How Can We Get Them To Come?

“How Can We Get Them To Come?” This is the question every teacher asks when given the task of coordinating an activity that involves student/parent attendance to be successful. All the research basically says the same thing: If the parents are involved, the students will achieve. As I have found though, many statistics are included, but the “How To” part is still to be decided. I have found great research on Why parent involvement is low for certain populations, specifically Hispanic or African American cultures, but the How is still to be decided. Then I made a correlation between what I read about pushing and resisting forcing for change as it pertains to this project. The cultural and social norms are the resisting forces and the new methods of parent involvement are the pushing forces. With this in mind, I can better understand how to plan effectively and preventatively.

Now for the good stuff – HOW?

This project does NOT include more school-wide activities for teachers to plan and parents to attend. This project focuses on improving communication from school to home regarding the students’ achievement and behavior. Making teacher/parent communication about the student the central focus and creating a climate of “Concern” will change school culture. The side benefit of this project is that teachers will give parents advice on assisting at home and send activities for parent to do at home at least once a month. These can be academic or social activities and will be returned to the teacher with parent signature and record of usage.

What will be accomplished?

Three goals that involve parents are accomplished with this plan, but they all have students as the main focus.
1. Improve parent involvement
2. Help students succeed
3. Develop a campus culture and climate to be one that fosters collaboration and shows concern for all students

The first goal is improving parent involvement with their children. This is accomplished through giving them the information they need to be informed parents and giving them the tools to do it at home.

The second goal is helping students succeed. This will be accomplished through teachers sharing advice with parents, parents reinforcing concepts and the importance of school, as well as building the bond between home and school.
The third goal is to develop a school culture and climate where there is a true bond between school and home. This will be accomplished due to the consistent communication and the focus put on parents’ involvement in the home.

Think about it - Does parent involvement with their children always have to be at school?

Final Action Research Plan

 Statement:

The Title I school has minimal parent involvement. The student population is represented by 50% Hispanic, 49% African American, 87% economically disadvantaged, and 46% at-risk as reported on the AEIS 2010-11 profile.

Action research questions:

• In what ways can we improve parent involvement?
• What are the relationships between parent involvement and student behavior?
• What are the relationships between parent involvement and student achievement?

 

Action Planning Template
Goal: Improving Parent Involvement
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Collect and review literature/ research on parent involvement.	Lara Nixon, Intern	06/23/2012 – 08/01/2012	Literature Websites Blogs Text Action Research	-Sort research into different categories that address the topic -Look for missing information -2/3 of each type -Discuss with categories and breadth with principal
Collect and review parent involvement data from 2011-2012.	Lara Nixon, Intern Office staff or Administrator	07/01/2012 – 08/01/2012	·        school sign-in sheets ·        parent conference forms ·        volunteer forms ·        field trip volunteer forms ·        PTO membership and activity attendance	-Create a  spreadsheet to show the relationship between the data and the 3-5 grade levels -Create a spreadsheet for attendance data at school or PTO Activities -Create a spreadsheet to compare attendance time related to year
Collect and review staff and parent survey data regarding parent involvement	Lara Nixon, Intern Office staff or Administrator	08/01/2012 -08/10/2012	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements -Parent survey -Staff survey	-Create two spreadsheet that represents the data collected
Facilitate a meeting with principal to review school data on parent involvement for 2011-2012 and action research data from literature review.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Staff	08/01/2012  08/10/2012	-Power point about parent involvement and statistics -Graphs and charts that represent the areas of involvement -Graphs and charts that represent the involvement of different subpopulations -Present patterns or questions	-Discuss data and any unanswered questions -Discuss how to address data with staff at a BOY pd session -Outline BOY parent activity and parent meeting
Facilitate staff meetings/pd sessions to review parent involvement data with the intent to brainstorm ideas for BOY and other campus activities with regards to (PI) in and outside of school	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	08/10/2012 – 08/20/2012	-Power point about parent involvement and statistics -Graphs and charts that represent the areas of involvement -Graphs and charts that represent the involvement of different subpopulations -Present patterns or questions	-Staff focus groups will confer on data and share ideas -Staff will draft a list of activities they plan on hosting and groups will rotate to add ideas for (PI) parent involvement in and outside of school -Review BOY school and classroom activities, discuss in depth (PI) -Discuss outline of BOY parent activity and parent meeting -Have staff sign-up on activity committees
Reflection on implementing the BOY activities and activities throughout the year; monetary needs, staff volunteer availability and methods of  parent involvement	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Leadership Team	08/10/2012 – 08/20/2012	-Staff draft of school activities for the year -Parent involvement methods -BOY activity -Staff sign-up	-Questionable activities will be set aside for a staff meeting -Create a draft budget for each activity -Analyze staff sign-up and target low enrollment areas for PTO assistance -Create an outline with staff volunteers and budgets, share as google.doc with staff -Invite teachers to meet to discuss questionable activities
Facilitate a parent volunteer meeting to address the school volunteer policy, activities on campus, activities from home and after hours activities and programs, room parent needs	Lara Nixon, Intern Volunteer Teachers Principal	08/20/2012 – 08/30/2012	-Power point to address main points of parent involvement affects, coming activities, at home and after hours activities -Parent volunteer sign-up sheets for coming activities -Room parent sign-up sheets -Volunteer background forms	-Have staff do a head count at the meeting -Have parents fill out a survey about meeting -Compare meeting attendance and forms filled out, with teachers in reference to last year
Facilitate meetings with teachers in grades 3-5 monthly to discuss progress of students, parent data collected and parent involvement facilitated by the teachers.	Lara Nixon, Intern Teachers Grades 3-5	09/01/2012 – 05/01/2013	-Student grades -Parent communication logs -Parent Involvement logs -Office/parent volunteer sign-in sheets	-Monitor weekly communication, behavior, academic progress or struggles, student and parent involvement attendance -Create goals each month to target student and parent involvement -Chart progress and goals met
Conduct a staff MOY survey regarding their observations of student behavior, achievement, parent involvement, and suggestions for improvements for the 2nd semenster.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Staff Leadership Team	11/15/2012 – 12/20/2012	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements that we can make for the 2nd semester -Staff survey	-Write a summary of the survey results -Compare MOY data to BOY survey data -Correlate data from teacher meetings
Reflection on implementing the parent involvement methods and progress of targeted students with the intent to make changes if needed	Lara Nixon, Intern	12/20/2012 – 01/10/2013	-Summary of the staff survey data (regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements for the 2nd semester) -Compared data from surveys -Correlated data from teacher meetings	-Reflect on the results from the staff MOY survey, the compared data, and the correlated data from teacher meetings -Draft changes if needed
Facilitate staff meetings/pd sessions to review parent involvement data from teacher survey with the intent to discuss changes to the 2nd semester	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal Leadership Team Staff	12/20/2012 – 01/10/2013	-Results from the staff MOY survey, the compared data, and the correlated data from teacher meetings -Drafted changes	-Staff discussion on results and drafted changes
Conduct a staff EOY survey regarding their observations of parent involvement for the 2012-13 year and suggestions for improvements for the 2013-14 year.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	05/01/2013 – 05/30/2013	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements, celebrations -Staff survey	-Have teacher team and administrator look over survey and discuss the questioning prior to conducting survey -Create a summary of the data collected
Conduct a parent EOY survey regarding the school’s approach to parent involvement and suggestions for improvements for the 2013-14 year.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	05/01/2013 – 05/30/2013	-List of survey questions regarding parent involvement methods, issues, improvements, celebrations -Parent survey	-Have leadership team and principal look over survey and discuss the questioning prior to conducting survey -Create a summary of the data collected
Facilitate an EOY staff meeting/pd session to present data collected all year on the students, parent involvement and EOY survey data.	Lara Nixon, Intern Teachers Grades 3-5 Principal	05/30/2013 – 06/05/2013	-Create spreadsheets that represent the 2012-13 school year parent involvement in various activities -Create a spreadsheet that shows the parent involvement and correlated student data -Create a spreadsheet that compares the previous year’s data -Create two summaries from the staff and parent survey data	-Conduct a staff survey on the effectiveness of the action research on the campus and the delivery of the information throughout the year
Reflection on the action research process, data, methods and activities.	Lara Nixon, Intern Principal	05/30/2013 – 06/05/2013	-Staff survey on the effectiveness of the action research on the campus and the delivery of the information throughout the year (from intern)	-Journal about all aspects of the action research -Focus on leadership methods used & why -Focus on issues and outcomes -Focus on staff and student morale

What "wonderings" do I have in each of the 9 Passions?

Examples of the 9 Passions/Areas for Action Research

Staff development

-In what ways can I, as a principal, best facilitate teacher professional growth to aid in their integration of problem solving strategies across the elementary curriculum?

-This area of research is important due to the fact that the new state standardized tests for math focus on multi-step problem solving.

Curriculum development

-How we can improve the social studies curriculum in the areas of citizenship and character education campus-wide?

-This area is important for building student morale, raising involved citizens and teaching social skills to better our communities.

Individual teacher(s)

-What types of support help new teachers succeed?

-New teachers need to be knowledgeable of many functions of the school and curriculum quickly. If we can better prepare teachers to succeed, then our students will succeed as well.

Individual student(s)

-What is the relationship between struggling student who are mentored and student achievement and behavior?

-This is important due to the fact that struggling students need support systems, role models and adults from the outside world to introduce them to aspects of life.

School culture/community

-In what ways can our school develop a collaborative culture characterized by teachers from different grade levels communicating, understanding, and sharing expectations for all our students?

-It is important to ensure that all students’ needs are addressed and teachers are supported in their efforts with background knowledge, then teachers can be more efficient and effective in the instructional process.

Leadership

-How do I improve my ability to inspire others and gain staff buy-in?

-This is an areas of importance due to the fact that if staff are not invested in the process, then the process will not be 100% successful for students. In order to stay focused and keep growing as an educator, you must be inspired by great leaders.

Management

-How can all staff work together to improve the dismissal procedures?

-This is important for the safety off all community members. Improving a system can show that staff are observant, desire change for the better, care about the students and families. A well managed facility improves morale.

School performance

-How will cross-curricular strategic vocabulary development affect English Language Learner reading achievement?

-This area is important for meeting the needs of our struggling populations. Using all content areas to close the gaps in vocabulary could lead to reading gains.

Social justice or equity issues

-What can I do to close the achievement gap and improve our practice toward English Language Learners?

-This inquiry is important due to the ever-growing ELL population, the state mandated achievement tests and the rising retention/dropout rates.

How can educational leaders use blogs?

Educational leaders how a variety of ways to implement blogs in the school setting. Administrators can use a blog as a discussion board for staff to problem solve simple issues that arise throughout the year. Blogs can also be used as a way for PLCs and other committees to communicate their problems or plans and get feedback from other staff. As a part of a staff development tool, teachers and administrators can Blog about their action research projects so that other district personnel can be part of a greater learning community.

What is Action Research or Administrative Inquiry?

        Administrative inquiry or action research can be simply defined as systematically examining and reflecting on data to plan change. But the inquiry and resulting plan are so much more complex. The process starts with the administrator reflecting and identifying an area of needed improvement. They then begin reading literature that pertains to the area of need and collect relevant data. Through this process the administrator learns new methods and new ideas are generated.

      At this point, the administrator creates a plan of action to address the area of needed improvement. Then they define the guidelines and methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the improvement plan. The administrator must implement the plan and continue to monitor the changes that occur, revisiting the progress regularly by using the evaluation methods. They must continue to make changes based on the evaluations and the areas of needed improvement.

      This preventative approach has been utilized since early twentieth century and is still implemented today in professional preparation programs. Benefits of conducting action research include personal growth in areas identified through self-assessment and reflection. Due to the time invested in assessment and reflection, the individual or group has a greater buy-in to the activity, making the possibility of improvement greater. Another benefit of action research includes greater campus improvement when done in teams or PLCs. The impact is greater due to the fact that they address the needs of a larger group of students and there is a larger group of staff to benefit the inquiry.