Slide 1

What We Believe Helps Families and Children SucceedTitle I SummitJune 19, 2014

1Familieslearning.org

Our Solutions- resourcesWe are employees of the nonprofit organization, the National Center for Families Learning. We were established in 1989 by our president, Sharon Darling. Our mission is to inspire and engage families in the pursuit of education and learning together.

2Do You Believe?Effective family engagement begins with a set of beliefs:All parents have dreams for their children and want the best for themAll parents have the capacity to support their childrens learningParents and school staff should be equal partnersThe responsibility for building partnerships between school and home rests primarily with school staff, especially school leaders. Organizations serving families must build trust and mutual understanding

(Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, and Davies, 2007)We believeall parents have dreams for their children and want the best for them.

Family unit is the building block of societyConvergence around intergenerational learning in response to:American students ranked 36th in overall academic achievement (PISA, 2012)Many adults fail to reach their full potential compared to other countries (Perez-Pena, 2013)

Families, home, and community are the drivers of a childs education. The family literacy approach harnesses the strength of parent-child bonds to help those who are most at risk of failing economically, emotionally, and socially. We build success by strengthening their confidence, increasing their ability, and broadening their outlook. The results have an impact on a personal level as well as a national one.

While these are recent figures, intergenerational learning was seen as a way to move families out of poverty and 4We believeall parents have the capacity to support their childrens learning.

Focus on building executive function, self-regulation, and other college and career readiness skills for young people and their caregivers depends on effective family engagement practicesThis results in generational (unlimited) change

While individual family learning capacity can vary widely, we believe it is essential to build individual families and establish deliberate connections to societal good5Building Family CapacityVarying family capacity should not be recognized through a deficit lens, but rather as unrealized potential.(Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, and Davies, 2007 ; Epstein, 2001; PTA, 2009)

We have a widely successful platform for families learning together.Wonderopolis..6Toyota Family Learning

familytimemachine.com

Dinner Geometry

Print....log in or register.view all dinner time activities.

Click Here to See More!tied to Wonders of the Day

8We believeparents and school staff should be equal partners.

Creating a partnership with family membersFocusing on student achievement

We would like to begin today thinking about why we were invited to participate in todays summit.

Parent involvement..family engagementthe beliefs, attitudes and activities of families to support their childrens learning whether at home, at school or in the community. This definition reflects the fact that families play significant roles in ensuring their childrens learning in guiding their children successfully through a complex school system, and in advocating for their children and effective schools. Family engagement has multiple dimensions, including parental aspirations, parenting behaviors and school relationships. (p. xix) Weiss, Kreider, Lopez, and Chatman-Nelson (2010) in Preparing Educators to Engage Families.

Partnering with families for student success9Partnering with FamiliesThere are more opportunities to engage in family learning in both online and offline environments today than ever before.(Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, & Davies, 2007; Epstein, 2001; PTA, 2009)

We have a widely successful platform for families learning together.Wonderopolis..10We believethe responsibility for building partnerships between school and home rests primarily with school staff, especially school leaders.

Think of strategies you have used to engage family members.Which of these positively impacted your students learning? Why?

Consider the students you worked with this past year.Make a list of the strategies you used to involve family members.Which of these strategies impacted your students learning? Why?Share with a neighbor.

Add to your list as we continue our conversation today.

Rapport building is paramount to engaging your families. Therefore, you must know your families.11Family WorkshopsWhat is my purpose and topic?What are my goals?For parents?For students?What resources, materials and supplies do I need?

En CaminoOn Our Way

wonderopolis.org

In response to focus groups that were held with parents across the country, we worked with a marketing company to create this resource that would provide parents a way to engage with their children in learningbut not centered around homework. Wonderopolis has taken off and is now used in schools as well. It has grown and now has some features that teachers requesteda vocabulary and a comprehension quiz. The video is engagingthe text is informational.and we now focus more on STEM.but all the while helping keep that sense of Wonder. All Wonders of the Dayyesthere is a new Wonder each day.new info text to use.are archived.and can be found by topicwith some 100 topics listed. It is a great resource and I encourage you to check it out. This week the site was taken over by our summer camp programCamp Wonderopolisso when you go to the site you will see things a bit differently than the other Wondersbut there is still info text there to access and fun to be had! This is all free!14We believeorganizations serving families must build trust and mutual understanding.

Increased student achievementImproved self-efficacyIncreased graduation ratesLow income and minority students benefit disproportionately from family engagementMore efficient use of teacher time in the classroom

Effective Family Engagement in ActionSpringdale Public Schools, Springdale, Arkansas

Orange County Public Schools, Orlando, Florida

TFLP.75 sites in 25 cities across the country..first group in 2003.immigrant families..16Springdale Public SchoolsDistrict of 21,000 students Major family engagement efforts:Toyota Family Literacy Program grant in 2008$26 million SPS Race to the Top District Grant 2013Focus on developing parents as partners in the educational process

Started in 2008 with the grant in three schools17SPS: StrategiesFour component family literacy programs in 18 sitesStudent-led conferencingParent information nightsCollege and career readiness seminars for familiesParent leadership opportunitiesFour component family literacy programs.Childrens Ed, Adult Ed, Parent Ed, and what we call our sweet spotPACT Timeparents and children learning together. The district saw what was happening and invested more in the programat 18 sites now!18SPS: OutcomesPercentage of ELL students proficient in English increasedIncreased self-efficacy among parentsIncreased parent attendance at parent eventsIncreased adult literacy ratesPercentage of parents reading to their children 4 times a week increased by 39%, 5 times a week increased by 42% Orange County and City YearOrange County Public Schools is a district of over 175,000 studentsMajor family engagement efforts:Public/private partnership with City Year OrlandoFight the national dropout crisisEmphasis on building trust with families

Orange County: StrategiesPhone calls home to families to celebrate success AND to share challenges (attendance, behavior, academics)Active participation in parent teacher conferencesPurposeful relationship-building activities with students during the school dayParticipation in school advisory committeesParticipation in family engagement nightsOrange County: OutcomesEarly anecdotal evidence of success included numerous parent and teacher testimonialsOne mother reported that her children have improved their grades from Ds to Bs this year as a result of the projectPositive phone calls home and constant communications with parents were often cited as the primary reasons for successOCPS and City Year look forward to more quantitative success as the year continuesWe believeIndiana educators have the knowledge, skills, and resources to engage families so that all children succeed.

Do you believe?ReferencesDearing, E., Kreider, H., Simpkins, S., & Weiss, H. (2006). Family involvement in school andlow income childrens literacy: Longitudinal associations between and within families. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98 (4). 653-664.Epstein, J. L. (1987). Parent involvement: State education agencies should lead the way. Community Education Journal, 14 (4), 4-10.Epstein, J. L. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Ferguson, C. (2008). The school-family connection: Looking at the larger picture. Austin, Texas: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York: Routledge.Henderson, A. T., Mapp, K. L., Johnson, V. R., & Davies, D. (2007). Beyond the bake sale: The essential guide to family-school partnerships. New York: The New Press.Hindman, A., Skibbe, L., Miller, A., & Zimmerman, M. (2010). Ecological contexts and early learning: Contributions of child, family, and classroom factors during Head Start to literacy and mathematics growth through first grade. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25, 235-250.National Center for Families Learning. (2013). Meta analysis of the studies of high performing family literacy programs. Retrieved from http://familieslearning.org/pdf/TFLPSynthesis.pdf

ReferencesNorthwestern University Center on Media and Human Development. (2013, June). Parenting in the age of digital technology: A national survey. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University.OECD. (2013). PISA 2012 results in focus: What 15-year-olds know and what they can do with what they know. Retrieved from: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012results-overview.pdf Perez-Pena, R. (2013). U.S. adults fare poorly in a study of skills. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/us/us-adults-fare-poorly-in-a-study-of-skills.htmlPTA. (2009). PTA national standards for family-school partnerships: An implementation guide. Retrieved from http://www.pta.org/programs/content.cfm?itemnumber=1804.Schoolwires & Project Tomorrow. (2013). Reaching the new digital parent: An administrators guide. Retrieved from: http://www.schoolwires.com/cms/lib3/SW00000001/Centricity/Domain/68/PI_A minGuide-chp1-r2.pdf. Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st Century skills: Learning for life in our times. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.Shonkoff, J. (2013). Strengthening adult capacities to improve child outcomes: A new strategy for reducing intergenerational poverty. Retrieved from http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/ExclusiveCommentary.aspx?id=7a0f1142-f33b40b882eb-73306f86fb74