Category: Families


Designer Schools: Making Sure They’re a Good Fit for All

Filed Under: Education Reform, Families by Tracey Savell Reavis — Leave a comment
April 9, 2013

Today’s blog post is by Communities In Schools President Dan Cardinali, who writes regularly for The Huffington Post. In today’s post, Cardinali advocates for school re-design that leaves room for flexibility. Creating a good ‘fit’ for all students is what’s needed to create a school system designed specifically for the needs and realities of the 21st Century. Let us know what you think.

School redesign is a hot topic in education circles, and it’s easy to see why. In so many ways, the basic underpinnings of our schools haven’t changed radically since the Industrial Revolution. Yes, we’ve introduced new technologies, curricula and so forth, but the underlying assumptions and delivery mechanisms are firmly rooted in the past.

Instead of tinkering with improved features here and there — teacher development, class size, additional learning time and so forth — proponents of school redesign believe that it’s time to go back to the drawing board, starting with a blank sheet of paper to create a school system designed specifically for the needs and realities of the 21st Century.

In late March, the Carnegie Corporation released a report entitled “Opportunity by Design: New High School Models for Student Success.” It’s a gamechanging piece of work that carefully lays out the need for comprehensive redesign, along with 10 “design principles” that reformers must keep in mind if they hope to affect a fundamental change in educational outcomes.

Carnegie’s design principles are essential, but they’re also flexible, recognizing the leadership capacity of superintendents and teachers across this country who are working double time to drive better academic outcomes for their students. Too often, those local leaders find themselves frustrated by structures and assumptions that simply don’t reflect the world we live in today. If we are to realize the full potential of school redesign, it’s important that we create a good “fit” for all our students — especially those who were left out of the current design iteration.

I’m thinking specifically here of students from one-parent (or no-parent) households. Our current school system was designed for an Ozzie and Harriet world where two parents share responsibility for ensuring their children’s academic success. Given the basic design assumptions, it’s no surprise that children from such households perform better on numerous education metrics, including GPA, standardized tests and college attendance.

The challenge, however, is that real life no longer hews to the script for the 27 percent of U.S. schoolchildren who come from a single-parent home. Though Harriet may try mightily to provide on her own, she is too often thwarted by a system that still assumes she has backup. For families that are poor, this design flaw negatively effects student performance. A new report from Child Trends explains it like this:

From a resource perspective, parents provide their children valuable social and financial capital, and these types of resources tend to be more limited in families with one parent and even more so in families with no parents. … [S]ingle mothers are often less able to provide emotional support and monitor their children effectively if they are overburdened by financial and emotional strains or are less able to balance work and family responsibilities successfully.

At Communities In Schools (CIS), we see this problem every single day, but we also see the amazing things that can happen when communities are catalyzed to act as extended families for children in need. Last year, CIS partnered with more than 300,000 parents or guardians, connecting them with over 15,000 community organizations to support them and their children. Boys and Girls Clubs, The Y, local churches, synagogues and mosques, Rotary Clubs and Junior League all function like a powerful extended family, offering physical and emotional supports that enable children and their caregivers to succeed.

And now, what we’ve seen to be true in our own experience is backed up by international data. One of the most intriguing findings in the Child Trends report is that the two-parent advantage we see in the U.S. does not always hold true in other contexts.

When researchers looked at education outcomes such as reading literacy, grade repetition and school enrollment around the world, they discovered many instances in which children from single-parent households performed just as well as their peers with two parents at home. Again and again, this apparent anomaly was observed in developing countries, where extended families and/or religious institutions play a far greater role than they do in the industrialized world.

What does this mean for school redesign efforts? If single-parent households are a permanent feature of the U.S. landscape, then any new-and-improved school design must find ways to welcome and integrate caring adults and the communities to which they belong into the lives of students and families.

Follow Dan Cardinali on Twitter:

@DanCardinali

 

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Ping Pong Wisdom on Giving

Filed Under: Affiliates, Families, Uncategorized by Tracey Savell Reavis — Leave a comment
March 22, 2013

Gathering around the family ping pong table to make a difference. Photo by Sandy Barry-Loken

Periodically, Beyond the Classroom shares blog posts from affiliates, mentors, partners, and education and nonprofit leaders. Today’s post was originally published on Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo’s blog. Sandy Barry-Loken, director of Greater Kalamazoo’s Girls on the Run, shared her family’s tradition of putting their money where their hearts are. 

It’s December 26th and Nana has gathered her six grandchildren around the ping pong table.  Ages 13, 11, 10, 9, 6, and 6, every kid gathers round and anticipation fills the air.  These kids know they are not about to play a single game of ping pong – they are about to help change the world.

Their Nana, Marilyn Loken, was taught early on by her father, a medical doctor, and her mother who assisted him, that giving back and serving others is not only necessary, but a responsibility.  This is a value that she is committed to passing on to her grandchildren.

Starting eight years ago, Loken had an idea to involve her grandchildren in her annual year-end giving.  So, every year, after the gifts are open and dinner has been served, another tradition ensues at the Loken household. These kids help give Nana and Poppa’s money away to causes they believe in – and this year, they believed in Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo.

This is how it works. The kids gather and Nana rounds the table giving the four older kids $100 in play money in a variety of bills – twenties, tens, and fives. The two six-year olds each are given a total of $50. Then, Nana asks the all-important question, “What organizations do you want to help this year?” Suddenly, a kid-friendly brainstorming session begins.

Hands go up in the air. The youngest ones bounce in their places. With grandparents and parents who volunteer and include a nurse, a police officer and the director of non-profit organization, the six Loken kids have no trouble making a list of causes they want to get behind. While the kids call out organizations and explain why they want to help them, Nana writes down their suggestions on small slips of paper and begins to spread them around the table. This is fun, but every grandkid knows the best part is yet to come. They know it won’t be long before they get to walk around the perimeter of the table and place their dollar bills on the causes that mean the most to them. They can place all of their money on one, or spread it out amongst several.

It’s no surprise that the furry friends of the world have benefited greatly through the years – these are kids, after all.  Not only have Paws With a Cause, and Loken’s son’s  K-9 unit made the list, but Heifer International has been a favorite as well.  The little ones scurry around the edge and think of the milk that will serve a village when they give $10 to help buy a goat or a sheep for a community.

As the kids are getting older, they are paying attention to stories they hear about—the many people who do not have a roof over their head, or enough food for their table. So this year, organizations like Mecosta County Habitat for Humanity, where Marilyn Loken is a member of their board of directors, also benefited.

There was one other organization this year that tugged on the heart strings of all of the kids – Communities In Schools. Nicholas, 13, the oldest of the kids, made the nomination. He remembered his mom coming home from work one day and telling the story of two brothers at an elementary school who were sharing a single coat through the winter – until a CIS site coordinator learned of the need and presented each with his own. The Lokens had also heard about the students -who cannot wait for Friday.  While the Loken kids know that for them, Friday means a break from the busy school week, they were moved to learn there are other students in Kalamazoo Public Schools who anxiously await  Friday because that is when their CIS site coordinator presents them with a Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes backpack full of food to get them through their weekend.  It was sad for them to learn that kids in their communities don’t get enough to eat. But they now realize, thanks to Communities In Schools, more kids are getting the help they need when school is not in session to provide them with their basic meals.

And so, when Nana’s $500 was carefully distributed around the room among five different organizations, Communities In Schools was the recipient of $140 of these dollars, and the Loken grandkids knew they were making the world a better place.  And Nana knew, so was she.

 

Make a gift to Communities In Schools in honor of a loved one who taught you how to make the world a better place.

 

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Talking Parental Involvement

Filed Under: Families by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
December 27, 2012

Today’s blog post is by Communities In Schools of Georgia President Neil Shorthouse.

Caption: Neil Shorthouse (center) discusses some of the challenges facing Georgia education. Also pictured: (Left) Dawn Bading, Vice President of Human Resources for Kaiser Permanente and (Right) Fran Millar (Chairman, Georgia Senate Education & Youth Committee).

According to numerous reports, Georgia has one of the worst graduation rates in the country. At Communities In Schools of Georgia, we believe parents are essentially a child’s first and most influential teachers and play a critical role in shaping each student’s perception of successful education.

With this in mind, we invited more than two dozen working parents, government officials, business and education leaders to come together on December 6 in Atlanta for the first-ever Georgia Graduates: Parents Hold the Key education roundtable.

At the event, representatives from AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, Delta Airlines, The Coca-Cola Company, JCB North America, the Office of Governor Nathan Deal, the Georgia Dept. of Economic Development, the Georgia Parent Teacher Association, the Georgia legislature, the Georgia Department of Education and the Latin American Association passionately discussed the important role parents play in student success in the classroom and how we might work together to better support Georgia parents and their children.

We identified multiple barriers to parent involvement, such as access to technology and a lack of support from employers; resources that should be available to help parents get involved, including existing programs from Communities In Schools of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Parent Teacher Association.

Recommendations and solutions discussed by the roundtable included:

* Developing special trainings for educators and parents on how to work together for student success;
* Creating a more welcoming environment for parents in all Georgia schools;
* Leveraging corporate “best practices” to reach working parents.

Although the event was a wonderful starting point, we’re not done. We’re inviting the participants to reconvene in the coming months to continue this important discussion and develop a 12-month strategic plan for reaching Georgia parents.

Communities In Schools of Georgia has also launched a new online Parent Resource Center, which provides a wide variety of free information for parents and educators, including ensuring a smooth transition to middle school and high school, test preparation tips, how to help students with homework and much more.

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Muffins for Moms

Filed Under: Families, Programs by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
October 23, 2012
woman and child eating breakfast

Muffins for Moms provides an opportunity for positive female role models to join students for breakfast and enjoy quality time together. Photo courtesy Communities In Schools of Jacksonville.

Today’s blog post is by Erin Ocobock, Resource Development Specialist for Communities In Schools of Jacksonville, Florida.

Communities In Schools is about more than checking on students’ grades and attendance to see if they are staying on track for graduation. It’s about providing resources to help students choose success by offering support in every way we can. One way we can accomplish this is by appealing to adults who have the potential to be a positive role model on students’ educational achievement.

On Wednesday, October 10, Communities In Schools of Jacksonville hosted their 5th annual Muffins For Moms Breakfast at Biltmore Elementary School. This event provides an opportunity for mothers, grandmothers, sisters and other positive female role models to join students in the school for breakfast and enjoy quality time together.

More than 50 students and adults who attended the event in the school’s media center were greeted by all things “girlie”: pink tablecloths, sweet pastries, soft jazz music in the background and a powerful female role model: Santhea Brown, the first lady of Jacksonville. As the Mayor’s wife and a mother of two, Mrs. Brown knows a thing or two about educational issues and being involved with your child’s school. She spoke to the families about the importance of making a connection between school and home, and about how important it is for family members to be there for a student and be active in his or her education.

To the surprise of the staff, and Mrs. Brown herself, the Mayor decided to stop by in support of his wife’s presentation. The Mayor’s office has been a major supporter of Communities In Schools of Jacksonville, helping to secure funding for an after-school program and partnering with the affiliate on a mentor initiative, The Mayor’s Mentors.

Site Coordinator Bramley Ross has hosted Muffins For Moms once a year for the past three years. She also hosts its counterpart, Donuts For Dads, which will be held this year in January.

“These events have been such a success. After each one, family members always ask when the next one will be!” Ross said. She creates a relaxed atmosphere, making it easy for students and adults to be comfortable and excited to spend the morning together, taking in the words of encouragement from an influential guest speaker.

“The family members and students love being able to have this time at school to spend with one another – time that they might otherwise not have due to jobs and other life responsibilities.”

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From Farm to Table to Classroom

Filed Under: Families, Programs, Site Coordinators, Volunteers by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
October 16, 2012
A chef serves students food from the garden

A chef participating in the farm-to-table initiative serves students food made from garden vegetables. Photo courtesy Communities In Schools of Richmond.

While Richmond, Va., is typically known as a locale for delicious food, the neighborhood of Church Hill has very few options for healthy eating. A low-income neighborhood with families trying to get by on less than a living wage, there are no grocery stores in the area. Rather, people resort to food shopping at small corner stores that don’t have much in the way of fresh produce or other healthy options.

Caitlin Roberts, a Communities In Schools of Richmond site coordinator at Church Hill’s Chimborazo Elementary School, refused to let herself get overwhelmed by the enormity of the need to get healthy food to children. Last March, she noticed two raised gardening beds at the elementary school. Not much was being done with them, but Roberts saw the promise they held.

“I was interviewing a volunteer to be a mentor, and found out that she was a landscape architect,” Roberts said. “I told her about the garden, and she took it from there.”

Within a few weeks, the landscape architect, Anna Aquino, came to the site coordinator with plans for six more raised beds. She donated about $2,000 of her own money, and got her business contacts to donate supplies. With the help of a local farming nonprofit, last spring they planted a variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs.

Now Roberts had healthy food to feed Chimborazo’s students. But she wanted to take the program to the next level and feed their minds as well.

“They have all these fresh vegetables literally growing in their backyard, and Caitlin wondered how they could increase this opportunity to go with learning,” said Devan Colley, community engagement manager for Communities In Schools of Richmond.

Students paint a bench for the garden.

Chimborazo Elementary School students paint a bench for the garden. Photo courtesy Communities In Schools of Richmond.

On October 1, Chimborazo Elementary School’s fifth graders gathered in the “gymatorium” to kick off the school’s first farm-to-table initiative. Over the course of the school year, the 75 students will get to participate in monthly cooking sessions with two local chefs and a dietitian. When they’re not making healthy meals with produce from the garden, they will use cooking as a jumping-off point for practicing math through activities and worksheets. In addition, the students will get their hands dirty in the garden and help with planting, harvesting and making the garden beautiful by painting signs, trellises and benches. During the winter months, they’ll participate in activities to learn more about the plant cycle and earth science.

While the garden isn’t big enough for students to take home fruits and vegetables on a regular basis, Roberts is currently working out a way for families to visit and collect produce.

“I acknowledge that tackling the food desert problem is bigger than me,” Roberts said. “However, my goal for this initiative is to show the entire city the issues facing the families I serve, and hopefully community members will be willing to coordinate resources and help address serious issues like lack of access to healthy, affordable food.”

At the end of the school year, the students will have a “cooking night” where they make dinner with the food they’ve grown for their families at the school, and create a cookbook full of healthy recipes the students can share with their parents. The cookbook will also include valuable information about where to get fresh produce with food stamps.

“We work hard to get parent engagement rolling, and want to get families talking about creating a healthy lifestyle together,” Colley said.

Chimborazo’s farm-to-table initiative is a full-service opportunity for children. While it achieves the primary goal of getting healthy food to students who have little access to fresh produce, it also provides exercise and numerous learning opportunities. But to Roberts, one of the most important things children get from this project is peace of mind.

“This garden shows that you can create beauty in the midst of chaos. And there is a lot of chaos in their lives. Many of them are growing up in rough areas and struggling with poverty. This place is a little sanctuary for them with healthy food and beauty.”

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