5326-Posted After Graded

Week 2 Assignment, Part 1: Gathering Data

To complete Part 1 of this assignment, answer the questions provided.

Current Reality: Identify a current student issue or need that interferes with academic achievement at your school. Cite data that supports the need. This could be data that relates to academic achievement, student attendance, discipline, or other sources. Look at trends of data and disaggregated data, where available.

One current issue on campus is that we did not meet our Annual Yearly Progress requirement. We did not meet this goal due to our reading growth.  For awhile, we struggled in math and focused a lot our energies and resources on that and although I feel that we didn’t forget about reading, now we are struggling with reading. The data that I used was the yearly report by TEA and NCLB report for our campus. I am on the Campus Improvement Committee and we looked and analyzed the data at our meetings.

Vision: How will the family-school-community partnership that you are proposing resolve the issue by meeting the demonstrated need, and how will it support student achievement?

I am proposing to improve a partnership that we already have on our campus. On week one’s assignment, I mentioned, “Second Cup of Coffee.” These are monthly parent meetings that provide parents information on various school-related topics.  Topics recently presented include, making nutritious snacks and learning what is bullying.  We’ve had topics related to reading, but I am proposing that we have more topics that provide more insight on reading and the different aspects of reading.  We will teach parent the different terminology related to reading.  Provide informational list or brochures and include different resources on that topic as well.  This will support student achievement by equipping parents with knowledge and skills that they can reinforce with their children and thus supporting student achievement on our campus.

Week 2 Assignment, Part 2: Initial Partnership Proposal

The first step in establishing either a new family-school-community partnership, or strengthening an existing one, is to clearly articulate your idea. While your idea will probably evolve as stakeholders contribute their perspectives, you will use this assignment to solidify your initial concept.

To complete this assignment, fill out the chart.

Describe the need for the new or improved school-community partnership. Summarize the strategies/ activities you are recommending.

Our campus failed to meet the AYP requirement due to reading scores.  As a result, I am proposing to strengthen an existing program. I am recommending that we incorporate more strategies directly related to improving reading and comprehension skills. We have monthly parent meetings where parents can come learn about different school-related topics. I propose that in each meeting we teach and discuss one reading/comprehension strategy and tell parents the reason as to why there is a big focus on reading. At each monthly meeting we can discuss one skill and provide examples as to what it looks like across grade-levels.  Grade level chairs and or Reading Specialist teachers can provide materials and resources that parents can take home and begin to use and support their child/children at home.  We will also reiterate the fact that we are doing the same thing in the classroom.

Reference the research that supports the strategies/ activities you are recommending.

All of the readings that I’ve had to complete state the importance of family involvement and the direct correlation to student success. In this week’s reading, “Critical Issue: Creating the School Climate and Structures to Support Parent and Family Involvement,” it states that “Evidence shows that there is a strong connection between parent and family involvement in schools and children’s academic achievement, attendance, attitude, and continued education.” Joyce L. Epstein also states that good family and school partnerships lead to school improvement and student success.

Compose three or more measurable goals for the school-community partnership.

Parents, teachers and Reading Specialist teachers will compose a plan to help improve reading skills for all children in the building.  This will be measured by delivering a copy of the drafted plan to all teachers and parents whether or not they attended the meeting or had direct input in writing the draft. Students will show progress in mastering reading skills at the beginning, middle, and end of year.  Monthly progress monitoring will also be used. We will use results from I Station in English and Spanish to measure progress.  We will also use district curriculum assessments in reading to measure progress. We will show improvement in reading skills and make the AYP requirement when TEA sends out the next school report card.

How will the school-community partnership increase student achievement?

Parents will be better equipped in how to increase and improve reading skills for their child.  The relationship between teachers and parents will strengthen and thus help improve student achievement.

Identify the school-community partnership’s stakeholders.

The stakeholders are the school, teachers, community, parents and students.

What are the steps to approval and implementation of the partnership? What are possible sources of funding?

I will approach the principal and the Parent Involvement Committee and discuss the idea of how to incorporate reading skills in our already established monthly parent program, “Second Cup of Coffee.” I will send out flyers soliciting parents to come and be part of drafting a plan for improving reading skills alongside with teachers and Reading Specialists. At our meeting, we will educate parents about the different reading requirements in each grade level and provide them the necessary materials needed to help their child. After every meeting, we will send a copy of the minutes and materials to all students so that all parents have access even they were not able to attend the meeting. At each of the monthly meetings, we will review a reading skill/component to help ensure parent understands that specific reading skill. Funds can be provided by the Title 1 budget and/or regular school budget.

What resources are required for the partnership?

Most of the resources that are required for these proposed activities have already been established since I plan on strengthening an existing program.  The resources needed to effectively implement are input from teachers from all grade levels. Help from reading specialists in drafting good, solid, and researched based reading improvement strategies for all the grade levels and all types of readers.  Parents will also be needed to provide input for the reading plan/draft.  Also, parents will need to implement these skills at home.

How will you market your school-community partnership idea?

I will use what we have in place already.  About a month to three weeks before the actual date, a letter is sent home explaining the next topic for discussion.  The parent then reserves their spot.  This helps ensure that our campus has enough materials at the meeting and also to be sure we have enough coffee and pastries for all attending.  For the new topic of reading skills and strategies, I would send out a message to parents (we have instant messenger that sends a prerecorded message to their phone), to be on the lookout for attending this meeting so that they can provide input in devising a comprehensive reading plan to help ensure reading improvement and success for all grade levels on our campus.

How will you evaluate your partnership’s outcomes?

I will use the parents attendance at the, “Second Cup of Coffee,” that will be used to implement these strategies. I will use monthly results from reading I Station in English and Spanish.  Results from district benchmarks and results from teacher Progress Monitoring will also be used. After several months, we will send a survey to parents and teachers to see if they felt this program/process was successful.