EDU 609 Community Involvement

EDU 609 Community Involvement

Open Ended

Collaborations

Recall a time when you experienced a true collaborative partnership….

What was happening?

Who was involved?

How did you participate?

In what ways was it energizing and engaging to you?

• Parent and Family Engagement is an ongoing process that increases active ​participation, communication, and collaboration between parents, schools, and communities with the goal of educating the whole child to ensure student achievement and success.

The Georgia Department of Education’s Family-School Partnership Program

• Ensures that Title I, Part A parent and family engagement regulations are met with meaningful and strategic actions to build parent and school staff capacity as mandated by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.

  Amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. 

  Schools and districts must ensure that strong strategies are in place to: build capacity to engage parents/stakeholders in an effective partnership with the school; and  share and support high student academic achievement.

The communication skills of a teacher play an important role in the collaboration with colleagues and other personnel in schools, and in the partnerships with parents and other community members. 

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Respond to this statment:

Teaching is communicating and, to a large extent, advocating for learners.

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Describe how you have been an advocate for learners in and outside the classroom.

And/or

Describe ways you will be an advocate for learners in and outside the classroom.

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Do you agree with this assertion? Why or why not?

Good teachers know they must reach beyond the walls of the classroom to solicit collaboration and support from school colleagues on behalf of their students.

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Educators no longer confine their responsibility to the classroom in which they teach; rather, they are committed to contributing to the students taught by other teachers, in the school, the district, and the community by and large.

Do you agree or disagree that educators see responsibilities in contributing beyond their classroom? Explain your answer.

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Effective educators understand the need to reach beyond the schoolhouse door to communicate and gain cooperation with families and others in a larger community.

What examples can you provide from your professional experiences of reaching beyond the schoolhouse door to communicate and gain cooperation with families and others in a larger community?

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Effective collaboration empowers teachers to re-conceptualize themselves as change agents and advocates for their students.

Respond to the above statement. What is your opinion? Do you agree or disagree with the statement. Support your response.

Some defining characteristics associated with the important roles of collaborator and advocate are: 

-Being an advocate of better strategies for meeting students’ learning needs, by being an active learner who seeks, applies, and communicates professional knowledge of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student development. 

-Being an advocate of teaching as a profession by appreciating and practicing principles, ethics, and legal responsibilities. 

-Being an advocate for the well-being of the whole educational organization by initiating, valuing, and maintaining collaboration and partnerships with various stakeholders.

Involvement of families and community can help students become more focused on academic learning. 

A growing body of research suggested that creating more connections and greater cooperation among the school, family, and community contexts could improve student behavior and discipline, enhance students’ academic success, and reinforce stronger self-regulatory skills and work orientation.

Students are influenced by three spheres of influence: 

family, school, and community 

The extent to which these three contexts overlap is contingent upon the nature and degree of communication and collaboration among school educators, parents, and community members.

A meaningful and purposeful overlap of family, school, and community is conducive to better student learning.

Family engagement is everybody’s work. The law clearly states that schools are required to teach faculty and staff the value of parent contributions, as well as how to implement and coordinate effective parent programs that improve student achievement.

To effectively engage families and community members, municipal, district, and school leaders must first acknowledge that change needs to occur, and thereafter develop a cogent plan to leverage all available resources.

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What do you think has been identified as the greatest barrier to parental involvement?

Time constraints are the greatest barrier to parental involvement.

• Lack of time is the top reason parents give for not participating more in their children's education. Lack of time is also cited by school personnel as a reason for not seeking parental support more actively. 

  Thus, effective solutions to enhanced parent involvement require freeing up the time of parents and teachers or finding ways to work around their schedules.

Teachers can increase family and community involvement through the following collaborative activities:

-Helping families establish home environments to support children as students. 

-Designing effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communication. 

-Providing families with information and ideas to support students with homework. 

-Including parents in decision-making and developing parent leaders. 

-Identifying and integrating resources and services from the community to strengthen schools, students, and families. 

-Recruiting and organizing families to help the school and support students.

Examples of Ways to Promote Family and Community Engagement

-Develop a community resource bank of individuals with specific expertise that align with high-priority goals e.g. technology experts available to donate hours to support integration of mobile computing devices in classrooms.

-Recruit parents and community members with specific skills e.g., literacy or mathematics volunteer in schools to support priority academic goals.

-Partner with a local community group to schedule after-school programs that reinforce the value of education and expose students to opportunities available to college graduates.

Breakout Session

6 Groups

GOOGLE Slide show for the Breakout Sessions

Directions are in the GOOGLE Slide Show

Open Ended

Whole Group Discussion – Parent Involvement



Can community resources and/or partnerships be added to your plans?

If so, what are some of your ideas?

Questions:

Peer Review of Video Project