Home-Grown
Students: Program Bridges Gap Between School and Home
Researchers
have found that what parents do with children in the home has a critical
impact on what teachers are able to achieve in the classroom. To help
build communication between home and school, a program in Sacramento,
California, trains teachers in the art of home visitation.
A few years ago, Jocelyn Graves, of Sacramento, California, was shocked
to learn that her fourth-grade son lacked some very basic reading skills.
She would look at his report cards and see how well he was doing, but
they did not show the reading problems that had been there all along.
In a large community such as Sacramento, it might not have been surprising
if a few other parents were faced with the same news Graves learned. But
now, a school system in Sacramento has introduced a program to catch children
who lack essential skills before they fall through the cracks. The program,
created by the Sacramento Area Congregations Together (ACT) Parent/Teacher
Project, bridges the communication gap between school and community by
training teachers to conduct home visits.
In many school districts, parents are afraid to speak their minds at
school and teachers don't feel comfortable heading into communities they
perceive as unsafe. Because parents are hesitant to approach teachers
with questions, teachers often believe parents don't care about the students'
education. Recognizing that, the Sacramento City Unified School District
decided three years ago that something needed to be done.
School superintendent Jim Sweeney was prepared to introduce a new program,
but he wasn't in a rush to adopt any old program that came by his desk.
"We were in our third year of dramatic school reform district wide. [The
program] was not done out of desperation. It was more like a big new idea,
the right thing to do," Sweeney told Education World.
As part of the program, teachers of younger students typically schedule
one-hour visits at each child's home two times a year. With older students,
who usually have a team of teachers, one designated teacher gathers information
from all the teachers on the team and provides an all-encompassing report
for the parents of selected students. Teachers receive a stipend for their
efforts.
Conversations during the visits often include the student, but the primary
importance is building a relationship with the parents. Teachers ask parents
their feelings about the school and what strategies they recommend in
their children's education. Parents are given a packet of information
on how to access the school and a list of frequently asked questions.
TEACHER REACTION
LeVearne Harris, a first-grade teacher at Susan B. Anthony Elementary
School in South Sacramento, had experience with home visitation programs
while she was teaching in Indiana. She welcomed the program's implementation
in her school with open arms.
"When I first heard about it, I thought what a great idea," said the
11-year teaching veteran.
Harris said her visits are focused on the parents. They are an attempt
to open the lines of communication. It's a good way to get to know parents,
she said. Harris asks the parents about their background, how long they
have lived in the area, and other pertinent questions. Then she shares
what she expects from herself in the classroom, what she expects from
the parents, and what she expects from the children. The key to the visits
is giving the parents an opportunity to explain what they expect from
the teacher, Harris told Education World. The dialogue helps clear any
misconceptions anyone might have.
Before the program's inception, the only time many parents visited the
school was when they dropped their children off in the morning. But now,
Harris said, parents feel welcome to drop in and to ask questions. She
also gets more phone calls now than she did before.
"[The home visits] make the parent comfortable to ask questions," she
said. "It has made a huge difference. The parent-teacher relationship
has gotten much better and so has the student-teacher relationship, because
the parent and teacher are communicating."
CREATING PARTNERSHIPS
Parent Jocelyn Graves thinks the home visits are very valuable. "This
is helping us keep on top of our children's education. This way you know
exactly what is going on with your child before the parent-teacher conferences,"
Graves told Education World. The program supplements two annual parent-teacher
conferences held at the school.
Graves said the home visitation program creates a stronger partnership
between the parent and teacher. "It makes parents co-educators. It strengthens
the relationship between the parent, community, and school ... all to
improve the quality of education for the child," she said.
Her son's reading problems were discovered before the visitation program
was implemented, but Graves knows they would have been caught far earlier
if the program had been available at that time.
There are no specific guidelines as to how children are chosen to participate
in the program. Although all K-3 students are part of the program, the
teachers make the determination for older students based on who might
benefit most from participation.
When the program was piloted, the lower-achieving students were targeted.
Graves said she could see a big difference between the relationships with
parents and teachers. "They are not afraid to call up a teacher," she
said. "Parents are now more apt to get involved."
The program has been so successful that Graves and ACT member Sandy
Smith recently took a trip to Kansas City, Missouri, to give a presentation
about the home visits.
For more than 30 years, educational researchers have shown the link
between socioeconomic status and student achievement, Smith said. That
research shows socioeconomic status is not always a clear indicator of
student achievement.
"What those researchers have found is that what parents do with children
in the home has a critical impact on what teachers are able to achieve
in the classroom," she said. The information teachers glean from seeing
how a child lives can be very helpful in understanding and working with
the child.
IMPROVING RELATIONSHIPS
In late 1997, Smith and her colleagues began to look at the relationships
between parents and teachers. In most cases, only a small number of teachers
had contact with parents. Smith paraphrased one parent they talked with,
saying, "If you come to my house on my turf, I wouldn't be afraid to ask
questions or to be honest with you."
In spring 1998, parents and teachers proposed the home visit program
to the school board. The board agreed to fund nine of the district's lowest-achieving
schools at $20,000 each. The funding pays stipends to teachers for each
home visit. According to Sweeney, the funding came from the Voluntary
Integration Program and federal Title I money.
In the meantime, ACT developed the model, trained teachers, coordinated
with principals, provided funds for an evaluation, and arranged for the
evaluation, Smith said.
"A partnership was formed around a home-visit model we all believed
would create a systematic strategy to change the way the two most important
people in a child's life would relate to one another," she said.
In the first year, the program included seven elementary schools and
two middle schools. ACT trained 250 teachers and conducted more than 3,100
home visits. In the second year, the project increased to 13 schools,
with 195 more teachers trained and 2,000 additional home visits. The program
is expected to reach the high school level next year, with an overall
count of 20 schools participating.
"These visits affected the lives of countless children, because when
parents work better with their children, the parents can also help other
siblings in the household," Smith said.
VISITING TWICE A YEAR
At the beginning of the school year, teachers involved in the program
are asked to visit at least 20 children in their classroom, Smith said.
The second home visit is intended to give parents strategies that will
help the child be better prepared for the spring testing.
"Children and parents have a more positive and confident feeling about
school," she said. "Students now report that they feel more cared about
and that they now are excited to come to school. Some feel they are more
prepared and confident knowing that both home and school are going to
help them."
Test scores for the elementary schools have increased 6.5 points in
reading and 9.8 points in math. Smith said classroom behavior is improving
and attendance has been boosted since the program was implemented.
Sweeney is completely behind this project. "My visits to parents convinced
me that we need to go the extra mile and reach way out to our parents.
The parent visitation program has made a difference in our school district,"
he told Education World.
Home-Grown
Students: Program Bridges Gap Between School and Home