Compact for Reading and SchoolHome Links Family Involvement Programs

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Compact for Reading and School-Home Links
Family Involvement Programs

• Presented by

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Compact for Reading Research Background
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What Is a Compact for Reading?

• Written agreement among families, teachers,
  principals, students, and community volunteers
• Describes how all partners can help K-3 students
  improve reading skills
• Goal every child in America will read well and
  independently by the end of Third Grade

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Legislation
(d) Each school served under Title I, Part A
shall jointly develop with parents for all
children served under this part a school-parent
compact that outlines how parents, the entire
school staff, and students will share the
responsibility for improved student achievement
and the means by which the school and parents
will build and develop a partnership to help
children achieve the State's high standards. Such
compact shall-- (1) describe the schools
responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum
and instruction in a supportive and effective
learning environment that enables the children
served under this part to meet the State's
student performance standards, and the ways in
which each parent will be responsible for
supporting their children's learning, such as
monitoring attendance, homework completion, and
television watching volunteering in their
child's classroom and participating, as
appropriate, in decisions relating to the
education of their children and positive use of
extracurricular time and (2) address the
importance of communication between teachers and
parents on an ongoing basis through, at a
minimum-- (A) parent-teacher conferences in
elementary schools, at least annually, during
which the compact shall be discussed as the
compact relates to the individual child's
achievement (B) frequent reports to parents
on their children's progress and (C)
reasonable access to staff, opportunities to
volunteer and participate in their child's class,
and observation of classroom activities. (Sectio
n 1118 (d) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act)
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Sample Compact for Reading
We, the __________School community, establish the
Compact for Reading in order to foster the
improvement of reading and other language arts
and to support the success of our students, so
all may read well and independently. We believe
this can be done with the planned partnership of
parents, families, teachers, principals, and
community members. Familys Responsibilities We
will Make sure our child attends school
regularly, is on time and prepared to learn, with
homework completed. Know what our child is
learning about in reading and other language arts
skills each day. Students Responsibilities I
will Come to school on time and be ready to
learn. Pay attention to my teachers, family, and
tutors and ask questions when I need
help. Teachers Responsibilities I will Provide
quality teaching and leadership to my students
and their families. Communicate frequently with
families and tutors about my students progress
in reading and show them how they can
help. Principals Responsibilities I will Set
high standards and other language arts by
providing a challenging curriculum. Report
publicity on school-wide reading scores, and help
teachers and parents to understand how adopting
high standards can lead to the improvement of
scores. Community Members Responsibilities I
will Make a commitment to help all children
learn to read. Keep informed about the literacy
standards and the performance of schools in my
area.
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I will
Student's Responsibilities Wallace R. Davis
Elementary

• Come to school on time and be ready to learn.
• Pay attention to my teachers, family, and tutors,
  and ask questions when I need help.
• Ask my family to read to me or with me for 30
  minutes each day, five days a week.
• Complete my homework on time in a thorough and
  legible way.
• Welcome help from my family
• on my homework and papers.
• Return signed homework and
• papers to school.

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Additional Sample-Standards

Parents and Familys Responsibilities Learn the
grade level standards so we know what our child
must be able to do Students responsibilities Work
hard to master all the reading and writing
standards for my grade Teachers
Responsibilities Educate my students and their
parents and families about grade level standards
so that they will know what is expected. Teach
the skills encompassed in the grade level
standards to all my students, providing
intervention to any child experiencing
difficulty Principals Responsibilities Hold
workshops for all Compact for Reading partners so
that they have the knowledge necessary to fulfill
their responsibilities in implementing a
standards-based education Community Members
responsibilities (a library, in this
case) Attend training on standards-based
instruction and use the standards as a basis for
after-school tutoring.
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Additional Sample- Backpacks and Agendas
Parents and Familys Responsibilities Check our
childs homework agenda every night to see if all
assignments are complete and help our child
remember to put it in his/her backpack Students
responsibilities Copy my homework assignment into
my agenda before leaving school, complete my
homework every night, show it to my parents or
family, and bring it to school in my backpack the
next morning Teachers Responsibilities Ensure
that my students write down daily homework in
their agendas and place them in their backpacks
Principals Responsibilities Help provide
backpacks to any child who needs one Community
Members responsibilities (a library, in this
case) Reinforce the use of backpacks and homework
agendas as organizational tools for students by
making use of them during after-school tutoring
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Positive Results for Schools with Compacts

• A nationally representative longitudinal study of
  25,000 students in over 300 schools found
• Schools with Compacts produce higher student
  achievement than schools without Compacts
• Benefits of Compacts are independent of students
  family background and initial achievement
• Effects of Compacts on student achievement are
  stronger than effects of other types of
  school-home intervention
• (DAgostino, Wong, Hedges, and Borman, 1998,
  from USDE Prospects Study)

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Success StoryThe Samuel W. Mason School

• Public elementary school in Boston
• Pioneered school-home activities program to help
  get families involved
• Daily lessons reinforced through learning
  activities that families do with their children
• Progress from 1991 to 1997
• Went from least chosen to 12th most chosen school
• Test scores went from lower third to upper third
• Retention from grades 1 to 2 went from 33 to
  zero
• Family involvement went from 4 to 92
• Family volunteer hours went from 30 hours to over
  600
• Number of community partnerships went from 1 to 11

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Family Involvement Research

• Students benefit from family involvement
• Higher grades
• Better attendance and homework completion
• More positive attitudes
• Higher graduation and college enrollment rates
• Schools benefit from family involvement
• Improved teacher morale
• Higher ratings of teachers by parents
• More support from families
• Better reputations in the community
• (Henderson and Burla, A New Generation of
  Evidence, 1994)

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The Process for Developing and Implementing a
Compact for Reading
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5-Step Development Process for Compact for
Reading

• Step 1. Get Started
• Step 2. Write Your Compact
• Step 3. Put Your Compact to Work
• Step 4. Evaluate Your Compact
• Step 5. Strengthen Your Compact

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Partners and Strands in the Compact for Reading

• Partners
• School Principal, Teachers
• Family Student, Parents
• Community Members
• Strands
• Student Learning
• Communication
• Building Capacity

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Im going to need training to learn how to
versus
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5-Step Process for Developing the Compact for
Reading
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Get started
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Strengthen your Compact
Write your Compact
Family- School- Community Partnership
2
Evaluate your Compact
Put your Compact to work
3
4
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1
5
Strengthen your Compact
Write your Compact
Family- School- Community Partnership
2
Evaluate your Compact
Put your Compact to work
3
4
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Step 1 Get StartedCreate Compact Teams

• Core Team
• Members
• Use existing site-based management teamor
• Principal selects a member from each
  school/family/ community constituency
• Mission
• Identify literacy needs and resources
• Recruit Invention Team
• Make a plan to generate interest in Compact
• Oversee implementation of Compact and School-Home
  Links program

• Invention Team
• Members
• Core Team decides membership
• Recruit from school and community
• Select at least one person from each
  school/family/community constituency
• Mission
• Write Compact for Reading
• Develop an evaluation plan

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Step 1 Get Started Hold Core Team Meeting

• Introduce Compact
• Describe what a Compact is and show samples
• Discuss potential benefits of Compact adoption
• Present the 5-step Compact development process
• Gather school information
• Distribute School Improvement Plan and reading
  standards
• Gather data on schools reading achievement and
  skills
• Take stock of school communitys literacy
  resources
• Develop an action plan
• Determine major tasks for Compact development
• Create a timeline for tasks

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1
2
Get started
5
Strengthen your Compact
Family- School- Community Partnership
Evaluate your Compact
Put your Compact to work
3
4
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Step 1 Get Started Recruit Compact Invention
Team

• Representatives of stakeholder groups critical to
  the success of the Compact
• Principal and other administrators
• Teachers and other school staff
• Title I coordinators and reading specialists
• Librarians
• Members of families from your school
• Adult education, Head Start, Even Start, other
  family literacy staff
• Community and volunteer group staff
• Local college/university staff
• Business partners

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Small Group Activity

• Turn to pages 15-18 in your Guide.
• Choose one stakeholder (Family, Teacher,
  Principal, Community Member) and one strand
  (Student Learning, Communication, Building
  Capacity)
• Quickly review the sample commitments for your
  chosen stakeholder and strand
• Create a new commitment that you believe would
  help increase student reading achievement at your
  school

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Step 2 Write Your Compact The Writing Process

• At the first Compact Invention Team Meeting
• Stakeholders draft and prioritize commitments
• Commitments are combined into a first draft of
  Compact for Reading
• Next
• First draft is circulated to constituency groups
  for feedback

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Step 2 Write Your Compact Hold Second Compact
Invention Team Meeting

• Revisions are made based upon feedback
• Finalize the Compact
• Create an evaluation plan
• Decide how to launch the Compact
• Plan trainings
• Plan how to publicize the Compact
• Plan follow-up meetings to ensure Compact is
  implemented

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Get started
5
Strengthen your Compact
Write your Compact
Family- School- Community Partnership
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3
Put your Compact to work
Evaluate your Compact
4
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Step 3 Put Your Compact to Work Launch Your
Compact

• Principal and Core Team facilitate the
  implementation of the Compact through the School
  Improvement Plan
• Distribute and publicize the Compact
• Conduct kickoff activities
• Provide incentives for families to read and sign
  the Compact

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Step 3 Put Your Compact to WorkSchool-Home
Links and Book Links

• About 100 take-home activities for each grade
  level designed to
• Help families support their childrens in-school
  reading activities
• Help families learn about school reading
  curriculum
• Build students essential skills in reading,
  fluency, literature and writing
• Made for K-3 students
• Signed-off by student and family or learning
  partner
• Aligned with the English-Language Arts Content
  Standards for California Public Schools

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Get started
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Strengthen your Compact
Write your Compact
Family- School- Community Partnership
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Put your Compact to work
3
4
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Step 4 Evaluate Your CompactEvaluating a
Compact entails asking questions such as

• Are stakeholders following through on
  commitments? Why or why not?
• Are the fulfilled commitments helping us to
  achieve our goals? Why or why not?
• Are we reaching the populations we wanted to
  reach?
• Has anything changed in our school community that
  might require revision to our Compact?

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Step 4 Evaluate Your CompactDevelop
Performance Indicators

• Use questions as a guide
• Write clear statements about how your team will
  answer the questions
• State how, when, and from whom information you
  need will be gathered

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Step 4 Evaluate Your CompactData Collection
Methods

• Surveys
• Structured instrument that asks participants
  about their opinions and experiences
• Administrative Records
• Information routinely collected by the
  administrative office, such as student attendance
  rates
• Observation
• Data collection method that reveals participants
  attitudes and behaviors
• Focus Groups
• Small group discussions to test and review
  materials or a process

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Step 4 Evaluate Your CompactAssess Reading
Progress

• Student Reading Achievement
• Individual student performance
• Performance of your school as a whole
• Multiple Assessment Measures
• Informal checklist of skills
• Informal reading inventories
• Student home reports
• Direct observation
• Formal standardized reading assessments

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Step 4 Evaluate Your CompactConduct the
Evaluation

• Review overall progress and evaluate individual
  commitments continuously
• Assign tasks and resources to collect data
• Compile data and ask
• What are we doing well?
• What can we improve?

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Get started
Strengthen your Compact
Write your Compact
Family- School- Community Partnership
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Evaluate your Compact
Put your Compact to work
3
4
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Step 5 Strengthen Your CompactBuild on Success

• Find methods to address areas that need
  improvement
• Make necessary changes to Compact
• Brainstorm ways to maintain focus on Compact
• Tips for facing challenges
• Bring up key issues at Core Team meetings
• Review current reading research
• Look at models with proven track records
• Visit successful schools
• Obtain outside advice
• Use available resources (e.g., the web)

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Small Group Activity

• Brainstorm solutions to your assigned challenge
• Challenges
• 1. Compact is not being used2. School does
  not have time to work on Compact3. Only a few
  parents are involved4. Many students lose
  reading gains over the summer5. School wants
  more School-Home Links6. Need more reading
  resources to provide the instruction envisioned
  in the Compact

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Using the School-Home Links Reading Kit
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Please, mom! All the other kids are eating it.
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Step 3 Put Your Compact to WorkSchool-Home
Links and Book Links

• Take home activities designed to
• Help families support their childrens in-school
  reading activities
• Help families gain awareness of school reading
  curriculum
• Build students essential reading skills and
  fluency in reading and writing
• Made for K-3 students
• Signed-off by student and family or learning
  partner
• Aligned with the National Academy of Sciences
  Reading Accomplishments

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School-Home Links Reading KitDescription

• 400 take-home activities designed to
• Provide teachers and tutors with take-home
  activities
• Help families support their childrens in-school
  reading activities
• Help families learn about school reading
  curriculum
• Help students build essential skills in reading,
  build fluency in reading and writing, and learn
  basic concepts about literature
• Made for K - 3rd grade students
• Signed-off by student and family or learning
  partner
• Aligned with National Academy of Sciences
  Reading Accomplishments

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School-Home Links Reading KitExample
Type of Activity
Space for Name
Note to Family
Instructions
Space for Childs Signature
Grade Level of Activity
Space for Learning Partners Signature
Activity Number
Reading Accomplishment
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School-Home Links Reading KitUsing Activity
Sheets

• School-Home Links
• 80-85 1-page activities for each grade
• Reinforce classroom work
• Assigned 3-4 times a week

• Book Links
• 15-20 1-page activities for each grade
• Child reads one book a week with family
• Assigned once a week (often Friday)

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Issues to consider when implementing School-Home
Link

• How do we help parents know what to do?
• How do we help parents who do not speak English?
• How can we find a S-H Links partner for all
  students?
• Will we track completion of assignments? If so,
  how?
• How do we reconcile sending home these
  assignments on a routine basis versus sending
  them home to reinforce classroom instruction?
•  
•  

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1
Get started
2
Family- School- Community Partnership
Strengthen your Compact
5
Write your Compact
Evaluate your Compact
Put your compact to work
3
4
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I was successful because you believed in me.-
Ulysses S. Grant to Abraham Lincoln