Building Capacity Building Relationships DayataGlance Introductions Building Effective
Building Capacity Building Relationships
Day-at-a-Glance • Introductions • Building Effective Partnerships • TEA’s Strategic Priorities • Model School Presentation • Four Core Beliefs • Home Visits • Strength Vs Deficit Based Mindsets • Impact of PFE • Leadership • Website Walk-through • Building Capacity • Upcoming Events
All Handouts Available on Bit. ly Enter: Bit. ly/pfeteaclusters You will have immediate access to the materials.
Parking Lot Post questions on the parking lot. We will try to get to all of the questions. If you want, put your email address with your question and we will email you an answer.
TEA’s Strategic Priorities
TEA’s Strategic Priorities in Spanish
THE IMPORTANCE OF PARENT AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
Table Activity: What Type of School Are You? Read over the different types of schools below. Take three minutes to visit with your table about what you think are the characteristics of each of these schools. Write those characteristics on a sticky note and post on the appropriate poster. Begin thinking about what type of school you work at; we will discuss this further, later in the session. Types of Schools: Fortress School Come-if-we-call School Open-Door School Partnership School
VIDEO: THE FOUR CORE BELIEFS Dr. Karen Mapp
CORE BELIEF ONE ALL parents/families have dreams for their children and want the best for them. “…I believe that all parents hold big expectations for the role that schools will play in the life chances of their children. They all harbor a large wish list of dreams and aspirations for their youngsters. All families care deeply about their children’ s education and hope that their progeny will be happier, more productive, and more successful than they have been in their lives. ” (Lightfoot) Powerful Partnerships
CORE BELIEF TWO ALL parents/families have the capacity to support their children's learning. Capacity = Potential Powerful Partnerships
CORE BELIEF THREE Families and school/ program staff should be equal partners. School Home Comm unity Powerful Partnerships
CORE BELIEF FOUR The responsibility for building and sustaining partnerships between school, home, and community rests primarily with school/program staff, especially school/program leaders. Powerful Partnerships
If you can't support and embrace these four core beliefs, it will be virtually impossible to have a successful PFE program that includes ALL of your parents and families.
Table Activity: What Type of School Are You? Types of Schools: Fortress School Come-if-we-call School Open-Door School Partnership School Powerful Partnerships
What Type of School Are You? Fortress School Don’t see parents at the school Belief system: We are teachers, not social workers No matter what we do, parents don’t come Come-if-we-call School • Activities are planned by staff • Families visit at open house • Teacher-recorded messages Open-Door School • P-T Conferences – 2 X a year • Curriculum nights – 3 -4 X a year • Multicultural night • Parents are active at the school Partnership School • Home visits to every family • Parents involved in decision-making • Clear two-way communication • Family activities connect to student learning Powerful Partnerships
WHERE DO WE START IN OUR WORK TO BUILD EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS WITH FAMILIES?
WE START WITH OUR OWN CORE BELIEFS It begins with ME!
START WHERE YOU ARE! Where you are is where you start and where you are is a good place because you are starting!
Technical VS Adaptive Challenges Technical: Can be fixed with existing knowledge and solutions. Adaptive: Requires new learning. Takes time and often involves shifts in traditions, beliefs, values, mindsets.
Changing our Paradigm/ Mindsets about PFE Begin with a deep reflection of our own mindsets and biases. o It begins with ME! Instead of a closed, self-sufficient system, schools must see themselves as open systems that engage in learning with families and communities. Schools must see parents as valued partners with their own unique skill set. Schools must form partnerships that encourage learning from people who do not necessarily share similar views or parenting practices. Learn about the unique context and history of the community you serve. o Different does not equal bad or wrong.
Very little will change until our values and priorities change, BUT… • We don’t do it that way • Those parents don’t care • We don’t have time or money to do that • When will they learn “our” language! • I won’t do a home visit in that part of town • I’m willing to compromise a bit if they’ll just follow the rules • We’re a small school in a small town, we know everybody • And…
QUESTION: How do schools, typically entrenched in traditions that define their culture, change their core beliefs and identity? How do they reinvent themselves? (Discuss and report…)
Deficit-based and Strength-based Thinking Strength-based Deficit-based • • • Focus on what’s broken Overcoming weaknesses Problem solving Externally driven Short-term solutions Reliance on expert knowledge • Reform and transition • Highlight past failures • Predict and control • • • Focus on what’s working Emphasizing possibilities Co-Constructing Internally driven Sustainable solutions Reliance on personal strengths • Transform and invent • Highlight past successes • Discovery and surprise
Video: Terrell ISD
Support from the LEADERSHIP is critical to success.
LEADERSHIP… Chooses to embrace and affirm the four core beliefs; Possesses a mindset and purposeful actions that, in large part, determine the school’s culture. Leaders are the drivers for change!
Leadership Drives Systemic Engagement Taking it to the Next Level, IEL
Original Dual Capacity Framework
The Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships (Version 2) The Challenge Essential Conditions Policy and Program Goals Build and enhance the capacity of educators and families in the "4 C" areas: Capacity O utcomes . . . Educators are empowered to: Engage families as co-creators Honor. family funds of knowledge Create welcoming cultures • • Families engage in diverse roles: Effective partnerships that support student and school improvement
INTENTION OF THE UPDATED DUAL CAPACITY-BUILDING FRAMEWORK Instead of a roadmap, the framework providesa compass; a direction forthe development of effective high impact strategies and initiatives.
The challenge helps us understand the reasons why educators and families have struggled to build trusting and effective partnerships. The challenge helps us identify how to execute partnerships and cultivate and sustain positive relationships with families
The essential conditions offer research based guidance for best practice to cultivate and sustain partnerships. The term "process" refers to the actions, operations and procedures that are part of any activity. These "conditions" are key to the design of the activity for building the capacity of families and staff to partner in ways that support student achievement.
Essential Conditions Process Conditions • Provide a guide for strategy development Organizational Conditions • Ensure that engagement efforts are systemic, integrated and sustainable
Elements of relational trust Respect Competence Integrity Personal regard Bryk, A. , & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. Russell Sage Foundation.
Relational Trust - How Do You Know? Am I showing trustworthiness to this parent? Am I seeking input and listening carefully to what families have to say? (Respect) Am I demonstrating to families that I am competent and that I think they are doing a good job as parents? (Competence) Do I always keep my word with families? (Integrity) Do I show families that I care about them as people versus objects? (Personal regard) Elements of relational trust Respect Competence Integrity Personal regard
The policy and program goals highlight the goals and outcomes that should emerge for educators and families when the essential conditions are met.
The various stakeholders (families, district/school leaders and staff) have not had the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills, in other words, the capacity (4 C's) to engage in effective partnerships.
The 4 C’s of Capacity Building • Capabilities – Skills & Knowledge • Connections – Network • Cognition (Consciousness) – Shifts in Beliefs and Values • Confidence – Self-Efficacy
Assessing Readiness Inventory • What engagement practice(s) currently exist in your school/district? Capacity [Capabilities, Connections, Cognition & Confidence] • What do you do well? (Knowledge & Skills) • Who has an engagement mindset (Beliefs & Values) and/or implements effective practice(Selfefficacy)? • What resources exist to support the planning and implementation of effective engagement practice (Networks)?
The capacity outcomes show improvements in capacity lead to educators and families working in mutually supportive ways, leading to school and student improvements.
Our society believes that kids can be saved, so if we have to love somebody, we choose to love the kids. The more difficult struggle is to love and not give up on the adult who is their parent, to believe in the possibilities of a parent's continued growth and evolution. Maisie Chin
Introducing www. Dual. Capacity. org Marissa Alberty Eyal Bergman
Share Your Work
Building Capacity “Thou Shalt” Section 1116 • Assist parents in understanding the State academic standards, State and local academic assessments, and how to monitor a child's progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their children, ESSA Section 1116 (e)(1); • Provide materials and training to help parents to work with their children to improve their children's achievement, such as literacy training and using technology, ESSA Section 1116 (e)(2); • Educate teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, principals, and other school leaders, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and the school, ESSA Section 1116 (e)(3);
“Thou Shalt” cont’d • Coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with other Federal, State, and local programs, including public preschool programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children, ESSA Section 1116 (e)(4); • Ensure that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to the parents of participating children in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand, ESSA Section 1116 (e)(5).
QUESTION: These are rigorous yet practical and beneficial directives. Why do you think too many schools are reluctant to implement these requirements consistently? (Discuss and report…)
BUT, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty… We know PFE is much more than counting heads; it’s about communication, connectedness, and creating a culture… How do we do that?
Leadership “MVP” • A Mindset that embraces the 4 core beliefs • A Vision for a partnership school • A Priority to build the capacity of both staff and families to work together as partners for the benefit of the kids
Home-School Partnerships Are Important Benefits of home-school partnerships • When home and school work together kids do better in school, enjoy school more, and stay in school longer. • These partnerships contribute to the long-term success of students, including the pursuit of post-secondary education. • These partnerships help students succeed both academically and socially. • Positive partnerships leads to improved school morale and improved community perceptions of the school.
Evidences of Parent -Teachers Partnerships 1) Engage together in meaningful dialogue that focuses on student learning and achievement rather than discipline 2) Show mutual respect 3) Actively listen to one another 4) Collaborate on issues that affect student learning and healthy development at both school and home 5) Empathize with one another 6) Open themselves to learning from each other 7) Engage parents in the school's decision-making process 8) Involve students as responsible collaborators in their own learning 9) Help parents understand the school's vision and mission.
Activity: How do we “see” the families of the children in our school? Powerful Partnerships
MODEL SCHOOL PRESENTATION Dr. La. Wanda Finney PFE Coordinator
Home Visits
VIDEO: HOW PFE AND HOME VISITS HAVE CHANGED THEM AS A CLASSROOM TEACHER https: //www. scholastic. com/pro/Partnerships. Resources. html
John Hopkins Evaluation 2015: Family Engagement Partnership (FEP) in Washington, DC • Students whose families received a home visit, one of the core strategies in the FEP, had 24 percent fewer absences than similar students whose families did not receive a visit. • These same students also were more likely to read at or above grade level compared to similar students who did not receive a home visit.
Five Non-negotiables for Family Home Visits 1. Visits are ALWAYS voluntary for educators and families, and always arranged in advance. 2. Focus of the first visit is relationship-building; discuss hopes and dreams. 3. Teachers are trained for home visits. 4. No targeting - visit all or a cross section of students. 5. Educators conduct visits in pairs, with reflection on assumptions, strengths, and bringing what they learned back to the classroom. Powerful Partnerships
If a parent is not comfortable with school staff coming to their home and they do not want to come to the school, suggest a neutral meeting place. THE PLACE SELECTED NEEDS TO BE CONVENIENT FOR THE PARENT(S).
After the home visit, the staff should reflect on these questions: 1. 2. 3. What did I think was going to be true about the family? What strength does the student or family have that I did not know before this visit. How am I going to shift my work in the classroom to leverage this knowledge/asset? Once the process of visiting and reflecting begins, their fears dissipate, and they reap the rewards of their time investment. Powerful Partnerships
Moving PFE Outside the School Walls Enable parents to support their child’s learning through strategies that are aligned with what teachers are using in the classroom o Send home learning kits o Send home ? 's for parents to ask about an assignment o Monthly, send home list of what student will be learning for the month Have math or reading nights at a neighborhood location At the beginning of the school year, do neighborhood walk-throughs Do Home visits Have volunteer tutors at the neighborhood library or community center once a week Get creative - ask lots of questions-find out what they need
Brainstorm with your tablemates: What are some things you are already doing to move PFE outside the school walls?
Parent and Family Engagement is… • • A statutory requirement Often neglected Necessary for student success A best practices that benefits families and schools • Most successful when schools focus on strengths
No Buts! No Excuses! No Justifications! No Cop-Outs! No More Stalling! A PFE mindset reaps reward for EVERYONE! It has a positive impact on student achievement, families, and educators.
IMPACT ON FAMILIES Families' perception of their “job description” shifts (their “role construction”) • Families gain confidence in their ability to shape and influence their children’s learning and development (their “self-efficacy”) • Families develop an increased sense of accountability to their school or neighborhood, and advocate for all children versus their children • Families are empowered to take on new challenges in terms of their education, careers, and civic participation • Powerful Partnerships
IMPACT ON EDUCATORS Partnering with families will: • Contribute to your sense of accomplishment as a teacher. • Reduce your feelings of isolation--your families can act as a source of strength for you as a community that supports your work and goals of student achievement. historically dominated • Break down the race and class hierarchies that have prevented healthy and respectful family-school relationships. • Cultivate mutual respect and trust between home and school-when challenges do arise, they are much more easily resolved. • Transform the instinct to be defensive and break down the us-versusthem dynamic. Powerful Partnerships
IMPACT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Well targeted and widespread PFE participation can contribute to student achievement in a number of ways: • Sending clear signals to students about the value of education. • Ensuring school decisions are broadly representative of local cultures. • Building the capacity of parents to assist the student's learning at home. • Ensuring school activities and actions are respectful and representative of local cultures. • Building mutual commitment by families to take action in the home that supports learning at school. • Enabling teachers and school leaders to access expertise Powerful Partnerships
How do you move from a scary Fortress school to a Come-if-we-call school to an Open-door school to a Partnership school?
The key to creating a successful school culture for PFE rests on choosing the right strategies to meet the needs of students, parents, and the wider community. Leadership “MVP” • Mindset (four core beliefs) • Vision (partnership school) • Priority (build capacity) • And, “takin’ it to the streets”
Success Stories TABLE TALK: At your table describe one PFE success story, and success is NOT defined as a big crowd (talk, listen, and report…)
How to Explore PFE Practices in Your School Understanding the nature and extent of a school's PFE focus is important. These questions may also be useful to ask: Is PFE a recognized topic of staff meetings, professional development, and induction of new staff? Does the school have a clear picture of its own community? What are their needs, and how does this apply to the school? Does the school celebrate events that matter to the school community, such as significant cultural days? How does the school community recognize and support volunteers? How can the work of volunteers be focused to contribute to teaching and learning?
How to Explore PFE Practices in Your School How can schools plan for PFE to make participation as easy as possible? i. e. How can scheduling and notification about PFE events be organized to maximize PFE? How can communication about PFE opportunities be designed to maximize engagement? How can the school mobilize influential community members and parents to engage other community members and parents? How can appropriate and effective communication channels be selected and used to reach parents and community members? What support do staff members, parents, and community need to use various forms of media appropriately and effectively?
An idea I had… A feeling I experienced … An action I plan to take…
PFE Promising Practices Share your PFE promising practice with other LEAs/schools. • Six LEAs/Schools will be honored at the 2020 Statewide PI Conference, and • Highlighted in our Statewide PFE newsletter. For an application to submit, go to https: //www. esc 16. net/page/title 1 swi. _Promising_Practices
VISIT OUR WEBSITE- www. esc 16. net/page/title 1 swi. home
PFE Statewide Conference http: //www. implanners. com/parents 2020 Statewide PFE Conference Where: Waco Convention Center When: December 10 -12, 2020 Conference website will go live on April 15, 2020 77
Statewide PFE Training Opportunities In the spring and summer of 2020, PFE trainings will be offered at multiple ESCs around the state. Be watching the initiative website for more information 78
Join our LISTSERV Go to https: //www. esc 16. net/page/title 1 swi. home Fill in requested information and SUBMIT
GREAT RESOU RCES
You will receive an online evaluation. After completing the evaluation, you will be able to print your certificate.
Title I, Part A Parent and Family Engagement Statewide Initiative At Region 16 Education Service Center Funded by the Texas Education Agency For more information contact Terri Stafford or Skip Forsyth at t 1 pfe@esc 16. net Terri Stafford – 806 -677 -5126 Skip Forsyth – 806 -677 -5186 83
- Slides: 84