Communication 2.0

As I think about the actions I will employ in this action research study, more and more articles surface on web 2.0 tools.  Communication is one of the areas I will target because I feel survey results will indicate a disparity in this area.  Of course, if results indicate otherwise, I will have to change my plan of action.  Most recently, I discovered Joe Mazza and his blog on technology strategies to engage families.  Wow.  He's a wealth of knowledge and resources... Below is a webinar he included on his blog identifying high and low tech strategies to use with parents.  Quite informative...

Joe Mazza was the principal at Knapp Elementary before working at the University of Pennsylvania and used many tools which may be beneficial in my setting.  His idea of developing an app for the school was innovative and made me think about how I could make one for Swansboro Middle.  There are many platforms that can be used; Mazza used eJucomm to make his.  His article in SmartBlog on Education outlines the many features and tabs on his app:  parents, events, students, news, contact us, email teacher, and bullying reporting to name a few.  The only drawback, the price.  Five hundred dollars is a steep price.  Now I'm on a mission to see which companies are available and which are the most cost effective so that Swansboro Middle may have its own app next year.  Thanks Joe.

Ideas abound...

My goal is to reflect as often as possible throughout this process so I'm constantly thinking about how to move Swansboro Middle forward in creating partnerships.  While I was reading Epstein's (2008) Handbook last night, several thoughts came to mind.  I need to target my initial action research in one area of parent involvement.  Having too many initiatives at one time would be overwhelming to the staff and work against institutionalization.  I foresee communication being the area of focus.  I'd like to have some teachers write notes home to a few students' parents weekly.  Another possibility is having students lead parent conferences.  Our teachers meet with parents when there is a Personalized Education Plan (PEP) in place.  PEPs are for those students at-risk of failing a course and/or their grade. The student-led conferences require students to have a binder of their work and be able to explain their progress during the reporting period to their parents.  Teachers are there to answer questions and extend answers if necessary.  It puts the responsibility of completing work and being able to articulate progress on the student while engaging the parents in a conversation about academics.  One of the articles in Epstein's Handbook told about a school that enforced this method gradually.  Teachers were asked to choose a few students to do this with initially and decide as a team how to carry out the conferences.  Over time, more teachers began to adopt the idea and they tweaked the process along the way based on the experiences they had with the students and the parents. Overall, the teachers felt the relationships they built with the students and parents throughout the process was valuable and encouraged the students to complete their work in a timely manner; they knew there would be accountability for their actions.

Epstein, J. & Associates. (2008). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action(3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Corwin Press.

The beginning of an action research expedition...

Action research enables practitioners to work through problems in real-time using the process of reflection, action, and evaluation.  It gives educators a voice, encourages them to work with colleagues, professionalizes their career, and provides them with a multitude of data to inform practice (Hendricks, 2013).  Educators are a reflective group who consistently adjust instruction to meet the needs of learners, so action research is a valid platform for finding and implementing research-based strategies that can be used in the classroom or in a large school setting.  

I hope fostering parent, teacher, and community partnerships at Swansboro Middle School will have many benefits:  creating rapport between parents and teachers, assisting teachers with communication strategies, providing resources for both the school and the community to benefit students, and possibly increasing student achievement (Epstein, 2010). 

Initially, I want to survey my population to determine our needs, and then use that data to implement one strategy over the next few weeks.  For example, parents may feel there isn't enough communication “keeping them in the loop” or that the communication they receive is mostly negative.  Our action for a few weeks may be for teachers to choose a few students from their class weekly and make a point of writing notes home about those students'  progress while highlighting something positive they've done or said during the week.  I’d like to follow up with a focus group or individual interviews to determine the effects of the action from the teachers’ perspectives.  Was it a worthwhile activity?  Did you learn anything about your students or their parents you didn't know before?  Is this an activity you would consider continuing?  From there, I'll use survey data and inquiry data from teachers to determine the next action to implement.

Epstein, J. (2010).  ​School, family, and community partnerships:  Preparing educators and improving schools. ​(2nd Ed.).  Boulder, CO:  Westview Press.

Hendricks, C. (2013).  ​Improving schools through action research:  A reflective action approach. (3rd Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Pearson.