School Answering Service

1. School Answering Service • The Internet Provides Us With A New Answering Service. • Does this sound like the feeling of some staff members in your school---maybe even you?

2. We All Have A Part To Play • School/Parent Compact • Includes pledges that detail what the school, the parent, and the student will commit to uphold in the formation of an educational partnership. • The Compact looks good on paper but all too often, what is written is not taken to heart and implemented.

3. The School Pledges To… • Treat every child with dignity and respect • Address the individual needs of each student. • Acknowledge that caregivers are vital to the success of the school and its students. • Provide a safe, positive, and healthy learning environment. • Assure every student access to quality learning experiences appropriate to his/her development. • Assure that school staff communicates clear expectations for performance to both students and parents. • Assure appropriate participation of parents in the decisions relating to the education of their children.

4. The Parent Pledges To… • Encourage reading activities for the child, monitor assignments, and encourage homework completion. • Send the child to school regularly, on time, well fed, and well rested. • Review all school communications and respond promptly. • Attend school functions and conferences. • Encourage the child to demonstrate respect for school personnel, property, and peers. • Participate in decisions relating to the education of my child.

5. The Student Pledges To… • Get to school on time every day. • Develop a positive attitude about school. • Return completed homework on time. • Be a cooperative learner and listen to the teacher’s instructions. • Ask for help when needed. • Be respectful to school personnel, other students, and school property. • Participate in appropriate extra-curricular activities.

6. BARRIERS TO LEARNING

7. Recognize The Indicators • Freud’s Defense Mechanisms • Compensation: covering up weaknesses • Denial of Reality: refusal to perceive reality • Displacement: discharging pent up feelings on other objects • Fantasy: daydreaming for example • Isolation: cutting off from hurtful situations • Projection: placing blame on others • Rationalization: justifying one’s behavior • Repression: pushing thoughts out of consciousness

8. Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs

9. Cultural Deprivation One interpretation of this theory suggests that some students do poorly academically because there is insufficient emphasis on the importance of education emanating from the home. In this theory, the lack of emphasis results from a history of education being meaningless. The caregivers were not academically successful and likely neither were previous generations. In effect, the household is deprived of the basic knowledge to effectively navigate through the educational arena. They don’t know how to teach their children to study. They don’t know the concept of meaningful parental involvement. They don’t know how to be in partnership with the school in the educational process.

10. Culture Of Poverty This theory surmises that students in effect become products of their environment. The title notwithstanding, the problem is not with poverty itself. It’s just that impoverished communities tend to have more negative influences to overcome. What the Culture of Poverty means is that the people within such a community are devoid of enough positive examples to give them much hope that life has more to offer them than their present condition. If the household within such a community is not strong; if caregivers are not there pushing their children to be all they can be; if education isn’t emphasized in the home to make up for the negative forces in the community, then the children within that household are much more susceptible.

11. By The Numbers - 5th Grade

12. By The Numbers - 8th Grade

13. By The Numbers - 11th Grade

14. MAKING A DIFFERENCE

15. The Individual Teacher Can… • Establish Climate & Foster Culture • Maintain Climate & Culture • Establish Relationships

16. Establish Climate & Foster Culture • Introduce yourself • Have students introduce themselves • Obtain emergency contact information • Establish behavioral expectations • Identify academic expectations • Establish academic accountability • Reinforce that education is paramount • Draft a letter to caregivers

17. Maintain Climate & Culture • Stick to the rules • Maintain high expectations • Accentuate the positive • Redirect the negative • Document everything

18. Establish Relationships • Share yourself with your students • Talk to and listen to your students • Communicate with caregivers

19. The School As A Team Can… • Implement Student Support Processes • Provide For Adequate Staff to Facilitate Supports • Partner With Social Service Agencies • Implement The National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement

20. GROUP ACTIVITY • Alpha Groups: Review the assigned Case Study from the text, Beyond Content. Answer the accompanying focus questions. • Beta Groups: Review the case study handouts and answer the accompanying focus questions.

21. The National Standards • Communicating • Parenting • Student Learning • Volunteering • School Decision Making and Advocacy • Collaborating With Community

22. Standard I: Communicating Communication between home and school is regular, two-way, and meaningful. Communication is regular, meaning caregivers should not be surprised when they finally hear from the school. In some form or fashion, they should be used to hearing from the school. In fact, the surprise should come if, for some strange reason, caregivers do not hear from the school. Likewise, the school should have a culture established where caregivers routinely communicate their concerns to the school, a two-way relationship. Schools must be careful not to inundate caregivers with nonsense just so it can be said that there is communication. Communication must be meaningful and with a purpose.

23. Standard II: Parenting Parenting skills are promoted and supported. No courses are mandated in order to become a caregiver. It is generally assumed that parenting is an innate ability but that often proves to not be the case. Some caregivers recognize for themselves the need for guidance and they actively seek it. Others may need to be guided to the help. It becomes our responsibility to point them in the right direction if for no other reason than caregivers and schools alike are partners in servicing the same client base: the students.

24. Standard III: Student Learning Caregivers play an integral role in assisting student learning. We must come to the realization that the business of educating children, in order to be done effectively, must truly be a partnership between home and school. For caregivers to assist the school in student learning, the school must first inform the caregivers of what that assistance should look like. What are the school’s expectations? What requirements are incumbent upon the caregiver? If we don’t tell them, how will they know? If we don’t include them, how can they show?

25. Standard IV: Volunteering Caregivers are welcome in the school and their support and assistance are sought. Too often, schools view caregivers as a burden or as a hindrance rather than as helpers. If schools would only embrace caregivers, they would quickly recognize the value in so doing. By embracing the caregiver, the school chips away at deep-rooted animosities. By welcoming the caregivers, the school counteracts that Us vs. Them mentality. By including the caregivers in a meaningful way, schools establish that true partnership that is so essential to the mission of effectively educating the students. Haven’t we figured out by now that we cannot do it all by ourselves?

26. Standard V: School Decision Making & Advocacy Caregivers are full partners in the decisions that affect children and families. Sure, we are the education professionals. Yes, we went to college and received all of the training. Granted, we’ve been to countless professional development sessions and seminars. All that being the case, we still do not have all of the answers. Caregivers have some insight as well and know just a bit about what works well for their children. Besides, how can caregivers be expected to partner with the school if they had no voice in the design of the partnership? Inclusion breeds buy-in.

27. Standard VI: Collaborating With Community Community resources are used to strengthen schools, families, and student learning. The expectations within the educational arena continue to be heightened by Federal, State, and Local mandates. At the same time, budgets and resources continue to diminish. We must look beyond the school’s walls for entities that can help us in the mission to effectively educate students. Again, this requires us to step out of our comfort zones and open our doors to yet another entity. Whatever the amount of effort necessary to forge a productive collaboration with various community groups, if the end result is a balanced educational program that meets the myriad needs of the student population, then it’s all worthwhile.

28. Create An Involvement Plan • Identify one of the six standards as your group’s area of focus • State your objective • Finish completing the Action Plan Template, providing information in each column.

29. What Have We Discussed? • There are reasons why students don’t achieve • We each have a responsibility as educators to address those reasons • Schools as a collective have a responsibility to address those reasons • Only through the establishment of relationships/partnerships with all stakeholders will we truly make strides in solving the problem