Download - Vow To Commit
Janice Brody
Sycreeda Bryant
Texas ACE/21st CCLC
Pasadena I.S.D. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0sfCHhitqc
What is Commitment?
The act of committing, pledging or engaging
oneself
A pledge or promise; obligation
Engagement, involvement
Family
Community
School
Increase communication between school staff
and families
Greater job satisfaction for school staff because
of the team effort
Increase family support
Develop a family friendly environment
Achieve higher test scores and grades
Increase attendance
Improve behavior and student motivation
Increase school bonding
Families develop increased awareness of
school support offered to students
Provide families with community resources that
support their needs
Help match community resources to school
goals and needs assessments
Community organizations can promote and
provide trainings for parents and school staff
Provide facilities and opportunities for additional
learning
These are the pieces needed to create better
educational programs and opportunities for our students
Family
Community
School
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj9Um8T88KM&list=PL1916BBFFF565B963
Epstein (1995) notes that the school, the family,
and the community are "three major contexts in
which students live and grow"; these
"overlapping spheres of influence" are extremely
important because they "directly affect children's
learning and development"
What do schools, families and communities
pledge to provide in order to build comprehensive
and effective programs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPbZV9gqG1U
Develop a commitment plan with your adult
family members so that they feel validated
Develop vows for your afterschool program
orientation/registration
Afterschool program staff and adult family
members should recite vows of commitment that
provide all parties with clear program
expectations
Hold mandatory orientations to set the stage
(Do not have registration forms readily available before orientation)
Ask current and former participants to help with
recruitment
(Positive word of mouth brings results)
Extend invitation to other family members that live with
students
Hold meetings for families at various times (Ask parents what time and day of week works best – majority rules!)
Provide child care, food and possibly offer
transportation to programs
Offer a variety of family engagement programs (utilize needs assessments and surveys – continually reassess.)
Encourage parents/guardians to become leaders (Parent Ambassadors)
Families participate in implementation and
planning of family engagement activities and
school-wide celebrations
Helps schools develop a family friendly
atmosphere
Work with school staff and organizations (Counselors, Parent Liaisons, PTA, Nurses, etc.)
Provide periodic orientations to ensure that at
least one adult family member per student can
attend before student participates in program (at least 2 per semester and 1 for summer)
Educate family on program expectations
Survey parents to see what programs they desire
and their time preferences (1 survey per semester)
Have a commitment service where parents
vow to commit!
“To parents, we can't tell our kids to do well in school and then fail to support them when they get home. For our kids to excel, we must accept our responsibility to help them learn. That means putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. It means attending those parent-teacher conferences and reading to our children, and helping them with their homework.�” -President Barack Obama, July 17, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COiIC3A0ROM
Janice Brody
Family Engagement Specialist
Pasadena ISD
713-740-5318 (ofc)
713-898-9624 (cell)
Sycreeda Bryant
Site Coordinator
Matthys Elementary / Pasadena ISD
713-740-0632 Copyright (c) 2013 by Janice Brody and Sycreeda Bryant. This work is made
available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
3.0 license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
