engagement, not outreach: using equity to empower all families

ENGAGEMENT, NOT OUTREACHUsing Equity to Empower All Families

What is Equity?

• Everyone has access to what they need

• Everyone has a voice

• Everyone’s needs are considered

• Decisions focus on greatest needs, not greatest power

Challenges to Equity

• ”Have you ever felt you weren’t heard?”

• ”Do you feel you have access to the resources you need to thrive?”

• "Have you ever felt disadvantaged by your race, accent, ethnicity etc in terms of access?"

Movie Break!

•Key And Peele, “Substitute Teacher”

Large Group Discussion

• Is this video funny, or uncomfortable for you?

• Have you ever been Mr. Garvey? Have you ever been one of the students?

Barriers to Communication• Language

• Superiority, lack of respect

• Fear

• Communication styles

• Communication methods

Avoiding Edu-babble

Can you translate Edubabble into comprehensible English sentences?

• We will advocate for school-based inquiry throughout multiple modalities within the core curriculum.

• We will maximize learner-centered experiences and objective learning through the collaborative process.

• We will synthesize interactive practices and harness collegial Common Core Standards via thinking, learning and doing.

• We will engineer thematic decision-making to triangulate impactful styles in authentic, real-world scenarios for our 21st Century learners.

• We will orchestrate discipline-based career and technical education, prioritizing compelling cohorts with a laser-like focus.

• We will strategize actionable action-items through the experiential based learning process.

Engagement, not Outreach: The Harwood Method

• Turn outward, towards the community

• Focus on community aspirations

• Develop public knowledge to speak with authenticity and authority

Harwood Tool: Aspirations

Student Engagement

• Students feel their classes help them understand what’s happening in the world

• Students feel respected, recognized and cared for

• Students feel self directed

Improving Student Engagement

• Student “Shadowing” – experience their day

• Learn student histories

• Look at “opportunity to learn” data

• Give student choices to be self-directed

• Demonstrate equity

Perceptions of Equity

• African American students most likely to think schools are unfair

• Boys are more likely to think schools are unfair

Look at Assets, not Deficits

• Non nuclear family/ Strong extended family?

• Uninvolved in school/Involved in faith community?

• Non standard English/Code switching or translating ability?

• “Bad” example/Leadership qualities?

• “Daydreamer”/Creative talent?

Barriers to Family InvolvementDo your policies support and respect …

Family responsibilities,

Parenting traditions and practices within the community’s cultural and religious diversity?

Disability as another form of diversity?

Communication via Trusted Partners• For the families you want to connect with…

• Where do they get their information?• Where do they worship?• Where do they socialize?• Who are the trusted community leaders?

Small Group Activity

List your students’ …

• Place of worship• Favorite family restaurants• Non-school sports or arts activities• Community hero or mentor

Engaging Parents

• Let them shine

• Let them show off

• Let them teach you

• Meet them on their turf

Disparate Impact

• “Small fees” not so small

• Free time not so free

• Schedules not flexible

• Always feeling criticized

• Always feeling stupid, incompetent

Parent RepresentationAre your involved parents representative of the population, including those who are…

• Economically disadvantaged, • Have limited English proficiency,• Have disabilities, or have children with disabilities?

Home Visits

• Shown to improve student and parent engagement

• Can reach families not responding to phone calls, notes, email

• Pitfalls: can seem punitive if only used for low income or “troubled” students

Teacher Home Visits

Home Visit Demo• https://player.vimeo.com/video/113515836

Community Equity Strategies

• Regularly visit student homes. • Regularly attend community organization • meetings, events, and spiritual services. • Set up systems that allow parents and students • to express their concerns; • Host community-based forums where larger • groups can express their concerns and needs; • Engage in community-based advocacy work.

Models for School Engagement

Teacher Advocacy and Involvement

•Instead of asking how involved parents are in the school, ask:

•How involved are teachers in the community?

Opportunities for Teacher Involvement

• Work with a local nonprofit

• Work with local advocacy groups

• Join a local arts or sports group

• Join a local faith community

Honing Your Equity Lense• Does what we’re doing now meet everyone’s needs?

• Is everyone getting the same “opportunities to learn”?

• Are we contributing to “opportunity hoarding?”

• Am I listening to everyone in the community, or just • people like me?

• Will this change or this policy widen or narrow the gaps?

Resources

• Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts

• Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles (Corwin Press. 2016),

• Understand and advocate for communities first: efforts at education reform and other measures aiming to raise achievement levels will be more successful if schools first establish trust-based relationships with parents and their communities

•     Muhammad Khalifa, Noelle Witherspoon Arnold and Whitney Newcomb Phi Delta Kappan.     96.7 (Apr. 2015): p20.

Resources (cont.)• Home visits: teacher reflections about relationships,

student behavior, and achievement. Ranae Stetson, Elton Stetson, Becky Sinclair and Karen Nix           

• Issues in Teacher Education.     21.1 (Spring 2012): p21.

• Home Works: The Teacher Home Visit Program www.teacherhomevisit.org/

• Edubabble bingo http://www.sciencegeek.net/lingo.html

Resources (cont.)• Castagno, E. & Brayboy, B. (2008). Culturally responsive

schooling for Indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78 (4), 941-993.

• De Gaetano, Y. (2007). The role of culture in engaging Latino parents' involvement in school. Urban Education, 42 (2), 145-162.

• Black father involvement in gifted education: thoughts from black fathers on increasing/improving black father-gifted teacher partnerships    Tarek C. Grantham and Malik S. Henfield Gifted Child Today.     34.4 (Oct. 2011): p47.

Thanks!!

• Lesley Williams• Head of Adult Services

• Evanston Public Library

• 847-448-8646• lawilliams@cityofevanston.org• thecrankylibrarian@yahoo.com