1. NAACP Parent Focus Group
Tuesday, April 21, 2015

2. Agenda Light Snacks & Refreshments Principal’s Welcome
Culturally Relevant Instruction
Student Focus Groups

3. Principal’s Welcome
Thank you for sharing all the positive feedback about Parkland! Some of the positive comments:
Recognize student progress through honor roll, ABC party, connect ed
Teachers willing to stay after and during lunch break to help students and make sacrifices
Awesome programs, like the music department, Outdoor Ed, Career Day, etc
Incorporate class content throughout all classes; studying aerospace and doing projects related to this content area
Helping 6th graders adjust to middle school
3 progress reports each quarter, constant communication with parents
Balance between academics and extra-curricular activities
Working to ensure African American test scores increase
Meeting each child’s needs
Teachers are responsive, provide feedback via s and postcards

4. Principal’s Welcome (cont.)
We also want to thank you for your honest feedback about some concerns you had. Some of the major concerns:
Address lack of respect between students and teachers
Staff and students need cultural sensitivity training
Lack of relationships between teachers and students
Lack of respect towards students (e.g. stereotyping and how slang is directed in conversations to students, inappropriate comments made to students, parent witnessed dismissive/disrespectful situation towards students from a teacher)
How teachers treat students is linked to how well they perform
Partner with parents and provide resources to address the achievement gap on standardized tests and rigor
Not enough time allowed for parent teacher conferences, more opportunities to have serious conversations with the principal
Disconnect between parents and teachers with respect to rigor
Provide study guides in advance, not the night before

5. Culturally Relevant Instruction
One part of Parkland’s School Improvement Plan (SIP) was to focus on Culturally Relevant Instruction in order to increase student achievement for Black and Latino students.
Based on the research of Gloria Ladson Billings, Geneva Gay and other key scholars.
These scholars argue that when teachers work to make content relevant to students cultural background and work to build relationships with students’ academic achievement will increase.
Teachers participated in a cycle of work on examining their beliefs, were introduced to key tenets of culturally relevant instruction and created lessons integrating the principles of culturally relevant instruction.

6. Student Focus Groups 16 Student Groups
Students were chosen using the Early Warning Indicator database
Groups were representative of the student population of Parkland based on race, gender, and support level
Groups met with Mrs. Floyd (SDT) for 30 minutes
Students took a short survey and then questions for students were based off the results of the survey
Survey questions centered around the topics of personal relationships and instruction

7. Student Focus Groups Summary Results
Relationships Category
Students feel teachers do not take the time to listen to them
Students feel teachers do not always talk to them in a respectful way
Instruction Category
Students feel teachers do not always explain things in ways they understand
Students feel teachers move too fast through content
Students feel teachers talk during class too much

8. Next Steps
Providing professional development sessions in which teachers explore their own beliefs
Providing professional development sessions for teachers that focus on ways to develop positive, meaningful relationships with students that are respectful
Providing professional development sessions for teachers that focus on student centered learning, checking for understanding, and breaking down content into manageable chunks