TENNESSEE STATE IMPROVEMENT GRANT (TN SIG) 2008 SIG/SPDG Regional Meeting

TN SIG C OMPONENTS Preschool School Family Higher Education

F AMILY C OMPONENT Target Audience: Families and School Personnel Content Reading Strategies Family Involvement Response to Intervention Literacy and Individual Education Plans (IEP) Activities Workshops Online Course Products: DVD, Flyers, Toolkit, Newsletters Booklet, Website, etc.

Parent Portal Teacher Portal SIG Products

Family Component Evolvement Initially, the SIG conducted workshops for families Provided families with literacy toolkits Workshops were conducted on an as-requested basis Workshops included information for typically- developing children, followed by breakout sessions for those who so desired Additionally, provided direct service to parents of students with special needs as needed

L ESSONS L EARNED FROM THE FIRST YEARS OF TN SIG o This approach presented challenges with regard to scale up Expensive ($25 per toolkit) Time-intensive (sometimes traveled across state for workshop with 10 people attending) o Challenges with regard to sustainability Lack of self-sustaining infrastructure (beyond the life of the grant) Did not address the disconnect between schools and families (only reached the few families who usually attended; did not reach those who most need help) Lack of a follow-up mechanism (one-time, general sessions not most effective method of training/education)

HOW DID WE APPROACH SCALE UP? Train schools/districts to help them organize and conduct their own literacy workshops (developed companion workbook and PowerPoint slides)

HOW DID WE APPROACH SCALE UP? Facilitate school-family communication (help teachers think about family involvement differently) Provide strategies for schools to works with families and vice versa (strategies workshop and handout)

HOW DID WE APPROACH SCALE UP? Conduct an online class for teachers on involving families (Building Bridges between Family/School) Ensure that all products are available online at Work with schools/districts that receive PD from TN SIG component

C URRENT F AMILY P ROFESSIONAL D EVELOPMENT A CTIVITIES Family Workshops and Products RTI: What Families Need To Know Literacy Is For ALL Infusing Literacy in the IEP Unlocking Your Schools Family Involvement Potential Helping Your Child at Home, Strategies Parents Can Use Families Helping Children Become Better Readers Preschool Literacy Guides – English and Spanish

C URRENT F AMILY P ROFESSIONAL D EVELOPMENT A CTIVITIES School Personnel Workshops and Products Facilitators’ Guide to Families Helping Children Become Better Readers (for teachers) Building Bridges between Families and Schools (Online course for teachers) Engaging Families: Lessons Learned (for teachers) Unlocking Your School’s Family Involvement Potential (for parents and teachers)

L ESSONS L EARNED AS WE SCALED UP Difficulties in: Addressing the needs of all – general education, special education, grade levels, achievement levels Encouraging attendance by parents whose children really need the information being presented, not just the attendance of families who always come Changing teachers’ views of family involvement as only ‘in-school” activities and numbers of people who show up at school

L ESSONS L EARNED AS WE SCALED UP Steps taken to address difficulties: General sessions, with additional sessions for specific needs as requested Teacher calls, several reminder notices, duplicate sessions at more than one time/place, providing food/child activities Working with teachers to find ways to get the information home to parents through communication networks:  A workshop is not only a meeting on a topic held at the school building at a particular time, but also the content of a topic to be viewed, heard, or read at convenient times and varied locations. (Epstein, 2002)

P RESENT C HALLENGES Doing more with less Finding ways to evaluate Family services Strengthening our SIG presence by providing family services in schools where SIG consultants are already working with teachers Getting the word out about what we can offer Following up with contacts to schedule our family services Matching our services with schools’ needs

P RESENT C HALLENGES Ensuring parents whose children have special needs know about the workshops and services we offer Avoiding one-time professional development workshops, but instead providing multiple, comprehensive events on a systemic level Aligning services offered to families with services offered to school staff. Working at the system level instead of the individual school level Taking the time to put all of our products into finished products that will be uploaded to website.

QUESTIONS? Kathy Strunk, Director Connie White, Center for Literacy Studies Reggie Curran, Center for Literacy Studies Chithra Perumal, Evaluator