STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
IMPROVING OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS – WHY
PARENTS MATTER
FHS Staff Conference 27-28 May 2011
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Strengthening Community Engagement
3 workshops: Improving outcomes for students –
why parents and community matter Taking action – resources to support
school self analysis Building school and community
capacity for sustainable practice
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Workshop focus
This workshop focuses on current research on school/community partnerships and their relationship to improved student learning outcomes with a particular focus on low socio-economic status school communities.
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Workshop outcomesIn this session participants will: reflect on their beliefs, attitudes and
practices in relation to school community partnerships.
examine research on the relationship between school/community partnerships and student learning outcomes
improve their understanding of the importance of effective family-school partnerships on better outcomes for students
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DISCUSSION 1 Perceptions and challenges
Discussion 1 In your groups, discuss the questions on
your sheet Annotate notes - Discussion sheet Report on your responses to the
whole group (20 minutes)
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ACTIVITY 1 What the research is saying
Procedure Read allocated reading summary, highlight
key points and then record responses to the five questions on Worksheet 1 (10 minutes)
Discuss the responses with other table group members (15 minutes)
Annotate notes with any new or interesting ideas from the discussion.
Report on the most significant new idea from the reading to the whole group (10 minutes).
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Effects on student learningResearch demonstrates that:
effective schools have high levels of parental and community involvement
when schools, families and the community work in partnership, students get better results from their education.
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Key findings When schools, families and community
groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more.
Henderson and Mapp, 2002
The key to improving student achievement is not parental involvement in schooling but parental engagement in learning.Harris and Goodall, 2007
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Why home, school and community relationships matter
The development of effective learning partnerships with parents and community enriches discussions on pedagogies between students, teachers and parents.
The discussions assist teachers to align classroom practice and tasks with students’ experiences, their background knowledge and cultural knowledge beyond the school and to real-life situations to improve student learning.
Systemic Implications of Pedagogy and Achievement study 2007
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NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Teaching Standards
Element 2 Teachers know their students and how they learn emphasises key ways that teachers and leaders meet the learning needs of individual students through deep understanding of their interests, skills and prior achievements.
Element 7 Teachers are actively engaged members of their profession and the wider community emphasises key ways that teachers and school leaders engage with parents and community.
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ACTIVITY 2
Home, school and community relationships.
What do we mean?
Listen to this podcast on why home, school and community relationships are important for improved outcomes for students.
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ACTIVITY 2 Continued
Complete question 2 in Worksheet 2 individually reflect and answer questions 2a and 2b
(5 minutes) share in groups of two or three. Answer question 2c
(10 minutes) whole group sharing and recording. Answer
question 2d (15 minutes).
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Where to next?
Planning strategies to improve learning outcomes
through engaging the community