No Family Left Behind: A Unique Professional Development School with a Family Literacy Focus 2005200

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No Family Left Behind A Unique Professional
Development School with a Family Literacy
Focus2005-2006
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Outline

• Members
• Purpose
• Background and Rationale
• Partners and Participating Schools
• Even Start Program

• Goals and Objectives
• Learning Activities
• Unexpected Outcomes
• Unexpected Challenges
• Next Steps

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Members

• Johnson C. Smith University
• And
• Merry Oaks Elementary School

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Members of the Team

• Merry Oaks International Academy of Learning
• Stan Frazier, Principal
• Kathryn Swett, Literacy Specialist
• Marty Metius, Kindergarten Teacher

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Members of the Team (contd)

• Johnson C. Smith University
• Department of Education
• Bessie Gage, Assoc. Professor/Chair
• Deborah Bailey, Asst. Professor
• Jeff Ford, Asst. Professor
• Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, Dean, College of
  Professional Studies

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Purpose

• Background and Rationale

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Statement of Purpose

• Professional Development School between Merry
  Oaks International Academy of Learning and
  Johnson C.Smith University
• Family Literacy Learning Lab
• Pre-service Teacher Candidates

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Statement of Purpose (contd)

• Learning labs
• enable teacher candidates to learn and develop
  skills by working directly with
• experienced teachers
• children
• parents
• parents/children together

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Project Background/Rationale

• Integration of two national education models
• Family Literacy Programs (e.g. Even Start)
• integrate adult education, early childhood
  education and parenting programs into an
  intensive, comprehensive, unified program
• Professional Development School Partnerships
• enhance teacher candidates, professional
  development, research and teaching practice, and
  student learning

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Partners and Participants

• Diversity

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Institutional Partners and Participating Schools

• Merry Oaks International Academy pre-K through
  5th grade
• Advantage Carolina
• Central Piedmont Community College
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
• Johnson C. Smith University
• Queens University of Charlotte
• University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Merry Oaks International Academy of Learning
DIVERSITY!
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Even Start Program

• No Family Left Behind

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Even Start Program

• ESL Site
• PACT Time
• Family Literacy

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No Family Left Behind Merry Oaks Family School

• Three parts
• Students reading and math skills
• Parents parenting skills/reading and math
  skills
• Students/Parents Together practice/extend
  skills learned

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Goals

• Objectives

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Goal I

• Create learning labs and professional development
  school partnerships with a focus on family
  literacy that develop teacher candidates,
  support continued development of experienced
  educators, and increase childrens learning and
  literacy.

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Objective I A

• Establish a profession-al development school
  program supporting family literacy in partnership
  with Merry Oaks International Academy of
  Learning.

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Objective I B

• JCSU students will demonstrate that they have met
  the North Carolina Public Instruction Literacy
  Standards as part of their portfolio.

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Goal II

• Help address CMS critical need to recruit and
  retain quality teachers in urban schools with
  high rates of eligibility for subsidized lunches
  (FRL) and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)
  among the student population.

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Objective 2A

• Beginning with the commencement of the practicum
  program, teacher candidates who receive positive
  evaluation from their practicum advisors will
  receive a special commendation that will be
  forwarded to CMS for its use in making hiring
  decisions.

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Objective 2B

• Teacher candidates who have completed a practicum
  with the Family Literacy Learning Labs will show
  evidence of increased competence in working with
  children and families from high poverty/diverse
  linguistic back-grounds, as measured by a
  standard program entrance and exit examination.

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Goal III

• Improve the job satis-faction and success of
  beginning teachers, especially those in urban
  schools, by equipping them with specialized
  skills in literacy, cultural intercultural
  commun-ications, ESL, family literacy and parent
  engagement.

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Objective 3A

• CMS will show a pattern of 75 annual retention
  of those Equity Plus II beginning teachers who
  participated in the Family Literacy
  Center/Learning Lab Program, as measured by CMS
  teacher retention data.

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Goal IV

• Address the ongoing challenge of retaining the
  adult/parent-students in CMS Family Literacy
  programs through one-on-one classroom support and
  relationships with teacher candidates.

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Objective 4A

• 100 of teacher candidates will have been
  assigned and have maintained a mentoring
  relationship with a Family Literacy Program
  parent student for six months.

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Objective 4B

• Parent retention in The Family Literacy Program
  will improve by 30 over 2003/2004 participation
  levels.

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Objective 4C

• 80 of adult participants will have no more than
  four unexcused absences per month while enrolled
  in the Family Literacy Program.

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Learning Activities
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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Co-sponsorship of Merry Oaks Back to School
  Luncheon "2005-2006 Smooth Sailing, August 18,
  2005 at JCSU
• Merry Oaks entire faculty/
• staff
• members of the school board and JCSU faculty
• live jazz, a catered lunch, staff photo session
• inspiring remarks from Merry Oaks principal and
  from school board members.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Presentation at the 23rd Annual N.C. Teacher
  Education Forum, Raleigh, N.C. September 29-30,
  2005 Deborah Bailey of JCSU and Kathryn Swett
  of Merry Oaks
• presented on school-college partnerships and
  profess-ional development schools.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Co-sponsorship of World Teachers Day, October 5,
  2005
• A day to recognize and express appreciation to
  teachers as a part of an international UNESCO
  program.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Presentation at the 12th National HBCU Faculty
  Development Symposium Leading and Learning
  Innovative Education and Empowerment of Leaders
  at HBCUs
• Savannah, GA, October 20-22, 2005 Drs. Bessie
  Gage and Phyllis Dawkins of JCSU presented on
  their universitys professional development
  school partnership with Merry Oaks.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Co-sponsorship of a Family Literacy Night Were
  Going on a Bear Hunt, November
• 3, 2005 Merry Oaks, in partnership with JCSU
• Kimberly Johnson, a noted childrens author,
  presented a program for parents and students.
• Bears were the theme
• a visit from Smoky the Bear

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Family Literacy Night (contd)
• storytelling and library card registration
  provided by the Public Library of Charlotte and
  Mecklenburg County and interactive literacy
  stations.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Presentation at the 2006 Professional Development
  School National Conference,
• Orlando, FL, March 17-20, 2006
• Six educators (Bailey, Ford, Frazier, Gage,
  Metius and Swett) from JCSU and Merry Oaks
  presented on their PDS partnership.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Presentation at the National Conference on Family
  Literacy, Louisville, KY, March 19-21, 2006
• Kathryn Swett of Merry Oaks and Jeffrey Ford of
  JCSU presented at the annual spring conference on
  Family Literacy.
• Accepting A Diverse Challenge To Improve Family
  Literacy Between An Urban School And An HBCU.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Attendance at the Association for Childhood
  Education International (ACEI) Annual Conference,
  San Antonio, TX, April 12-15, 2006
• Drs. Deborah Bailey and Bessie Gage of JCSU
  participated in the annual gathering of ACEI, the
  oldest professional organization in the world
  dedicated to the development of the whole child,
  from birth to early adolescence.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Co-sponsorship of a Family Literacy Celebration,
  April 20, 2006 Merry Oaks, in partnership with
  JCSU, hosted a school-wide family literacy event,
  celebrating reading and learning.
• The lunchtime event included remarks by parents
  and teachers and the award of certificates to
  approximately 20 Even Start parents.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Cross-Institutional Professional Development
  Session Classrooms that Work for Struggling
  Readers, April 25, 2006
• Over 60 participants
• At JCSU
• Merry Oaks principal and faculty members, Queens
  and JCSU faculty and JCSU Department of Education
  students.

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Cross-Institutional Professional Development
  Session (contd)
• The purpose was to
• learn more about successful strategies for
  helping students learn to read
• meet and interact with other project
  participants and
• enjoy a meal with colleagues

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Learning Activities 2005-2006

• Cross-Institutional Professional Development
  Session (contd)
• Guest presenter was Patricia Cunningham, Wake
  Forest University literacy professor.

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Unexpected Outcomes

• Unexpected Challenges

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Unexpected Positive Outcomes

• Raised awareness and understanding, across
  organizations, about each partners mission,
  goals and structures.

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Unexpected Positive Outcomes(contd)

• Educated partners and stakeholders about the
  Family Literacy concept and national movement and
  the federally funded Even Start Family Literacy
  Program, which were not widely known and
  understood.

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Unexpected Positive Outcomes(contd)

• Achieved a strong partnership and a deep spirit
  of cooperation between JCSU and Merry Oaks,
  through the creation of a professional
  development school.
• In its second year, this partnership helped
  advance the overall projects family literacy
  goals and create school-based learning
  environments that welcomed teacher candidates.

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Unexpected Challenges

• Framing and articulating the new projects
  purpose, goals and benefits to a diverse set of
  partners with common yet sometimes competing
  interests
• Devising a workable implementation plan to
  accommodate the time and resource constraints of
  some partners.
•   

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Unexpected Challenges

• Matching schools with higher education partners
  to ensure mutual benefit
• Building in time during learning lab placements
  for teacher candidates to work directly with
  parents enrolled in Family Literacy programs.
•   

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Unexpected Challenges

• Assisting JCSU student teachers develop learning
  activities for parents to use at home to
  reinforce academic skills

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Next Steps
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Next Steps Finishing Our Plate

• Disseminate evidence of the activities from the
  2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school year (CMS School
  Board and national conferences).
• Implement a survey to determine parent
  perceptions and attitudes toward school
  activities and student learning and to increase
  parent participation at school and at home.

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Next Steps Finishing Our Plate (contd)

• Engage in action research with Merry Oaks and
  JCSU faculty.
• Refine the process of JCSU students work with
  Merry Oaks parents

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Next Steps Finishing Our Plate (contd)

• Visit other PDS schools
• Create video/ hard copy portfolio - showcase
  evidence of the activities from the 2005-2006
  school year.

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Next Steps Finishing Our Plate (contd)

• Create banner - visible presence for the Family
  Literacy/ Professional Development
  School/Learning Lab Project
• Obtain items (e.g. pens, book marks, etc.) - make
  connection with wider community.