Partnerships initiative sparks hope
for change in Riverview Gardens
One third-grade boy in Riverview Gardens wants more supervision
on the playground so that he can feel safe during recess.
One mother of five wants more timely communication from teachers
about what’s going on at school.
Another mom wants her children’s teachers only to send
home homework after the students have mastered the homework
concepts because she’s not confident she can teach the
lessons correctly when her child comes home with new material.
Teachers want community members to respect them as skilled
professionals and take the time to get involved in their children’s
education at school and at home.
| Engaging
families in education—
What works?
| Do
more of this… |
And
less of this… |
| Creating
one-on-one conversations between teachers and
parents |
Holding
school-wide events |
| Organizing
small meetings in classrooms, community centers
and homes |
Holding
big meetings in the auditorium, gym or all-purpose
room |
| Contacting
families regularly via home visits, phone calls
and notes |
Calling
only when students misbehave or are in trouble? |
| Learning
how to look at student work, using scoring guides |
Offering
workshops on how to be better parents? |
| Sharing
data on the progress of all students in school |
Talking
only about their own student’s test cores |
| Organizing
student-led conferences and learning demonstrations
that use portfolios and student work |
Holding
parent-teacher conferences, focused on report cards? |
| Visiting
other schools and districts to look at good practices |
Asking
families to raise money to buy sports equipment
or fund field trips |
| Holding
rap sessions with students, teachers and families
to discuss important issues |
Holding
Roberts-Rules-of-Order meetings? |
| Displaying
student work, with scoring guides to look at levels
of performance |
Putting up teacher-made bulletin boards, with themes
like “Spring Is Coming” |
|
Sound familiar? Different players have different perspectives
and different needs in the school and in the community, but
all parties have a better chance of finding solutions to their
needs when the different players develop an effective means
of communication. That’s where family-school-community-partnerships
come into the picture.
“I would like to see some life come back into this
district, some dreams come alive,” says one community
member participant who is troubled by the lack of community
and parent involvement in the district.
UniServ Director Gilbert Balderrama saw that Riverview Gardens
had a need for improved communication between educators and
the community, as well as a need for renewed enthusiasm for
public school activities.
“We have low parental involvement, low morale among
staff and test scores that need improvement,” says Lyle
Farmar, Riverview Gardens NEA president. “Our UniServ
director and I saw this as a way to bring the different groups
together to try to improve in all these areas. I know our
members appreciate anything that the state and national organization
can do to improve education, and this was one way to show
them that at the local level.”
The Riverview Gardens School District is the first in the
state to pursue the family-school-community-partnerships project.
They began with introductory training in February.
Balderrama invited four NEA trainers from other state affiliates
to work with the group of teachers, parents, school board
members, potential school board members and students for a
day and a half workshop.
“I have been pushing for this program in Missouri for
years,” says Balderrama, who has been involved in the
NEA project since its inception in the late 1990s. “Riverview
Gardens needs this program, and the parents and other community
members who attended the training are now fired up and moving
forward. They’re talking to their friends and planning
a second training phase.”
The instructional strategies the trainers used and the diversity
of the trainers were key factors in the success of the conference,
according to Rosie Woods, Riverview Gardens community-engagement
coordinator. The training program is based on research that
asserts that students achieve more when parents are involved
in their education and when students know their teachers care
about them.
“We at Riverview Gardens look forward to a lasting
relationship with MNEA in our quest to make a difference in
the lives of our families, schools and community,” Woods
says. “Our plans are to continue to work in unison with
MNEA to promote the involvement of our families, teachers
and other community members.”
Need more information?
Call Gilbert
Balderrama at (888) 968–4820 for more information
about training opportunities.
Story and photos by Debra
Angstead, MNEA communications director
|
