PartneringwithParentsWebquest

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=INTRODUCTION= toc In the past few years, your school district has experienced a rising population of ESL students and single parent families. Though attendance at parent teacher conferences is decent, many of the students’ families do not attend conferences and are not involved in any school activities. Over the last few years, teachers have expressed frustration that parents are not involved, and that they’re finding it more and more difficult to communicate with parents and involve parents in their children’s education.

Your school has decided to make a special effort this year to enhance partnerships with parents and community, and the administrative team has asked you to work with a team of teachers to research ways to create a welcoming school environment and to support student success through partnerships.

=TASK= The administrators have asked your team to **research** ways the school could actively involve parents and community partners. Considering the rising number of **ESL/ELL students**, the district is looking for ways to involve and support these families. Also, with Common Core emphasizing **literacy** in all content areas, the district is searching for ways to promote literacy at school, at home, and in the community.

Your team's mission--should you choose to accept it--is to **present a 3-5 minute proposal** to your colleagues **explaining at least four (4) actions your school can take to partner with parents.** Your proposal should explain each action with enough detail so that others can understand and should explain how the action would involve parents and help students succeed.

=PROCESS (30 minutes to research, discuss, and create presentation)= 1. Review the rubric in the evaluation section. Discuss the rubric with your team to make certain all members understand exactly what you are supposed to create and how you can self-evaluate the quality of your presentation. 2. To begin your research, visit the //Promising Partnership Practices// website. Click on the purple boxes at the bottom of page to explore actions other schools have taken, or use the search feature to search. Notice, you can use the links to left to explore different years--from 1998-2010. 3. As you explore, talk to your team members, sharing ideas for how you might adopt or adapt actions other schools have undertaken.If needed, consult additional sources: 4. Once you've researched to get ideas of specific actions your school could take, discuss these actions within your team, and decide which four (4) actions your team will include in its proposal. 5. Now, decide on a format for your proposal:
 * Project Appleseed
 * Successful Parent Involvement Practices in Kansas Schools
 * Families in Schools
 * BoostUp.org
 * Ideas on Best Practices for Parent Involvement
 * 1) How will you organize your ideas?
 * 2) What visuals (chart paper, slideshow, images, etc.) might you use to help your colleagues and administrators understand and visualize your ideas?
 * 3) How will you divide the work among the members of the team so that everyone on the team has a particular task to complete?
 * 4) Who will actually present the proposal? Will you elect someone to be the spokesperson, or will each team member present an action?

**When time expires, be prepared to present your proposal to the whole group.**
=EVALUATION= Before beginning the work, review the rubric with your team to make sure everyone understands exactly what you're supposed to be doing. Once you've finished, return to the rubric: use it as a check list to self-evaluate the team's presentation.



=CONCLUSION= Having worked with a team, you've uncovered a multitude of actions your school could take to...
 * create a warm, welcoming environment,
 * actively involve parents,
 * partner with the community,
 * promote literacy,
 * support ELL/ESL students and families

...so that all students can experience success.

Beyond presenting action steps to your colleagues, you might present these ideas to your leadership team. You might even volunteer to help lead some of the actions at your campus!