Past Messages From Wanda

We have another guest speaker for this month. Larry Ferlazzo teaches English and Social Studies to English Language Learners and mainstream students at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. His book Building Parent Engagement In Schools (written with Lorie Hammond) will be published by Linworth Publishing this summer. He also writes a popular blog on teaching English Language Learners called Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of The Day and recently became a member of the Teacher Leaders Network Forum. Prior to becoming a high school teacher five years ago, Larry spent 19 years working as a community organizer. He also writes for In Practice, a group blog populated by teachers in low-income communities from across the United States.

SCUSD SAC City DAC Minutes 10-20-09

The purpose of the parent-teacher conference is to form a partnership between the home and the school so your child can be a successful learner. It’s a time for you to ask questions about learning expectations for your child and how your child is progressing. It’s a time for you and the teacher to work together to find ways you both can help your son or daughter. Here are some suggestions as to how to make the most of parent-teacher conferences.

Ask your child what you should talk about with the teacher. Find out which subjects he or she likes the best, and which ones the least. Ask why. Ask if your child feels safe at school.

Don’t let language differences stop you from attending the conference. If your school does not have a translator available for you, bring along a trusted neighbor or family member who speaks English and can translate for you.

If you are not able to attend the conference at the time assigned to you, call the teacher and ask for a time that is convenient for both of you.

Write a list of questions about your student’s progress. Some examples might be:

Is my child working up to his or her ability? If not, what can we do to change that?

How your child can get help if he or she doesn’t understand the homework assignment

Refer to the notes you made before the conference so you can be sure to ask the questions that are most important to you.

If the teacher tells you that your child isnot achieving to his or her ability, stay calm. This is the time to work with the teacher to develop a plan on how to improve your child’s performance. Ask the teacher what the school is doing to help your child improve and ask what you can do to support schoolwork at home. Find out if there is tutoring or extra help available.

If the teacher tells you that your child is excelling, ask what the school is doing to provide challenging work; ask what you can do to support that effort at home. It’s just as important to boost your child’s strengths as it is to strengthen his or her weaknesses.

Discuss areas in your child’s school life that are not easily measured by grades.

Does your child have friends? Does your child work cooperatively with other students and the teacher? How your child gets along with other people will make a big difference in every part of his or her life.

Make the most of your time. Arrive on time. Ask the most important questions first. Listen carefully to what the teacher tells you. Conferences are usually scheduled for 30 minutes. You want every minute to count.

If possible, avoid bringing babies or younger children to the meeting as they can be distracting and you want to be able to give your full attention to talking with the teacher. If it is necessary to bring younger children to the conference, notify the teacher ahead of time. In most cases, the teacher will be able to set up a desk where the child can sit down with books or activities to keep his or her attention, so you can focus on the conference with the teacher.

Share information about your child such as any special needs, changes in the family such as divorce or separation, the birth of a new baby, or death of a loved one.

If any problems are raised about your child’s academic progress or social adjustment, make sure you work out a plan with the teacher to change the situation.

Take notes during the conference so you can remember what the teacher said. After the meeting, review your notes. If something is unclear, contact the teacher to clarify. Notes are also good if you want to share the results of the conference with a family member who wasn’t able to attend.

Discuss with your child what was said during the conference; emphasize the teacher’s positive comments. Use this as an opportunity to praise your child and to show your true interest in his or her school life.

Talk to your child about ways to improve schoolwork and study habits. Start right now on any action plan you and the teacher developed. Discuss the plan with your child, making sure he or she understands that the purpose of the plan is to help the child succeed.

Make sure the plan is working; carefully observe your child’s behavior, class assignments, and homework; let the teacher know how your student is progressing.

What are my child’s strengths/weaknesses? And how can I help strengthen my child’s weaknesses?

How is my child’s attendance? (Especially important for older students who may leave for school after parents do.)

What resources are available to help me better understand my child’s homework/phonics/math?

What if my child is a slow learner and falls behind, or is a fast learner and is bored?

Parents Design L.A. Parent Involvement Model

by: by Ellen Noyes, Children's Advocate

Los Angeles parents have a new tool this fall to help them be more active and engaged in their children’s schools. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will be implementing a new model for involving parents in schools that specifically addresses the needs of “parents of colowith kids who struggle in urban schools,” says Mary Johnson, mother of two and executive director of Parent-U-Turn.

The new parent involvement model—developed by Parent-U-Turn, an organization focused on improving parent involvement in schools—aims to “help urban parents advocate for their children, navigate the K-12 system, ask [schools] the right questions, and know about policy,” says Johnson. The LAUSD is implementing the new model this fall—and now schools across California can also adopt it.

Valuing parents’ voices

“Parents are the best experts. It’s time to make the voices of urban parents equal to the voices of others,” says Johnson. Parent-U-Turn’s parent involvement model (see below: Parents as advocates) will help parents better advocate for children in schools, with the aim of “decreasing the student achievement gap [and] drop-out rates, increasing graduation [rates] in urban schools of color,” she adds.

Parent leaders will learn more about their rights as parents, how to collect and understand data about how children are doing in schools, and how to make sure their children get the resources they need to succeed. Parent leaders will then hold ongoing trainings at their children’s schools to get more parents involved. “Parents listen to parents more,” notes Johnson.

Parent-U-Turn’s model differs from other parent involvement models because it includes “components such as empowering parents to become leaders [and] data collection and analysis,” adds Anna Carrasco, parent ombudsperson for local district 6 of the LAUSD. “[Parents need] to learn the key factors that make a difference in supporting their child’s education and communicating with the school. The more parents know, the more they can help support their child, even parents who don’t speak English.”

“Many parents are already leaders in many programs,” Johnson adds. “They just need spaces to engage with others and to show their expertise. In the past the only [tool] parents had was a report card.”

Ideas from the community

Parent-U-Turn’s parent involvement model is “based on experiences from parents [at low-performing] schools that have successfully navigated their children to universities,” says Johnson. In 2006, Parent-U-Turn held focus groups, conducted surveys, and interviewed parents about barriers to getting involved in their children’s schools. They listened to parents’ needs and concerns and “how they navigate the system,” recalls Johnson.

The results “overwhelmingly show parents have very little understanding on how to read or interpret data, the requirements [for students going to college], school structures and policy, and students’ rights,” says John-son. Parents also wanted a more welcoming school environment.

“Parents [need to] feel like they are part of the community and part of the decisions made at their child’s school—that they have a voice [and are] well informed of decisions and resources,” adds Carrasco.

Parent-U-Turn also talked with school advocates, such as the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA). “Parent-U-Turn has articulated a different form of parent involvement,” says John Rogers, Co-director of IDEA. “They have promoted research by parents in various ways [and used] parent-created data (from) conducting surveys, access to instructional materials, and analyzed data to hold schools accountable.”

Starting local and going statewide

Johnson presented the model to the Parent Collabora-tive, which brings together LAUSD parent representatives, and asked them to adopt it. Then she brought it before the LAUSD school board.

Parent-U-Turn and the San Diego County Title 1 Parents Association met individually with school board members and staff to ask for their support. When one of the superintendents feared teachers would not support the model, they met with him and PTA members, says Johnson. This fall, schools are implementing the model.

Parent-U-Turn also successfully campaigned for the California Department of Education (CDE) to adopt the parent involvement model as one of several that schools statewide can use. A new CDE website highlighting best practices will include Parent-U-Turn’s model, Johnson adds.

Parents as facilitators

At the end of August 2010, Parent-U-Turn will collaborate with another parent involvement organization, Parent Boot Camp, to hold workshops on the new parent involvement model in Spanish and English. L.A. parent leaders will be trained as facilitators and hold ongoing trainings in area schools to help other parents get involved. Budget cuts threatened to “cut a lot of people who were going to be facilitators,” says Johnson, but Parent-U-Turn successfully campaigned to get funding reinstated.

“[I want to] help parents know they can make a difference and hold the school accountable for giving a quality education. [We] teach them to use the power of their voices to be engaged and active,” says Diane Haney, leader of Parent Boot Camp and the San Diego County Title 1 Parents Association.

Valerie Muñoz plans to be a trainer at the August workshops because “I want to make a difference in children’s lives, [so] they have opportunities to be successful in life. Parent-U-Turn is making many changes in our community, by empowering parents as advocates for their children,” she adds. Muñoz is co-founder of Parent-U-Turn and mother of six children.

Parents as advocates

Parent-U-Turn’s parent involvement model will train parents about their rights, understanding and collecting data, and how to advocate for their children. Parents will learn:

the rights of children as students and their own rights as parents—to visit the classroom, to take off work to attend school activities.
about course requirements and the curriculum used in the classroom.
ways to support their children—“It’s important that parents discuss with teachers how to engage their child and use the child’s strengths to build strength in the child’s weakest academic area,” says Valerie Muñoz, co-founder of Parent-U-Turn.
how to read data from STAR testing and other school assessments—“Parents need to know [this] in order to improve their children’s education,” says Johnson. “Plus [these are] skills parents need to be an equal partner on decision-making councils.”
how to collect data through surveys, focus groups, and assessments.
how to write complaints and hold people accountable.
ways to successfully advocate for their children, particularly those in special education.

Parent-U-Turn is creating a parent facilitator guide in English and Spanish and developing an online Parent Involvement 101 course for parents, teachers, and principals.

For more information or to get involved, contact: Parent-U-Turn, 323-809-9160, www.californiaparents.net

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

SCUSD District Advisory Committee Report
to Board by
Wanda Yanez,
DAC Chair
8-20-2009

SCUSD District Advisory Committee Report

to Board by

Wanda Yanez,

DAC Chair

8-20-2009

SCUSD SAC City DAC Minutes 10-20-09

Parents Design L.A. Parent Involvement Model

by: by Ellen Noyes, Children's Advocate

Valuing parents’ voices

Ideas from the community

Starting local and going statewide

Parents as facilitators

Parents as advocates

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

SCUSD District Advisory Committee Report to Board by Wanda Yanez, DAC Chair8-20-2009

SCUSD District Advisory Committee Report

to Board by

Wanda Yanez,

DAC Chair

8-20-2009

SCUSD SAC City DAC Minutes 10-20-09

Parents Design L.A. Parent Involvement Model

by: by Ellen Noyes, Children's Advocate

Valuing parents’ voices

Ideas from the community

Starting local and going statewide

Parents as facilitators

Parents as advocates

SCUSD District Advisory Committee Report
to Board by
Wanda Yanez,
DAC Chair
8-20-2009