Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT)

Maria C. ParedesSenior Program Associate - WestEd

Parent-Teacher Collaboration To Drive Student Achievement

Family Involvement NetworkDecember 10, 2012

Today We Will:

Foster a collective understanding of effective family engagement

Look at supporting research Learn about Academic Parent-Teacher Teams

as a promising practice and its outcomes to date

Quick Poll: Family Engagement

What is your definition of family engagement?

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Family Engagement is parent-teacher collaboration to

drive student achievement.

National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group. June 2009

Leveraging Time: Connecting Home and School Learning

33% Asleep

10% School

57% Away from school

Student time: Six hours and fifteen minutes of instruction 180 days per year

Research Indicates That Family Engagement Is A Key

Component Of Effective School Reform

APTT Theoretical Framework Concerted cultivation—Annette Lareau, 2003

Research suggests that schools have standardized views of the proper role of parents in schooling. Social class and cultural capital provide parents with unequal resources to comply with teachers’ requests for participation in student learning.

Self-efficacy—Hoover-Dempsey, 1997

What contributes to the development of self-efficacy? Personal experience of success in the given area Indirect experience of success in the given area Verbal encouragement and persuasion from important others Personal concerns, hopes, and expectations

High expectations—William Jeynes, 2003, 2005, 2007A series of three meta-analyses hold that the most influential components of family engagement are the most subtle, like high expectations, loving and effective lines of communication, and parental style.

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20%

30%

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50%

Weak

Strong

Family Engagement Matters for Students and Schools

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Bryk, A.Sebring, P., Allensworth, A., Luppescu, S., & Easton, J. (2010). Organizing schools for improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

5 “essential supports” predicted dramatic school improvement

Combined, supports had greater impact

Weakness over time in any area undermined improvement

What Kinds of Family Engagement Lead to Increased Academic Achievement? The Research

Meta-analyses find that:

Academic socialization matters most.

Home-based family engagement efforts predict student achievement.

Communication with school staff and participation in school-based activities is also important.

There is conflicting evidence about homework help.

Academic Parent-Teacher Teams: A Promising Practice

Academic Parent Teacher Teams Started in Creighton, Arizona in 2008 as part of district-wide reform

effort

Repurposes traditional parent-teacher conferences

Three classroom/group meetings and one individual meeting a year

Essential Elements: Personal invitation, sharing data, modeling and practicing learning activities, setting short-term goals, and developing classroom networks

Outcomes on: reading fluency, Mathematics, parent efficacy

Participating teachers need ~6-8 hours of professional development support

From Low to High Impact Strategies

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Academic Parent-Teacher

Teams

30-40 minutes a year of parent-teacher contact time

25-30 hours of teacher time per year to prepare and deliver

Little to no accountability for teachers and families

Inconsistent quality from classroom to classroom

No measurable outcomes

4.25 hours a year of parent-teacher collaboration time

6-8 hours of PD and support

Data drives engagement

Families receive information, tools, and strategies to support learning

SMART goals for every student

High expectations for teachers and families

Measurable outcomes

Theory of Action

In The Video

Look for: Welcome and Icebreaker Data Review Modeling of Activities Practice of Activities and Materials Setting 60-Day Goals

APTT Video

Activity

In teams, discuss reactions to the APTT video. Include observations about: Data, modeling, materials, practice, and academic

goals Implications for families Implications for teachers

APTT Framework

Personal invitation

Student data

Modeling, practice and

materialsGoal

setting

Networking APTT Group Meeting Process

• Welcome and Icebreaker• Review of grade-level foundation skills • Data review • Modeling, materials, and practice• Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals

Three 75-minute team meetings One 30-minute individual

Foundational Grade-Level SkillsTo Anchor Parent-Teacher

Communication and Collaboration

Aligned to Common Core Standards Promote grade-level success Demand home practice Are measured regularly through common formative

assessments Are the academic currency between parents and

teachers

Background on APTT: The Creighton Story in 2008

Inner city district Nine K-8 schools 92% Free or reduced lunch 85% Hispanic 45% English learners 65% of parents had less than an 8th grade education 23% of parents have a GED or high school diploma 11% of parents started high school but did not finish 1% of parents have a college degree

Steps Taken at Creighton Year 1 = 11 teachers Year 2 = 79 teachers Year 3 = 187 teachers This year = over 210 teachers

Professional development system for teachers and administrators System for Parent Liaison training System for APTT teacher planning assistance and coaching System of parent workshops focused of student grade-level

learning System for evaluation and improvement

The APTT Model To Date:Districts/Schools in:

Arizona California Colorado Nebraska Nevada Washington, DC

2009-2010 = 11 classrooms

2010-2011 = 79 classrooms

2011-2012 = 245 classrooms

2012-2013 = about 1,095 classrooms or about 28,000 students

Professional Development and Technical Support to Schools

Orientation and action planning with school leadership team

Ongoing training, planning support, and coaching for teachers

Develop internal expertise Parent focus groups Data collection, evaluation, and refinement of practice

Data Sources at Creighton

iSTEEP Student Data Results Parent Surveys Teacher Interviews Teacher Reflections Parent Interviews Student Interviews

2011-2012 Assessment Outcomes at Creighton (iSTEEP Scores in nine schools)

Apparent APTT benefit for decreasing % of students at frustration level 30% - 19% =11%

Apparent APTT benefit for increasing % of students at Mastery in Reading 42% - 27% =15%

2011-2012 Assessment Outcomes at Creighton (ISTEEP Scores in nine schools)

Apparent APTT benefit for decreasing % of students at Frustration in Math 53% - 36% = 17%

Apparent APTT benefitFor increasing students at Mastery Level 36% - 21% = 15%

Assertions: Qualitative Outcomes

(surveys, interviews, and teacher reflections)

Parent-teacher communication—The academic information shared with families increased awareness and facilitated shared effort in the student learning process.

Parent engagement—Parents welcomed teachers’ invitations to be involved and to be held to a higher set of expectations for engagement because coaching and support were provided.

Teacher capacity—Teachers’ ability to lead and motivate their parent classroom communities was a process of adaptation, time commitment and preparedness.

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Assertions: Qualitative Outcomes

(surveys, interviews, and teacher reflections)

Student achievement—Many students met or exceeded academic expectations with confidence when parents and teachers created collaborative structures of support.

Systematic approach—APTT provided the additional time and structure teachers needed to share expectations, data, activities and materials that parents needed to be engaged in the student learning process.

APTT in Washington, DC with support from the Flamboyan Foundation

Seven schools in 2011-2012 Seventeen schools in 2012-2013

2011-2012 Pilot Results in DC

  Grades # students

% of students

receiving a home visit

 

Average APTT

attendance 2011-

2012

Daily student attendance

# of suspensions per student

DC-CAS Overall Proficiency *

2010-2011 2011-2012

2010-2011 2011-2012

2010-2011

2011-2012

DCPS School #1

Pres-5 243 73% 42% 95.1% 96.9% 21 6 7.8% 10.6%

+1.8% -68% +2.8%DCPS School #2

PreK-8 676 36% 93% 97.7% 98.4% 10 1 81.7% 82.7%

+0.7% -87% +1.0%DCPS School #3

PreS-5 379 62% 54% 92.8% 96.4% 246 12 9.6% 23.4%

+3.6% -95% +13.8%PCS School #4 PreK-6 310 36% 77% 94.4% 94.7%     60.3% 61.0%

+0.3%   +0.7%DCPS school #5

PreS-8 472 11% 59% 93.2% 96.8% 23 40 18.9% 28.0%

+3.4% +63% +9.1%Partner School Average

44% 65% 94.6% 96.6% 300/1739 59/1770 35.6% 41.2%

+2.0% -83% +5.6%DCPS Elementary Average

94.0% 95.0% 1,192/ 20,214

1,579/ 20,521

42.5% 45.4%

+1.0% +31% +2.9%

Flamboyan Foundation, Washington ,DC

Operationalizing Family Engagement

Create a shared vision of what effective family engagement looks like

Adopt a research-based model: APTT Provide ongoing professional development and support for

school administrators, teachers and staff Integrate FE into the selected core areas of school

improvement Build internal expertise for sustainability Collect data, evaluate, refine

Metrics

Challenges Refocusing the mind set of administrators and

teachers Perceptions and believes about families Fidelity to the model Budget allocations

Teacher professional development Practice materials Translation services for families Childcare

Time

Potential Funding Sources

Title I

Title III

21st Century

Homeless

Migrant

Early Childhood

Special Education

These programs require compliance in family engagement

but efforts by schools/districts are

fragmented and lack a shared vision for

effective family engagement

Questions?

Contact Information

Maria C. Paredesmparede@wested.org

480.823.9425