Vision to Action

Beyond the Bake Sale Strengthening Family-School Partnerships Ben Gilpin

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Family Engagement What does Family Engagement look like? Feel like?

Alarming Numbers 29 million children in this country are growing up in low income families 81% of these families have at least one working parent 80% of Chicago Public School students whose parents were involved for six years or more graduated from high school...compared to 38% of students whose parents were not involved.

What do the numbers tell us? Public Engagement goes beyond Positive PR Most parents are doing the best they can. Families have dreams for their kids.

Communication is key... What do visitors say about the climate or feel of the building? Do parents feel connected or disconnected to the school? (Tech N' Taco)

4 Core Beliefs 1 - Parents have dreams for their children and want the best for them. 2 - All parents have the capacity to support their children's learning. 3 - Parents and Staff should be equal partners. 4 - The responsibility for building partnerships between school and home rests primarily with school staff...especially school leaders.

Come On, Team! Let’s Do the Blue Star Summer Challenge! Hamilton Community Schools Prepared By Teisha Kothe

How Do We Address the “Summer Loss?” Team Project to collaborate Let kids be kids…and be scholars too! Each grade submitted ideas

Blue (Read) 1 Star (Write) 2 Summer (Math) 3 Challenge (Science & Social Studies) 4 LOGO Take the Summer Challenge!

creating a culture of community VISION TO ACTION : RESPECT CIRCLES Jennifer Mayes Manchester Community Schools

Where did the idea of Respect Circles come from?

What are Respect Circles? Teaching explicit lessons to all students, such as: Specific behavior expectations for various locations the building How to “self-monitor” (ie – practice self-control) The use of appropriate words and tone to handle difficult situations with peers. Recognizing students who either display exemplary skills or making great strides in meeting behavior standards. BEHAVIOR PREVENTION & INTERVENTION PROGRAM POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT SYSTEM

Why do Respect Circles? Can no longer assume that students come to school with appropriate skills or problem-solving strategies. Student behaviors often can and do significantly interfere with daily lessons instructional leadership parent / community perceptions

Teacher Buy-In Teachers were tired of being disrespected by “8 year olds” Building principal offered to teach the lessons so that it wasn’t “one more thing” for them to do When implemented in , the district was implementing a new writing program, an updated math program, and a bully prevention program

How does it work? At Klager Elementary: Weekly lessons Delivered in 25 minute sessions One grade level at a time Teaches 3-5 building-wide expectations for different areas of the school Common Vocabulary Covers 9-12 different topics Repeats each marking period Lesson ends with teachers recognizing at least one student in his/her class who was “caught being good” or who was “doing the right thing”

What is self-monitoring?

Possible Topics Cafeteria Buses Playground Guest Teachers Bathrooms Think of any “hot spot” or area that needs to be addressed and turn it into a lesson!

What about the students who struggle with the expectations? Reteach!

What are the results? (Y1) (Y2) Number of students receiving behavior reports 90 (244 reports) 68 (231 reports) 39 (78 reports*) Biggest gains came from students who were not identified as Tier 3 or special education students due to social / emotional issues. From to school year, there was a 31% decrease in the number of “non-identified” students receiving behavior reports.

(Y1) (Y2) Number of office referrals during the months of September & October (Y1) (Y2) Number of office referrals during May & June (Y1) (Y2) Number of remediation lessons delivered408 (62 students) 260 (55 students)

Other Positive Dividends Students see the principal as a teacher / instructional leader Get to interact with all students on a regular basis Elementary students “fill your cup”

The Process, in Greater Detail Stay tuned… further information to come during “table talks”

Project Based Learning Mark Morawski

The most successful leaders succeed by bringing out greatness in others.

 Too often teacher feedback is vague, not prescriptive  Opportunity to knock down teacher ‘silos’  Professionals grow through real dialogue  Capitalize on our biggest strength…STAFF  Fine tuning of skills are more easily accomplished than new skills (Joyce and Showers 1980)

 Input = Output…What about the teachers that ‘mail it in’?  Peer Coaching In a Nutshell  Plan, Observe, Discuss, Reflect, Refine (repeat)

 Start Small  Invitation to Get Out And Learn (GOAL) days with sub or principal coverage  Build time in for discussion between staff  Ask for discussion/feedback during staff meeting  Keep it on the agenda

 Peer coaching partner-selection by teacher  Have pre-coaching meeting to discuss 3-5 areas of focus & discuss lesson plan  Visit- Minimum of 45 min (or one class period)

 Refine, clean up notes from visit before meeting for post conference  Meet with peer to review notes; if not using a substitute post meeting occurs within two days of visit  Complete peer reflection sheet and submit to administrator

 “The top performing school systems recognize that the only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction…which interventions are effective in achieving this- coaching classroom practice, moving teacher training to the classroom, developing stronger school leaders, and enabling teachers to learn from each other.” McKinsey and Company (2007); How the World’s Best Performing Schools Come Out on Top

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