Making the Connection Handout Final

8/11/2019 Making the Connection Handout Final

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Achieving Academic Excellence for African American Student Summer Symposium

Guilford County Schools

July 21-23, 2014

Presentation Handout

Making the Connection: The Role of Culture, Race and Relationships in Disciplinary Outcomes

Presented by: C. McCamish, Ph.D. and S. Rogowski, Ed.S.

Guiding Question: What connects you to your school?

Think, Pair, Share

What factors are contributing to disciplinary disproportionality in your schools?

How might cultural/racial beliefs play a role in disciplinary disproportionality?


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How might cultural/racial beliefs play a role in disciplinary disproportionality?

SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS Possible Actions

These possible actions listed may be new to your school, are actions in which your school is already involved and can be linked to

your plans to connect with all students, are resources available in GCS and can be accessed by members of your school communityor are not readily available in GCS. This is not an exhaustive list of all possible actions that your school can take to enhance yourschool connectedness for all students.

Decision Making

Create decision-making process that facilitates student, family and community, engagement; academic achievement; and staff empowerment

Strategy Possible Specific Actions Making it Culturally Responsive Resources

Lead the school community in a process todevelop a shared vision of high standards forlearning and behavior.

30,31

PBIS Process to identify Expectationsand rules for appropriate behavior.

Expectations and Rules in otherlanguages Any pictures represent the races

of all students

GCS PBIS www.pbis.org

Make cultural competence for allstaff a topic of discussion for aleadership team.Use data to determine if there aretrends that affect certain groups ofstudents and make a plan to supportthose students.

SWIS ethnicityreports 4 th grade safety

surveySolicit teacher and staff input andinvolvement in all efforts to improve theschool climate and s tudents sense ofconnectedness to school.

32

PBIS Process for representation onPBIS Leadership Team or schoolleadership team.

GCS PBIS www.pbis.org

Solicit specific information fromgrade levels to be utilized byleadership team for planning.

Solicit input from grade levelsregarding any specific groups that maynot be connected
http://www.pbis.org/http://www.pbis.org/http://www.pbis.org/http://www.pbis.org/http://www.pbis.org/http://www.pbis.org/


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Engage students, parents, school staff, andcommunity members in teams to developschool policies and plan school-wideactivities. These teams can also assist in

writing proposals for grants and solicitsupport and supplies from local businesses.

33

School wide social skills for commonareas developed and taught usematrix to connect to districtcharacter traits

Involve parents from differentbackgrounds in the planning.

School wide social skills for peerrelationships and adult relationshipsidentified with survey to staff,parents and older students,developed and taught - use matrixto connect to district character traits

Involve parents from differentbackgrounds in the planning.

Make sure to get surveys backfrom all segments of school parentcommunity.

http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/

o Electroniccurriculumo 84 social skillslessonso Lesson designo Age appropriateactivities o Role play ratingsheetso Age appropriatehomework sheetso Assessment surveyso Progress reports

Second Step Skillstreaming for

Elementary Children

Give teachers and principals appropriatedecision-making authority over how schoolresources are used, including people, time,facilities, and funds.

34
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Work with students, faculty, staff, andparents to identify simple changes ormodifications that would make the schoolsphysical environment more pleasant.

3

Assign students developmentally appropriatelevels of responsibility for classroom decision-making and management. 35,36

Engage students in classroom ruleand consequences for misbehaviordevelopment

Discuss how these rules arerelevant to their lives outside of school.Eg., How do the students use the rule offollowing directions outside of theclassroom?

Develop classroom jobs and rotatefor all students (jobs list).

Have students select some of thenames for each job that are relevant totheir community.

Empower students to communicate openly

with school staff and parents by providing amechanism for students to give in-depthevaluations of their teachers, and holdstudent-led parent-teacher conferences toactively involve students in the discussions. 34 Engage community partners to provide arange of services at the school that studentsand their families need (e.g., dental services,health screenings, child care, substanceabuse treatment). 37

Education and Opportunities for FamiliesProvide education and opportunities for families to be actively involved in their childrens academic and school life

Strategy Possible Specific Actions Making It Culturally Responsive Resources


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Provide opportunities for parents toincrease their own skills and competencein areas that will help them be moreinvolved in their childrens school life.

Opportunities could include educationalcourses such as General EducationDevelopment (GED), English as a secondlanguage, and effective communicationand leadership skills. 38

Implement training workshops thatprovide parents with skills to bettermanage their childrens behavior. Skillscan include identifying desirable andundesirable behaviors, communicationstrategies, conflict resolution, listeningskills, setting expectations for behaviors,and appropriate praise. Parents also canlearn about how to teach their childrenself-restraint and problem-solving. 25,39 42

Help Parents create a behaviormatrix for their home activities(identifying desirable behaviors, settingexpectations for behaviors, and usingappropriate praise)

Develop presentation in differentlanguages as needed.

PBIS in the Home ppt GCSPBIS (Spanish versionavailable)

Once identified by survey, train parentshow to teach the social skills at homethat will enhance adult and peerrelationships, create simple lessons forthe parent to use at home.

Include a discussion for how theseskills are utilized outside of school in thehome and in the community. How arethese skills alike and different in the homeand community setting. Discuss codeswitching and bridge building betweensettings/situations.

http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/ o Electroniccurriculumo 84 social skillslessonso Lesson designo Age appropriateactivities o Role play ratingsheetso Age appropriatehomework sheetso Assessment surveyso Progress reports
http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/


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Second Step Skill Streaming for

Elementary Children

Provide parent workshops that teachacademic support skills, such as how totalk with teachers about ways parents canhelp their children develop academicskills. 25,39,40,43,44

Seek alternative ways to provide hard-to-reach parents with skills training, such asby using a telephone-based parenteducation program. 45

Communicate the schools behavioral andacademic expectations to families, andencourage them to reinforce thoseexpectations at home. Expectations can becommunicated through newsletters,parent teacher student conferences, and

school Web sites.44,46

Develop letters explaining the PBISprocess to parents and policies toparents.

Develop letters/brochures in differentlanguages as needed.

Examples fromwww.pbis.org or from GCSPBIS

Encourage parents to create a supportivelearning environment in the home. Thisincludes providing homework guidance,ensuring adequate educational suppliessuch as computers or books, and assistingtheir children with time management. 25,39,43,44
http://www.pbis.org/http://www.pbis.org/http://www.pbis.org/


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Create a mechanism to strengthen familyinvolvement in student achievement. Thiscould include creating a full-time staff

position to coordinate school-wideactivities and parent involvement orassigning school staff members to beliaisons to specific students and theirfamilies. The school family liaison canwork with the family to identify ways to beinvolved in the classroom and school;organize meetings with the family andrelevant staff to discuss student progressand other issues; ensure that the student

and family feel welcome in the school; helpset academic and behavioral goals; andconnect the student and family withcommunity resources. 39,46,47

Establish regular meetings with parents todiscuss their childrens behavior, grades,and accomplishments. These could includehome visits, which are especially beneficialduring key transition times (i.e.,elementary to middle school, middle tohigh school, and high school tocollege/career). 42,46

Have the first communication from theteacher to the parent be about a positiveexperience the student has had, not a

At the beginning of the year haveevery teacher address a postcard tothe family of each student.Sometime within the first 9 weeks,

Translate in different languages asneeded.


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negative one. 48 have the teachers mail the postcardto each student with a positivecomment about the child.

Offer multiple opportunities for parents to

be involved in meaningful school andclassroom activities that can fit diverseschedules, skills, and abilities. Examplesinclude assisting in the classroom,attending after-school events,collaborating on homework activities,participating in a school health team orparent organization, and assisting withlinking community resources to theschool. 27,41,49 54

Reduce barriers to parent involvement byproviding services such as babysitting,transportation, and alternate meetinglocations. 55

Have a school leadershipteam identify the barriers for parentparticipation and develop a plan toreduce the barriers.

Include parents that arerepresentative of the school population inthe discussion and planning to identify andreduce barriers.

Create opportunities and mechanisms forparents to share important aspects of theirculture, needs, and expectations for their

children.56

Invite parents/guardians/relatives to write the teacher abouttheir child. Use questions to get

them started.

Include questions about the childsfamily and cultural background. Include parents from different

backgrounds to help develop thequestions. Have parents be classroom

guest speakers who shareinformation about their daily lives, jobs, history of the community, tellfolk stories or demonstrate how tomake traditional crafts or food.

Include parents from differentbackgrounds to help develop thequestions.

Translate materials into languages spoken


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most commonly in students homes.Provide bilingual interpreters to assistnon-English-speaking families at schoolevents. 56

Academic, emotional, and social skill instruction

Provide students with the academic, emotional, and social skills necessary to be actively engaged in school.

Strategy Possible Specific Actions Making It Culturally Responsive Resources Implement tutoring programs to provideone-on-one assistance to students. Tutorscan provide weekly academic help inreading and math, help students withdecision-making, and work with studentsto develop specific academic and socialgoals. 16,42,51,52

Support positive academic competitionwithin and among schools.

57

For example,schools can establish interscholastic teamcompetitions in academic subjects andoffer activities such as debate and physicsprojects. Offer extended learning opportunities forall students, such as summer and vacationcamps, to improve academic and socialskills. 39,43,51


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Provide opportunities for students toimprove their interpersonal skills, such asproblem-solving, conflict resolution, self-control, communication, negotiation,

sharing, and good manners. Other skillsthat could be taught include listening,stress management, and decision making.25,39,41,44,58,59

Prepare students forcooperative groups by identifyingwhether each child has the following

skills: listens well, expresses clearly,takes leadership roles, supportothers, disagrees with otherseffectively. Teach the skills tostudents to prepare them forcooperative groups.

Discuss how these same skills areused outside of school.

Discussion starters,Eg, I disagree with youbecause.

Foster pro-social behavior by engagingstudents in helping activities such asservice learning, peer tutoring, classroomchores, and teacher assistance. 60 Useclassroom activities and lessons to explore

and discuss empathy, personal strengths,fairness, kindness, and socialresponsibility. 40,49

Prepare students to interactwith others (Eg. Community, peers)

by identifying social skills neededand teaching the social skills prior toworking with others

Use the socials skills identified bythe parent community.

Teach refusal and resistance skills,including how to recognize socialinfluences to engage in problem behaviors,identify consequences of problembehaviors, generate and suggestalternatives, and invite peers to join inthose alternative activities. 39,43,59,61

Use Stop, Walk, Talkmethod

Let students determine the stopsign

Bully Prevention PBIS on www.pbis.org

Correct inaccurate perceptions about whatare normal behaviors among students(e.g., how many students smoke or drinkalcohol). 44

Use incidents in the classroom asteachable moments to educate students

Review social skills lessonsor do an additional lesson.

http://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/
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on self-control, empathy, cooperation, andconflict resolution skills. 35

o Electroniccurriculumo 84 social skillslessonso Lesson designo Age appropriateactivities o Role play ratingsheetso Age appropriatehomework sheetso Assessment surveyso Progress reports

Second StepSkill Streaming forElementary Children

Provide opportunities throughout theschool day that allow students to identifyand label their feelings, express theirfeelings, and assess the intensity of theirfeelings. 36,49

Engage students in planning for theirfuture, including career and personal

goals. Assist them in mapping out steps totake to meet their goals. 40,62

Use school sporting events and physicaleducation classes to promote teamworkand sportsmanship and emphasize fairplay and nonviolence. 26,63


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Effective classroom management and teaching methods

Use effective classroom management and teaching methods to foster a positive learning environment.

Strategy Possible Specific Actions Making It Culturally Responsive Resources Communicate clear expectations forlearning and behavior. 39,43,64 Ensure thatexpectations are developmentallyappropriate and that all students are heldto the same expectations.

Create classroom rulesaligned with school wideexpectations (PBIS) and/or districtcharacter traits.

Translate into different languagesas needed. Use pictures that represent all

races/cultures in classroom

GCS CHAMPS PBIS module for

Rules and Expectations PBIS module for

Routines Use Tell, show, do lesson

plans to model the behavior.

Use culturally related names,

examples. Discuss how these character traitsand rules may be applied outside school

Create procedures androutines in the classroom.

Use pictures that represent allraces/cultures in classroom

Ensure that lessons are linked tostandards and are sequential to ensurethat students learning builds upon priorlessons. 34,46,65

Clearly describe lesson goals and how theinformation relates to students and thereal world. 9,35,66

Assess students continuously and use theresults to guide the direction of the classand teaching methods used. 16,34,46


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Use interactive and experiential activities,such as group discussions, problemsolving, and role playing, to engagestudents in learning and help thempersonalize the information. 9,35,36,66,67

Be flexible with instructional strategies toallow for teachable moments andpersonalization of the academic lessons. 30

Use a variety of teaching methods such asdiscussion questions, extra readings, andgroup projects to foster critical andreflective thinking, problem-solving skills,and the capacity to work effectively with

others.67

Apply a variety of classroom managementstrategies and teaching methods that areconducive to the diverse needs andlearning styles of students. Examples ofstrategies include assessing studentknowledge before teaching, teaching toexplicit learning objectives, involvingstudents in small cooperative learninggroups, and organizing and structuring the

classroom in ways that prevent disciplineproblems from occurring. 16,39,43,44,60,68

Increase Opportunities toRespond in lessons Pay attention to task

difficulty Add choice to lessons Proactively sequence

activities

GCS CHAMPS PBIS module for

OTRs, task difficulty, addingchoice and sequencingactivities

Engage students in appropriate leadershippositions in the classroom and provideavenues for their voices and opinions to beheard. For example, include students inthe decision-making process for settingclassroom rules and consequences for

Engage students inclassroom rule and consequencesfor misbehavior development

Discuss how these rules arerelevant to their lives outside of school. Eg.,How do the students use the rule offollowing directions outside of theclassroom?


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breaking the rules. 44,49,67,69

Establish a reward system for bothacademic and extracurricular

achievements, such as written praise orcoupons to purchase items in the schoolstore. 39,43,44 In addition, encourage theintrinsic rewards of learning by displayingstudent work and accomplishments toparents, other students and teachers, andmembers of the community. 67

Develop a class wideencouragement system.

Use cultural themes in the system GCS CHAMPS

Provide diverse opportunities for studentsto be meaningfully involved, learn, and berecognized. These opportunities could

include service learning, extracurricularactivities, and creative projects. 9,30,46 Forexample, integrate academic programswith community service (e.g., developingwriting skills by working on a communitynewspaper, reinforcing math skills bytutoring younger students). 16,52

Create service learningprojects for student involvement

Make the project one that connectswith the community directly around theschool. Eg., create a yard-service

organization to rake leaves, shovel snow,etc. for persons in the neighborhood.

GCS servicelearning resources

Create a school garden Deliver garden produce tocommunity centers, homes etc. in theneighborhood around the school.

Encourage open, respectfulcommunication about differing

viewpoints. Creating opportunities forstudents to challenge and debate can teachrespect for diverse opinions andperspectives. 49,67

Reduce class size to ensure more time forindividualized assistance. 34,70


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Professional DevelopmentProvide professional development and support for teachers and other school staff to enable them to meet the diverse cognitive, emotional and social needsof children and adolescents.StrategyEmploy teachers who have been trained inchild development, and demonstrateeffective implementation of student-centered pedagogy, a variety of classroommanagement techniques, and teachingmethods (e.g., cooperative learning). 16

Offer professional development on ways toorganize and structure the classroom topromote a positive environment.Developmentally appropriate disciplinestrategies emphasize positive behaviorsand values and assist students indeveloping self-control. 49

Offer specific training toteachers for creating rules alignedwith character traits, creatingprocedures and routines,encouraging appropriate behavior,developing relationships withstudents, discouraging inappropriatebehavior

Discuss and learn to identifyculture biases in expectations for studentbehavior. Discuss and learn to identify

possible biases on level of expectations,can visualize each and every student beingsuccessful, call on students equally inclass, give equal wait t imes, etc.

GCS CHAMPS GCS PBIS modules

for classroom management

Educate school staff on strategies toeffectively involve parents in their

childrens school life. Important skillsinclude how to establish regularcommunication, communicate effectivelywith parents from diverse cultures,conduct effective parent teacher studentconferences, involve parents in homeworkassignments, and organize classroomevents that engage parents. 46


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Provide training on all curricula the schoolplans to use, as well as effective teachingmethods (e.g., cooperative learning, activelearning), to maximize the curriculaseffectiveness. Ensure that teachers have

the necessary materials, time, resources,and support to effectively use the skillslearned in train ing.36,40,44,49

Enable teachers to learn from each otherby building learning teams to observeexperienced teachers applying effectiveclassroom management techniques andfacilitating group work in a way thatvalues students thoughts and opinions. 46

Develop a coaching or mentoring programfor teachers. Pairing teachers in thismanner allows them to solve problems atschool, share teaching techniques andclassroom management strategies, andcreate a supportive workenvironment. 39,43,44,49

Relationships

Create trusting and caring relationships that promote open communication among administrators, teachers, staff, students, fam ilies, and communities.


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Strategy Possible Specific Actions Making It Culturally Responsive Resources Consider structuring the school so thatteachers stay with the same students for 3years in elementary and middle school and2 or more years in high school. 34 This canprovide better continuity in learning andmight allow the development of strongerteacher student relationships. 16

Allow students and their parents to usethe school building and property outsideof school hours for recreational or healthpromotion programs. 71 This can increasetheir feeling of being part of the school

community.

Apply reasonable and consistentdisciplinary policies that are collectivelyagreed upon by students and staff and arefairly enforced. 67,72

PBIS process for identifyingclass and office managedmisbehavior.

Hold school-wide activities that givestudents opportunities to learn aboutdifferent cultures, people with disabilities,and topics such as arts or sports. This willincrease students respect for diversityand form connections among students. 35

Increasing understanding of similaritiesand differences can engender respect.

Have parents share culturalbackgrounds and celebrations withstudents

Have students interview theirparents, grandparents etc. about thecommunity and share withclass/school


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Have students find articles orget information from their home orcommunity that relates to a lesson atschool

Provide opportunities for students of allachievement levels to interact with oneanother and develop friendships, promoteteamwork, and lessen hierarchicaldivisions between older and youngerstudents. 9,16,35

Create opportunities for students to workin partnership with adults in helping roles.For example, service learning

opportunities enable students to connectwith adults in the community (e.g., fieldtrips, community volunteer events,internships). 60 Involve students in activitiesthat traditionally involved only adults (e.g.,parent teacher conferences, curriculumselection committees, school healthteams). 33,40,67

Have principals, teachers, and other schoolstaff commit to and model respectful

behavior toward each other.36,58,59

Challenge staff to greet each student byname. 46

Make sure staff membersunderstand this as a part ofsupervising common areas.

Make sure to include all students GCS PBISSupervision Skills trainingmodule

Encourage school staff to make aconcerted effort to reach out to studentswho may be experiencing academic orsocial issues and get to know them,

Have teachers identifystudents who are not connected withan adult and assign them an adult.

GCS PBISCICO/mentoring


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Documents

Making the Connection Handout Final