become a parent mentor District

	Our 2010 Toolkit A look at how Georgia Parent Mentors "engage" families in Georgia Schools

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resources

		Parents' Rights Videos

		ASPIRE, a student-led IEP initiative project

	Title 1 Family Engagement Resources
	Parent Involvement Brochure
	Parent Involvement Handout
	Learning your Child's School System
	SAP Handout - PLC FY11
	SAP Handout - 360 Degrees of Family Engagement

		The Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy

		Graduate First



	GaDOE Special Education Rules Implementation Manual
	A practical guide for implementing IDEA and its regulations

		College Options for People with Intellectual Disabilites

		PTA Standards for Family Engagement


	Georgia Performance Standards

		Georgia Learning Resources System

		Georgia Appleseed

		School Discipline De Disciplina Escolar Making it Clear

The 411 on 360

360-Degrees of Family Engagement is a four part training series developed by the Georgia Department of Education and Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning that coaches family engagement professionals on how to reach a full circle of accountability and sustainability in their work by activating a synergy of partners from Pre-K to post secondary.

The purpose of the program is twofold:

1. To offer the most recent research, tools and strategies for successfully wrapping school, home and the community engagement around student achievement outcomes and,

2 To demonstrate how to consistently target measurable outcomes by relying on guidance from the National PTA Standards on Family-School Partnerships and the Strengthening Families Protective Factors that impact families.

Family Engagement Best Practices

Prepared by Education Chair Elect 9/24/10

Performance Goal: Improve the provision of a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities.

Indicator: Increase the performance of students with or without disabilities on statewide assessments when given appropriate supports and accommodations.

Activity Overview: This initiative incorporates networking with school and families in an effort to increase the performance of students with or without disabilities on statewide assessments when given appropriate supports. Goals are geared toward increasing parent’s/caregiver’s knowledge of the statewide assessment, ensuring confidentiality of student test scores, and parents learning strategies to work with their children at home toward CRCT success.

The target group of AT RISK students also known as “Promise Students” are both non-disabled and disabled students who were identified by a collaboration team. The collaborative team identified students that either did not pass or barely passed the previous year’s CRCT.

The collaboration team consists of Parent Mentors, Parent Liaisons, counselors, principals, assistant principals, middle school graduation coaches, Title 1 Parent Involvement Coordinators, Safe Schools/Healthy Children grant staff and parents of “Promise Students” students. The collaborative team created packets for the target group which included the information to educate the parent/caregivers to help them understand more about testing procedures and the importance of the CRCT testing results.

Initiative Summary: This initiative targeted elementary and middle school aged students (3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders) and their families. Parent Mentor and Parent Liaison addressed the target group through school visits, home visits or scheduled appointment times and presented CRCT Information Packets to the families. CRCT Information Packets included Testing Calendars, CRCT test scores, CRCT Math and Reading Practice Quizzes and Parent Hint Sheets. Information Packets also included the following fliers:

CRCT website practice tests
Correlation Between Hearing/Vision Problems and Learning
The Importance of Nutrition to School Performance
Stress Reduction Exercises
The Practice of Good Study Skills/Appropriate Study Locations
Test Taking Tips

The student’s 2008-2009 scores were placed in a sealed envelop to insure confidentiality which presented an opportunity for Parent Mentor to discuss the interpretation of the test scores with the families. The purpose of the Parent Hint Sheet is to assist families in helping the students at home. Families were encouraged to use the CRCT Math and Reading Practice Quizzes for at home CRCT study preparation and were also encouraged to return the practice quizzes to the Parent Mentor to correct answers and give follow-up explanations. Correlation between Hearing/Vision problems and learning presented an opportunity to inform families of the services available to them. Since vision and hearing is an integral part of reading and learning, screenings were encouraged and made available to students in need at the school. The Lions Club and local opticians provided glasses to students at low or no costs.

Outcome: The strongest outcome has been the development of empowering parents to work with their children at home toward CRCT success. The professional relationships developed between administration, faculty and the Parent Mentor were instrumental in engaging families. The Parent Mentor was seen as an agent for student learning, in addition to the relational resource role for parents.

% of Elementary School Students That Improved Math or Reading Scores On At Least One CRCT

Future: It is the expectation of the Parent Mentor that the school system will continue to increase the performance of students with or without disabilities on statewide assessments when given appropriate supports by continuing to target the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students with disabilities and their families. The collaborative team will present similar material to families and their children and will begin this process in November rather than in January prior to CRCT.

Kathy Simmons and Cynthia Criss
Dodge and Pulaski County School Parent Mentors

DATA CHARTS AND GRAPHS

FY09 Data