Our Journey with Family Our Journey with Family EngagementEngagement

An Overview of North Penn School District’s experiences with

Family Friendly Schools

As part of our strategy to

Engage all families in the academic lives of

their students.

Superintendent’s GoalSuperintendent’s Goal

• Enhance Student achievement by engaging all families in the academic lives of their children

• Create a culture of engagement both at the community and district/school level

• Investigate models of engagement that embrace effective schools and continuous improvement

• Create position of Parent/Community Specialist• Decide to contract with Family Friendly Schools (FFS),

leading practitioners in family engagement, in their Engage All Families Five-Step Process -November 2006

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!Steps in Our FFS JourneySteps in Our FFS Journey

• Held focus groups & Community Forum to raise awareness

• Conducted Parent Survey to develop baseline data

• Developed family engagement teams (most as part of Home School Correlate Team) in 18 buildings, including teachers, admins, parents, support staff etc

• Held 3 day institute for building teams, 2 central office teams and a community team, to build understanding, a culture of engagement and to draft engagement goals unique to each building

• Superintendent’s Community Conversations, Parent Organization Meetings,

Website Blog to raise awareness/support

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!Steps in Our FFS JourneySteps in Our FFS Journey

• Participated in distance coaching sessions with all 18 teams, to review/ asses/ organize and evaluate goals and action plans goals and plans unique to

academic/demographic needs of each building

Helped define district support of teams

Provides support, guidance and leadership to teams

• Participate in on-site coaching Advancing Family

Engagement – Administrative Seminar

Sizzling Customer Service Support Staff Workshop to tap capacity of front line staff

Family Engagement Admin Workshop – focusing family engagement on student learning outcomes

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!Steps in Our FFS JourneySteps in Our FFS Journey

• Annually provide an overview of family engagement in NP to inductees and new administrators

• Provide overview to new hires throughout the year during orientation

• Update district website

• Support building teams as needed

Changing the ConversationChanging the Conversation

Meeting the ChallengeMeeting the Challenge

Telling the StoryTelling the Story

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!Keys to Our SuccessKeys to Our Success

• Following a well-defined process from FFS

• Embedding engagement teams into correlate school process/home school correlate teams

• Support from District leadership: Superintendent, School Board, Central Office staff and Building Administrators Belief in engagement and in

changing the culture

• Establishment of family engagement teams that include a variety of staff and parents, helping to develop engagement goals unique to each building; teams meet monthly

• Participating in webinars/ distance coaching sessions, to help teams review goals and insure that engagement moves beyond cadre teams/ level of accountability

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!Keys to Our SuccessKeys to Our Success

• Linking family engagement goals to school goals Data driven Student learning focused Embedded in review cycle

• Changing the culture and the conversation Emphasis on relationships,

trust, common language• Developing Community

Partners Boys & Girls Club, United

Way, Community Health Foundation, Chamber of Commerce

• Targeting the capacity of support staff Members of FE teams Support staff in-service

• Communicate, communicate, communicate!!! 5 different ways Internal/external Translations signage, websites, emails,

newsletters etc.

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!Examples of Teams/District SuccessesExamples of Teams/District Successes

• Outreach efforts to ESL – Mosque visit, Faith based consortium, increased ESL family participation

• Home visits – focused on families of a subgroup of non-proficient students

• Student led conferences• Translations• Workshops, forums, parent

resource centers

• Comment Cards & Feedback cards

• Improved building signage interior/exterior

• Translations – websites, documents, translators

• AT&T Language Line training and usage

• Changing traditional events to more meaningful and relevant experiences (Back to School nights, American Ed Week, Parent Conferences)

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!Examples of Teams/District SuccessesExamples of Teams/District Successes

• Engaging families of alternative ed students

• Email distribution lists for teacher use to keep families informed

• Treasured ideas – monthly questions in newsletters

• Parent subcommittees to assist in engaging the disengaged

• Newsletters & calendars to school community in addition to parents

• Parents mentoring new families

• Off site meetings and events• Postcards to students/families

communicating successes• Parent surveys to determine

needs/level of understanding/barriers to participation

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!ChallengesChallenges

• Developing a process to provide financial support to family engagement

• Continued reinforcement of district commitment to engage all families, as a component of its’ strategic plan and continuous improvement journey

• Continued dialogue with all stakeholders

• Addressing inconsistencies building to building

• Assuring a systemic philosophy that will communicate high level of commitment

• Time for teams to share best practices

We Are North Penn!!We Are North Penn!!QuotesQuotes

• An example from a middle school principal:“ I was thinking about this Family Friendly thing that we are doing……

I have to admit I thought it was going to just be another “thing” on my plate that wasn’t going to do anything for anybody and would just probably go away.

I have to admit it has made an incredible difference…..following through with our goals……parents are very positive……staff is excited…….parents and students discuss why and how “our school” and our culture is different…..this probably doesn’t adequately describe it all, but attitudes have changed……….thanks for bringing all of this to us. You (it) have (has) made a difference.”