Relfections on EDLD 5326

 During my course in EDLD 5326 Community Relations, I learned the importance of positive relationships with stakeholders within my school community. Stakeholders can be students, parents, teachers and staff, and the community. The purpose of a school community is to have an expressed objective of helping students learn. EDLD 5326 encouraged the students to apply approaches to develop vital partnerships between school sand stakeholders for the benefit of students. One of the areas I specifically worked on was to increase the involvement of the ESL population within my school.

In the last three years, the ESL population, specifically the Spanish speaking population, in our district has grown. My school, University Park Elementary School, specifically has seen the growth since we are the only elementary in our district with an ESL program. The other three elementary schools in my district transfer their ESL students to our campus. Since this growth has started to take place, we do not have any specific committees assist in the education of our ESL population and even our website does not have information for ELS parents and students.

Using the AIES report from 2009-2010, I recorded information that was rather eye-opening. Our school did not have a large enough Hispanic population to even be considered a sub-population until 2010 in grades three and four. On the 2010 fourth grade reading TAKS only 80% of our Hispanic population passed reading. This is a large discrepancy since the campus average is 99% passing. Only 25% of the Hispanic population received commended on TAKS whereas the campus average was 75% earning commended performance. The middle school and high school in our district do not have any testing data on their Hispanic population since they have not encountered a growth in students. They still do not have enough students to count as a sub-population.

Encouraging parents and teachers to utilize the school’s website for meaningful two way communication will assist in increasing the level of student achievement. Parents can leave comments via the Facebook fanpage which is often less intimidating for some parents than meeting face to face. Using 21st century skills will also keep parents informed in real time instead of having to wait until the once a week news day when parents are bombarded with a mass amount of information that is difficult to sift and find important information. If parents are kept up to date on upcoming events, student successes, and help at the time of student limitations, then students will succeed.

Sharing with stakeholders the innovative means of communication with parents is a winning appeal for everyone. If communication is heightened for our ESL population then all of our populations will benefit. We also have many families in our district with relations in other countries. Their relatives will be able to utilize the resources and translation bar as needed. Since everyone benefits when communication is heightened then this proposal will be an easy “sell” to the stakeholders.

The stakeholders on my campus are extremely supportive of parent communication. Since my proposal is to help create an atmosphere where more parents feel comfortable working with teachers, volunteering, and being more informed of the happenings at the school, the stakeholders will be extremely positive and supportive. Rutherford and Billig (1995) suggest that continuous parent/family participation and community involvement depend on active support by leaders. Teachers and other school personnel are key players in family involvement and that families are connected to the services provided by the school or the community.

Epstein’s Framework (Epstein, et al., 1997) suggests that in communicating language translators are beneficial to assist families as needed. With a translator on the website, parents who speak other languages will benefit from the translation assistance.  For “learning at home” Epstein suggests having a regular schedule for notices and other communications. Utilizing Twitter and the Facebook fanpage will help keep parents up to date on the activities of the school and specific ways to assist students. I plan on using a Spanish website that utilizes the Google Translate Widget so members can easily see how the translation works. The stakeholders can translate the page and see how their ability to understand the page is heightened. I will also show the stakeholders the security measures in place with the Facebook fanpage. I will have several members try to find and view the page without permissions and then give those same people later in the meeting permissions. They will see the difference in availability and how security for the page will be handled.

Pena (2001) recommends making the parents feel more welcomed. School staff must communicate regularly with parents though various methods in order to meet the educational and language needs of parents. Information must be available in the parents’ native language and teachers need to use social networks to keep parents informed. To increase parent involvement, teachers and parents should first begin with a shared understanding of parent involvement, as well as each others' strengths and weaknesses (Pena, 2001, pg. 42).

The implementation of this partnership would be rather simple. I would first need the ESL teacher’s permission to discuss implications and to confer on details. I would then need to ensure the principal approved of the venture. Since the Facebook fanpage would only be for those parents interested in utilizing that means of social media, we would be following the age requirements of Facebook. I would send out permission forms to parents in case photos were posted on the Fanpage. After those areas are approved, I would then venture into discussions with teachers to make sure they were well informed and trained so they feel positive about the undertaking.

The partnership is not very expensive. All the fundamentals are without cost. Since the social media platforms chosen, the website, Google translator, and parent volunteers are without cost, funding is not necessary. If we find that funding may be necessary the principal has discretionary funding or the Gift Committee might want to allocate funding. I would need to make sure that the links provided are up to date. The ESL teacher and I would need to confer on the best resources to utilize for our parent communication and student links. I would need to train the ESL teacher on proper utilization of Facebook and security features. Updating the school’s website to have the Google translation bar would be a needed piece for the website. Since the translator gadget is a simple HTML code to add to the website it would be important to ensure that the webmaster is able to update page with a working translator. Since I am the webmaster on my campus, it would not be a problem.

To reach my audience I must make several specific considerations. I must reiterate the importance of communication to all parents. I must also focus on the importance of getting our parents of ESL involved in the school.

Epstein, J. L., Coates, L., Salinas, K. C, Sanders, M. G., & Simon, B. S. (1997). Epstein’s framework of six types of involvement. School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Pena, D. (2001). Parent involvement: Influencing factors and implications. The Journal of Education Research. 94(1), 42.

Rutherford, B., & Billig, S. H. (1995). Eight lessons of parent, family, and community involvement in the middle grades. Phi Delta Kappan, 77I(1), 64-66, 68.