger schools can adapt our partnership program to meet the needs of their more sizable communities. Three elements are necessary in order to adopt a partnering program:
Before a partnering program can be started, the administration must have buy-in from the entire faculty and must have a high level of commitment from everyone in the learning community. Without a serious time commitment from all three spheres, the program can fail. Teachers and staff must be comfortable with the open-door environment, an essential piece of the program; they must be willing to welcome not only the students into the classroom, but the families and community agencies as well. The community agencies must provide a link for families to reach out into their neighborhoods and community outside of school. Parents must be engaged in the education of their children through collaborations with school and community agencies. At CACS our partnership is helped by the fact that our mission statement clearly outlines the importance of parents, school, and community working together. Establishing a partnership program is both time consuming and financially burdensome. Joyce Epstein, co-director of the Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children’s Learning at John Hopkins University, writes that to develop successful collaborations between families, community, and schools, a Community Action Team needs to be established. This parent and community group, she states, plans and coordinates partnership program events, and acts as a liaison with members of the community. If possible, she furthers, there should also be an administrative position created specifically to lead the action team, manage the finances, and fundraise. Epstein also feels that given the time commitment and work involved for the Community Action Team, the school should consider offering stipends to the partners who serve, further supporting the need for the acquisition of grants and private funds. She notes that there are many grants and government funds available and accessible to support programs such as these, and she encourages those involved to work with government officials and community activists to acquire the resources necessary (Epstein 1995). At CACS we began our program without the benefit of a Community Action Team and without having stipends available. Current administration, teachers, and volunteers assume responsibility for the work of our program. Initially, staff from the school contacted the community agencies and identified resources they felt would best help meet the needs of their student body and contribute efficiently to the learning community. We have partnered with the Codman Square Health Center, The Boston Globe, the Dorchester YMCA, Sportsman's Tennis Club, and the Museum of Fine Arts. There are many other agencies and community organizations that would make great additions to any partnership program, such as colleges/universities, senior citizen centers, local businesses, and social service organizations. We’ve found it useful to develop guidelines, and have sometimes utilized contracts, regarding the participation of our community partners throughout the year. The future of our efforts to link parents, school, and
community is very bright. Though only in place for a short time, our
program’s success has inspired us to continue, attempting to develop a
program that unites our learning community. In the future, we plan to
create and develop our Community Action Team, increase our fundraising
efforts, establish a monthly community newsletter, and broaden our
community agency outreach. We will work each year to enhance the
program’s capacity and improve upon our success. At Codman Academy
Charter School we are committed to creating a supportive learning
environment that empowers students, faculty, and families. Our
partnership strives to unite these three spheres of education into one
unit that consistently supports and nurtures the development of our
students. As we continue to develop this upper grade program, we hope
other schools will create their own templates for programs that serve
their individual communities. Ain Grooms is the Dean of Enrichment at Codman Academy Charter School and Michelle Lockwood is a recent graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a volunteer at the school. Contact Information Ain Grooms, Michelle Lockwood
Appendix A Codman Academy Family Intake Meeting Family Routines Questionnaire
In Attendance: ____________________ What is your current school day routine?
What is your current weekend routine (friends, family, activities, homework)?
What did you do last summer?
Discussion of Codman routine:
How do you expect your current routine to change now that you are a student at Codman Academy?
Do you have any additional questions or concerns?
Appendix B
Codman Academy Family Intake Meeting Name Project
Student’s name: __________________ History/Story of the name:
Prompts:
Appendix C Codman Academy Family Intake Meeting Student Goals Sheet
We’re interested in hearing about your goals for being a student at Codman Academy. During your time here, we’ll adjust and revisit these goals periodically to make sure you’re reaching your dreams. What are your goals as a student at Codman Academy?
What are your goals for being a leader at Codman Academy?
What are your goals for contributing to the community while at Codman Academy?
What do you consider to be your greatest strengths?
How would you like most to improve?
Anything special we should know about you? (Hobbies, interests, etc.)
What questions do you have about Codman Academy?
Appendix D Codman Academy Family Intake Meeting Student Writing Sample
Choose one of the following writing topics and write a composition with at least 4 paragraphs. Take time to think about what you would like to say before you begin writing. Please use the space below as your Idea Page and turn this in with your essay.* Option 1: Why do you want to attend and graduate from Codman Academy Charter School? Option 2: What is your "grand passion" in life? Option 3: What is your greatest fear?
My Ideas/Notes
Appendix E
Codman Academy Family Intake Meeting Parent Information on Child
In Attendance: ____________________ What do you consider to be your child’s strengths?
Areas for Improvement?
What special interests or hobbies does your child have that you would like to see encouraged? Discouraged?
How would you describe your child socially? Many friends? Few friends? Shy? Outgoing? Is she/he more of a leader or a follower?
Are there any special needs or services your child has? (Glasses, medical conditions, disabilities, IEPs, etc.) Explain.
What interests, talents, or hobbies of yours would you be willing to sharing with the Codman Academy Community?
Questions/Comments:
Appendix F
Codman Academy Family Intake Meeting Information Survey for Parents
Parent/Guardian: ____________________ We have prepared the following survey to collect information about Codman Academy students and their families. Our aim is to evaluate how the school can best meet the needs of the children and families we serve. Any information you offer will be kept CONFIDENTIAL and will NOT be used to assess your student’s performance. Thank you for your honesty in answering the following questions.
Does your family currently have a library card?
If yes, to which library?
How many visits has your family made to the library in the past year? (Check one)
Does your family currently subscribe to any periodicals (magazines, journals or newspapers)?
If yes, please list:
On average, how many hours per week does your family spend reading (books, magazines, newspapers)? ________ hours/week On average, how many hours per week is the TV on in your home? _______hours/week On average, how many hours per week does your student watch TV? _______hours/week Do you currently have a computer at home?
Do you have Internet access at home?
On average, how many hours per week is the computer used in your home? _______hours/week How many people use the computer in your home? _______ people out of _______ members of your household How is your home computer used? (For example: to play computer games; to do homework; to browse the Internet…)
Does your family currently have a fitness center membership?
If yes, to which fitness center?
How many visits has your family made to the fitness center in the past year? (Check one)
Does your family have a membership to any museums or other educational or cultural institutions?
If yes, which museums or other institutions?
How frequently has your family visited a museum or other educational or cultural institution in the past year? (Check one)
Has anyone in your family attended or contributed to a community event or project over the past year?
If yes, please describe the event or project: (For example: community dinner, fund drive, workshop, lecture, town meeting…)
Did you or another parent/guardian visit your student’s school this year (during 8th grade)?
If yes, how many times this year? ________ times this year If yes, what was the nature of your visit(s)? (For example: parent conference, parent’s night, student performance, conference with guidance counselor, conference with special needs counselor…)
If no, do you have any suggestions for how Codman Academy could better involve you in your student’s educational experience?
How many children in your family currently receive free or reduced lunch? _________
Is there any additional information about your student or family that would be helpful for Codman Academy to know?
Getting to know my child:
REFERENCES Duffet, A., S. Farkas, and J. Johnson. 1999. Playing Their Parts: Parents and Teachers Talk About Parental Involvement in Public Schools. A Report from Public Agenda. Epstein, J. School/Family/Community Partnerships. 1995. Phi Delta Kappan. May, 701-11.
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