• Goals and objectives/outcomes of the research investigation
Increase parental involvement on our campus to positively affect student achievement and improve parental communication.
• Activities designed to achieve the objectives
Parent Academy (Fall and Spring)
Monthly PTA and SBDM meetings
Effective involvement of parents in classroom work: Create a program where students have homework activities that must be done with their parents. It is not necessary for the parents to know how to do the work; that’s the students’ job. It is necessary for the students to explain to their parents what they are doing, why they are doing it and how it all works.
Meet the Teacher Night and Fall and Spring Interactive Open House events
Parent volunteer and training program
• Resources and research tools needed for data gathering
Identify areas of most need that will increase parent involvement on the campus. Counselor will organize and facilitate the Parent Academy. We will need at least five teachers to help and snacks for the event.
Access to auditorium; letters/emails/phone calls to remind parents about meetings; cooperation and help from all departments in bringing student work or student presentations to the meetings for parents to see.
Teacher involvement and participation; materials for the homework activities that students will do at home with their parents.
Activities, performances and student work must be available and planned for the Open House events. We’ll need everyone in attendance.
Goals and training program to be presented to parent volunteers; access to computers to complete background check; snacks for meeting.
• Draft timeline for completion or implementation of activities
Parent Academy will be held in September and March
PTA and SBDM meetings will be held on a monthly basis so that concerns can be addressed and items can be communicated in a timely manner.
Involvement of parents with student homework all year
Meet the Teacher Night and Open House events three times throughout the year: September, November and April.
Volunteer parent training program in September.
• Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan
Principal, counselor, all teachers, students
• Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives
Survey parents on the effectiveness of the program. What did they learn? What do they want to learn more about?
Record attendance at meetings; keep track of PTA membership and record participation rate; ask parents and teachers for feedback on how to best address campus and student needs.
Keep track of participation rates of attendees; survey students and parents and teachers about what went well and what could’ve been done differently.
• Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study
Monitor student work on a regular basis and evaluate whether or not their grades are improving.
Survey parent participants and teacher leaders as to what worked and what needed to be included for training to be more successful.
I'm curious as to how you are going to encourage more parent involvement if attendance is lower than you'd like it, or if it drops throughout the year. What does your Parent Academy involve? Is this something your campus does every year? How often do you plan on surveying parents and teachers?
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in the results of the parent surveys. I find such a variety in what parents are willing to do.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I did not see where you wrote about surveying the parents, but it would be useful information to know why they are not attending or can't help in any form. Also it might be interesting to give the parents a sort of assignment to do after the parent academies where they have to come back and report. Teachers can also help by sending home at least on project per six weeks that have to be completed with the parents.
ReplyDeletePart of your assessment was to monitor student work on a regular basis to check for improvement. Is this only the work that involves parents or are you looking at in-class work, too?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback. I think I'm going to scrap the Parent Academy. It's not realistic to have so many new strategies in the plan. Better to be successful at a few than to fail at many.
ReplyDelete