Building a Culture of Family and Community Engagement

“Engaging for Change”Joint Superintendent Retreat

Cattaraugus Allegany and Erie 2-Chautauqua Cattaraugus RegionsHoliday Valley, Ellicottville, NY

StartEngagement,

Generally Speaking

Ideas to Create an Engaged

Organization

NextWhy We

Never Seem to Get There with Every

Family

The Five Principles to Engage Every

Family

LastHow Do We

Do It?

Getting There From Here

What We Hope to Accomplish

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We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose education is of

interest to us. We already know more than we need in order to do this. Whether we do this or not must

finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far

A Thought to Get Us Started

“How many effective schools would you have to see to be persuaded of the educability of all children? If your answer is more than one, than I submit that you have reasons of your own for preferring to believe that basic pupil performance derives from family background instead of school response to family background. Whether or not we will ever effectively teach the children of the poor is probably far more a matter of politics than of social science and that is as it should be.”

Ron Edmonds

• Nearly all superintendents say overall teaching effectiveness (96%)

and the level of student engagement (94%) are very important

factors in evaluating a teacher’s performance.

• About four in 10 (42%) superintendents strongly agree that the use

of technology in the classroom increases student engagement.

• Less than three in 10 (25%) strongly agree that the use of

technology in the classroom increases teacher engagement.

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• No correlation between success in work and grades in test scores in high school.

• Student engagement goes down every year after grade 5. (If we were doing this right, it would be going the other way.)

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Are You Engaged?

• How excited are you to get to work/school in the morning?

• How much do you enjoy what you do for its own sake rather than for what it gets you?

• How accountable do you hold yourself to a deeply held set of values?

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Why Focus on Engagement?

• 30% of workers are engaged• 55% are disengaged• 15% are actively disengaged• 48% of parents feel they do not feel

connected to their child’s school• 66% of parents are disengaged with their

child’s educational experiences• 66% of students are disengaged with their

learning.

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The Five Universal Principles

of Engagement

1. Unite in Common Purpose

• Bond the actions, intentions and emotions of all stakeholders in a common, meaningful purpose that transcends traditional thinking and practice. Constancy requires the universal sharing of ideas, information and resources to support, grow, and sustain the organization.

2. Banish the Quick Fix

• Exercise patience in strategic study, planning, and execution. Persistence is the only path to effective sustainable success. Focus on root causes of problems, not the superficial symptoms.

3. Clarify Expectations to Liberate Hope

• Communicate clearly, creatively, and effectively to develop a culture of trust. Eliminate fear so that the faith and hope of all will emerge and thrive. Camaraderie and strong relationships will replace hopelessness and isolation.

4. Nurture Excellence Rather than Results

• Focus less on results and more on realizing potential. Cultivate desire throughout the organization. Desire begets motivation and motivation nurtures a willingness to achieve personal and organizational objectives.

5. Celebrate Accomplishments to Sustain Success

• Honor the accomplishments and participation of all which promotes new capital. Support and celebrate the recognition of individuals and their contributions to the organization. Encourage individuals to continue their path toward improved results that will sustain the purpose of the organization and solidify lasting, positive change.

The Picture Activity

© 2005 Family Friendly Schools

Introduction to Organizational Culture

• Education Reform: Failure?• Taken-for-granted values• Underlying assumptions, • Expectations, • Collective memories• Definitions present in an organization

The Role of Culture

• The collective beliefs, actions, assumptions of those that make up an organization.

• Norms• Relationships• School culture does not fall from the sky; it is

created and thus can be manipulated by those in the organization

1.1 The school has created and sustained a culture that is conducive to family engagement through explicit beliefs, actions, norms, values and assumptions made about the value of families being engaged with their children’s school experiences.1.2 A culture of family engagement exists within the school such that student learning and performance is enhanced by policies, programs, practices, and procedures that specifically connect families with student learning to support increased achievement.1.3 A culture of family engagement exists within the school and community that directly and positively impacts the social and emotional growth of all children.

Principle #1: A Culture that Engages Every Family

The Three Levels of Culture(Deal and Peterson)

The Surface Level: ArtifactsIncludes all that one sees, hears, and feels when one encounters a new group with an unfamiliar culture. Also included are visible products, technology, language, artistic creations, clothing, myths and stories told about the organization.

Intermediary Level: Espoused Beliefs and ValuesAll learning and knowledge within any group has at its core someone’s original beliefs and values as well as that someone’s sense of the way things ought to be. Therefore, when a new task or challenge faces the group, it is likely the “culture” will revert quickly to what it knows as its fundamental knowledge.

The Final Level: Basic Underlying AssumptionsWhen a solution to a problem works repeatedly, a group or organization usually begins to take that solution for granted. A hunch starts to be treated as a reality. Often alternative solutions are no longer visible within the organization.

What Causes Disengagement?

Self-Preservation

Isolation

Stress

Anxiety

Fear

NegativeCatalyst

Three Levels of Culture

• The Surface Level: Artifacts. (What do we see, hear, feel about the organization?)

• Intermediary Level: Espoused Beliefs and Values. (What does the culture know? believe? How does the culture respond?)

• The final Level: Basic Underlying Assumptions. (What does the organization take for granted? How are solutions to problems arrived at?)

My Definition of Family Engagement

The degree to which families are empowered to be involved in the educational and academic lives of their children and the degree to which schools and school districts support necessary relationships to sustain the efficacy of parents in shaping their own child’s academic future.

Problem-Based Learning

“The Science Project”

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The Five PrinciplesLogic Model

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Building a Culture of Family and Community Engagement

THANK YOU!

"Discussion on Institutionalizing a Culture of Engagement"

Dr. Steve Constantino

Strategic Planning in Context

Broad Sweeping Statements are not SMART Goals

• All children will start school ready to learn.• The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90

percent.• All students will demonstrate competency over challenging

subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, the arts, history, and geography.

• United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement.

• Every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Goals 2000, Educate America Act

Developing a Vision: Imagining Change

• Change I can imagine:

A MORE FIT ME!

We are great at making grand statements of change; we are terrible at making change happen

Where I am Where I will be without clearer direction

Where I want to be

Pathway to get there:• Creating achievable goals:– Eat healthier

• Balance food groups/fewer empty calories

– Eat less– Exercise more– Use stairs instead of elevators– Bike/walk to work– Fast, medicinal, herbal supplements– Hang around more fit people– Shrink dinnerware and never fill the plate– Don’t eat directly out of containers– Adjust self-image

Common challenges to Strategic Planning

• Defining measurable goals

– For the District, Departments and Schools• Who cares about this?

– Why bother, I can’t affect changes anyway? • Three years from now is a long time away!

– How do I know how I am doing? Am I on the right path?

• This is fine for the Administration but what about the kids?

– How is this meaningful for Schools, Teachers and Kids and community?

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