Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/54552
Priority Schools Campaign Parents as Team Members, cont from page 13 Evidence of effectiveness • Teacher participation has grown quickly. The program began with 12 teachers in 2009- 2010 and expanded the next year to include 97 teachers. All nine schools in the district are participating. For the 2011-2012 school year, 173 teachers – 90 percent of all teachers in the district – have been trained to participate. Many parents have encouraged their chil- dren's teachers to take part in the program. • Test data show remarkable short-term aca- demic gains among first graders in APTT classes. Among 188 students tested in the fall of 2009, oral reading fluency (ISTEEP ORF) scores in APTT classrooms rose nearly 25 points, while in non-APTT class- rooms, oral reading fluency rose only about 10 points. In August 2009, all classes aver- aged about 15.55; by November, the ISTEEP scores in APTT classes averaged 40.31, while scores in non-APTT classrooms averaged about 25. and share practices. Grade-level teams also have planning time to analyze data, develop goals, and share ideas. These meetings are facilitated by a school data expert and Title I coordinator. • Sharing student performance data with parents: The class-level and individual-level student data that teachers share with parents becomes each student's academic goals. Parents' access to student performance data encourages high expectations and increases efforts to help students practice academic skills at home. "Many parents wonder what the parents of kids at the top of the class are doing at home to make that happen. Parents give other parents ideas for successful practice at home. It forms a community." —Maria Paredes • Paredes says the rate of participation among fathers is higher at the team meetings than at conventional parent-teacher conferences. Fathers have said that they are very interested in academics and wanted to be involved in understanding their children's progress. • Preliminary data shows a 92 percent parent attendance rate at the team meetings, which is much higher than participation at con- ventional parent-teacher conferences in the Creighton district, according to Paredes. Exemplary practices • Encouraging teacher collaboration: Teachers meet three times a year for 90 minutes before each team meeting to plan, problem-solve, • Reaching out to families: Teachers send all families a personalized invitation to the team meetings on school letterhead and follow up with personal calls. Students also encourage their parents to come. If a family cannot at- tend, teachers must find an alternative time to share the informa- tion with them. The opportunity to receive coach- ing and support encourages par- ents to become more involved. • Forming partnerships: The APTT program has established meaning- ful partnerships with the local community college, Arizona State University, APIRC, Helios Education Foundation, and Rio Salado College. The partners are collaborating on a policy initiative to set higher standards for family engagement programs in Arizona. The APTT program has been spreading to other districts in Arizona and beyond, including Nevada, Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C. Several additional states have shown inter- est. The model is sustainable because teachers and parents become experts in implementing it, and because it can be supported with Title I funds. 2 14 Spring 2012 x AEA Advocate