Currently, I am well on my way with my Action Research Plan.  I have already recognized that some of the activities will need to be modified based on changes from the administrators.  We discussed and agreed upon all teachers contacting every student in their class to try and reach them and invite them to our upcoming events.  Unfortunately, this was no longer a mandate and was changed to a “strong urge” from the administrators.  I was able to talk with at least one person in each grade level to ask them if they would make calls and keep track of them for my review.  We are going to have at least one class per level who will keep notes and follow the original plan.  I am going to compare the results from these classes to the rest of the grade level to determine if there were any major differences noted from the outreach! 
All of our Student/Parent/Teacher compacts have been created and sent home for signature.  Most of our students have returned these and received a copy for their home.  We refer to these compacts often as we want them to understand the importance of what they signed and what a compact actually is and means. 
The tracking chart has been created and is displayed in every single classroom in our school.  The kids are paying attention to these based on the feedback from the teachers.  We did have a number of teachers express their concern that this could embarrass a child should their parents not show up to anything.  We are not out to humiliate or punish the child.  We are going to add additional options such as Tuesday folder returned each week as one of the “checkmarks” so all children continue to get a chance for a mark to be made by their name.  The chart was up during Open House and many of the parents did notice we were tracking their attendance.  We made it clear that this is a partnership and we need them to be a part of school!  All in all, it was well received.

I am working on getting the initial lists together of which parents did not attend and how many of their children are classified at risk!  This is a big piece of our puzzle that we are trying to resolve.  Finally, I am working with our parent liaison to try and determine additional efforts that can be made to encourage parent participation. 

4th Week Web Conference - School Community Relations

Fantastic conference tonight.  I really felt like I got a lot out of listening to other people's ideas and their focus.  It is always interesting to see the different struggles we all face in different areas.  I love that Dr Jenkins will share with us what we missed on the mid term so we can check ourselves and learn from this.  I was also able to resolve my issue with the Course Embedded log...THANK YOU to Dr Cummings for working with me on this and to Dr Jenkins for passing this along.
Felt like tonight was a success and I will go to bed feeling like I accomplished a lot today!  :)

Attending the we conferences for our classes has normally been very useful!  I enjoy attending them and learning from other people.  However, in this class...School Community Relations....we seem to be drifting off course more often.  People are asking so many questions that are more related to obtaining our degrees but not the course in specific.  Also, people have been logging on late to the conference and then asking the same questions that have been asked several times earlier.  It would be helpful if they scroll through the chat log before asking questions.  I hope to continue on the conferences but want to focus on the class and reviewing the mid term and preparing for the final!

We have been reading so many articles about ways other schools have increased their parent involvement.  One common factor I am noticing, and it seems common sense, is that the teachers are on board.  I attended our CIDC meeting and our principal shared the poor results of her request last year for teachers to contact all parents at least once a nine weeks.  She stated it was SO DISHEARTENING to see the results.  This has me puzzled....you can't complain about parents not being involved if you, the teacher, don't reach out to them at all.  Our class sizes are NOT that large so that is not the case.  I am struggling internally as to how I would deal with this as a principal.  You can't throw down the hammer and demand it, but on the other hand it was a REASONABLE request.  I am trying to continue to soak in the info in these articles to see if I can come up with a different idea on how to get them moving! 

Lots has been happening since the start of school!  I feel like I am running and NEVER walking.  Regardless, we have accomplished a lot on the plan.  We were able to create our posters for the classrooms to track parent attendance at our events.  They looked great!  Our Meet The Teacher Night was good but our Open House was fantastic!  It was a rainy night but still had a packed house.  I had teachers from every grade level contacting their parents to come and it was very interesting to compare our results.  I am meeting with our Parent Liaison to review the final numbers.  Interesting point...I called all of my parents and had 15 out of 20 show!  I was pleased with this.  A colleague of mine, 5th bilingual class, called all of hers and had 7 out of 16 show!  Final note, another colleague who has many GT children, did NOT call and had 20 out of 23 show!  I will be back to share more official results but our entire focus is to increase their involvement.  So far, I am seeing better results than last year and hope this trend continues! 

DONE! - Well, kinda....

I wrapped up this class with so many outside activities occurring which seemed to make this so much more difficult to get work completed!  I felt pulled in many directions and prayed I was not cutting myself too thin!  Still not sure but my grades have been good!  :)  I know the class is complete but I still have a lot of work in front of me.  Not sure I have had a vacation yet but feel good knowing I have covered a lot of ground work!  I look forward to getting back to work and starting my research plan!  I have learned a lot in this class and look forward to putting it to use!

Revised Action Plan:
After meeting with my site supervisor, we decided to modify some of the meetings to make them quarterly instead of monthly!  Our schedules are hectic enough and we did not want to overpromise and underdeliver.  We also added a few events related to monthly calendars and PTO campaigns.  The calendars are important to reference as we always try to give our parents a view at a glance for upcoming events.  The PTO campaign is critical since they are working hard to recruit more parents to get involved.  We must be a part of this so we show our committment as well!  I did address with my site supervisor a comment related to potentially upsetting some of our kids when their parents are not represented on the tracking chart to be posted.  We will review each case one by one and we are also counting involvement from parents who have conference calls with us and try to be active via phone or e-mail. 
I am pleased with the plan and my supervisor is VERY HAPPY to have additional focus on this issue.  My revised and "current final" plan is below!

Action Planning Template
Goal: To increase the amount of parent involvement from our at-risk population and determine the impact this will have on our students from an academic perspective.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research other schools and action research plans where parent involvement was a problem area.  Determine their actions to solve this dilemma and compare schools, populations, ethnicity, and at-risk percentages for true comparison.	Kelly Cooper	Start – June 20, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	Lamar Library Google – Blog Sites or any articles found on the internet related to parent involvement in Title 1 Schools. Resource Books on Increasing Parent Involvement	Determine through committee discussions what additional action plans need to be added to this action plan.
Review progress made with parent involvement last year.  Review contact results as recorded through our parent liaison.	Kelly Cooper	Start – June 20, 2012 End – August, 27, 2012	Parent Involvement Binder from school	Review to find what worked well and what failed.  Modify or reuse positive activities for upcoming school year and research for additional steps.
Every teacher will begin the year with contacting parents of every student in the classroom for a positive “touch” and record the results.	Each teacher within McDougle Elementary who has contact with students. Classroom teachers as well as specialists need to make calls.	Start - August 20, 2012 End – September 15, 2012	All certified teachers within the school. Class lists and identified students at-risk.	Record the results of children not reached and determine at-risk percentage.
Identify which parent they were not able to reach (even with multiple attempts) and identify the at-risk students within this population.	Each teacher within McDougle Elementary who has contact with students. Classroom teachers as well as specialists need to make calls.	Start - August 20, 2012 End – September 15, 2012	All certified teachers within the school. Class lists and identified students at-risk.	This final list will be used for tracking parent involvement and academic performance throughout the year.
CCAs and DCAs will be recorded and tracked throughout the year on the students identified within the sample.	All McDougle classroom teachers	Start - August 20, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	Eduphoria for test scores of CCAs and DCAs.	Tracking will be completed to determine level of parent involvement throughout the year and compare the activity level to test scores.
Each teacher will send home a welcome letter with expectations of parents and students along with requests for volunteer time from parents.	Teachers and Parents	Start and End – September 2012	Welcome letter that will be attached to McDougle Compact	Track the letters returned and those willing to volunteer within the school.  Compare these results with identified students.
Monthly calendars will be sent home at the beginning of each month for parents to make note of upcoming events.	Office staff	Start - August 27, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	School plan, PTO, Parent Liaison, and Office Staff for updating events.	Request feedback from parents on usefulness of calendars!  Eliminate feedback of not aware of school events.
Execute Parent, Teacher, and Student Compact	Parents, Teachers, and Students	Start and End – September 2012	McDougle Compact	Track results of parents/students returning compact.
Work closely with PTO on their new campaign “Give Me Three”	Kelly Cooper, Administrators, and Officers of PTO	Start - August 20, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	PTO Plan	Review results of new campaign to determine areas of success and potential areas for change.
Complete Title 1 Survey for both parents and teachers.	Teachers and Parents	Start and End – March 2013	Title 1 Survey	Analyze results from survey to assist with reasons for involvement.
Classroom Attendance Chart for each teacher.  Tracking will be made visual for all parents to see what events they attended and what is upcoming.	Kelly Cooper for chart and Teachers for tracking attendance	Start - August 20, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	Tracking chart for each teacher and sign-in sheets for each event!	Tracking chart is a visual reminder to our parents of the importance of their attendance.  Attendance will be accounted for parents who attend via phone for discussions.
Identify parents who are participatory on phone and through e-mail but don’t attend events. Request time (even on the phone) to “interview” them on willingness to volunteer. Identify barriers for lack of participation.	Request teachers to volunteer to solicit this feedback from parents in their classroom.	Start – September 2012 End – May 2013	Establish questions for teachers to utilize.	Record feedback from the “interviews” and share with CIDC and PTO.  Review and determine areas where changes can be made.
CIDC and PTO will meet to discuss parent involvement results quarterly.	Parents, Teachers, and Administrators on Campus	Start – September 2012 End – May 2013 Monthly throughout the school year	Results from current engagements and attendance records.  Teacher and PTO attendance at meetings	Review what worked and what didn’t.  Solicit feedback for changes for next quarter’s events.
Parent Involvement Committee meetings to discuss changes to plan and new events needed.	Parent Liaison, Administrators, and Teachers	Start – September 2012 End – May 2013 Ongoing throughout the school year.	Quarterly meetings	Continue to keep strong records from meetings and add new events as needed.  Record results and parent attendance based on targeted sample.
Mid Year and End of the Year Results Meeting	Parent Liaison, PTO, Administrators, and Teachers	Start and End – December 2012 and June 2013	Results from events throughout the school year	Review results of parent involvement, correlate to children’s scores, determine changes made within identified sample.  Make recommendations on changes and new tactics for rest of the year and upcoming year.

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Week Three Reflection

I found this week to be TOUGH!  I constantly struggled with determining if I was taking on too much or cutting too much out.  Parent involvement is a large topic that touches so many areas within a school.  We FIRMLY believe that if we can increase our parent involvement of our at-risk children, they will begin to view school in a different light!  Currently, there is little communication between parents and teachers.  Our kids know this and use it to their advantage.  We must come together as a team and work for the children so they see the importance as well!  When I was creating my action plan, I kept pushing myself to come up with activities that try to get to the heart of the matter....Why don't the parents come to events at our school?  I certainly am not looking to offend them but I do believe there are times you just have to ask the tough question WHY!?!? 
I did not include every event we host through our school as I did not believe repeating these events would add value to my plan.  What I did try to include were the events that involved the key stakeholders and would provide data for us to analyze and use for future decision making.  I am very interested in receiving feedback and constructive criticism on the events planned.  It is very difficult to sit in solitaire and try to solve a dilemma that so many schools around the world face!  I am not fooling myself in believing this will solve all of our issues but I do think it will take us one step closer!  I found a quote that I believe applies perfectly to this situation. 
"I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

Action Plan for Parent Involvement

My DRAFT action research plan for increasing parent involvement in a Title 1 school is listed below.  I am trying to not only increase their level of participation but understand the impact this may have on our at-risk children academically.  This plan is very much a work in progress as there are a number of key members that will work with me on this plan once school resumes.  I see my plan to be constantly evolving but providing insight on ways to increase participation. 

Action Planning Template
Goal: To increase the amount of parent involvement from our at-risk population and determine the impact this will have on our students from an academic perspective.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research other schools and action research plans where parent involvement was a problem area.  Determine their actions to solve this dilemma and compare schools, populations, ethnicity, and at-risk percentages for true comparison.	Kelly Cooper	Start – June 20, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	Lamar Library Google – Blog Sites or any articles found on the internet related to parent involvement in Title 1 Schools. Resource Books on Increasing Parent Involvement	Determine through committee discussions what additional action plans need to be added to this action plan.
Review progress made with parent involvement last year.  Review contact results as recorded through our parent liaison.	Kelly Cooper	Start – June 20, 2012 End – August, 27, 2012	Parent Involvement Binder from school	Review to find what worked well and what failed.  Modify or reuse positive activities for upcoming school year and research for additional steps.
Every teacher will begin the year with contacting parents of every student in the classroom for a positive “touch” and record the results.	Each teacher within McDougle Elementary who has contact with students. Classroom teachers as well as specialists need to make calls.	Start - August 20, 2012 End – September 15, 2012	All certified teachers within the school. Class lists and identified students at-risk.	Record the results of children not reached and determine at-risk percentage.
Identify which parent they were not able to reach (even with multiple attempts) and identify the at-risk students within this population.	Each teacher within McDougle Elementary who has contact with students. Classroom teachers as well as specialists need to make calls.	Start - August 20, 2012 End – September 15, 2012	All certified teachers within the school. Class lists and identified students at-risk.	This final list will be used for tracking parent involvement and academic performance throughout the year.
CCAs and DCAs will be recorded and tracked throughout the year on the students identified within the sample.	All McDougle classroom teachers	Start - August 20, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	Eduphoria for test scores of CCAs and DCAs.	Tracking will be completed to determine level of parent involvement throughout the year and compare the activity level to test scores.
Each teacher will send home a welcome letter with expectations of parents and students along with requests for volunteer time from parents.	Teachers and Parents	Start and End – September 2012	Welcome letter that will be attached to McDougle Compact	Track the letters returned and those willing to volunteer within the school.  Compare these results with identified students.
Execute Parent, Teacher, and Student Compact	Parents, Teachers, and Students	Start and End – September 2012	McDougle Compact	Track results of parents/students returning compact.
Complete Title 1 Survey for both parents and teachers.	Teachers and Parents	Start and End – March 2013	Title 1 Survey	Analyze results from survey to assist with reasons for involvement.
Classroom Attendance Chart for each teacher.  Tracking will be made visual for all parents to see what events they attended and what is upcoming.	Kelly Cooper for chart and Teachers for tracking attendance	Start - August 20, 2012 End – June 6, 2013	Tracking chart for each teacher and sign-in sheets for each event!	Tracking chart is a visual reminder to our parents of the importance of their attendance.  This chart will also be used for fun event attendance such as Go-Texan Day and Field Day.
Identify parents who are participatory on phone but don’t attend events. Request time (even on the phone) to “interview” them on willingness to volunteer. Identify barriers for lack of participation.	Request teachers to volunteer to solicit this feedback from parents in their classroom.	Start – September 2012 End – May 2013	Establish questions for teachers to utilize.	Record feedback from the “interviews” and share with CIDC and PTO.  Review and determine areas where changes can be made.
CIDC and PTO will meet to discuss parent involvement results monthly.	Parents, Teachers, and Administrators on Campus	Start – September 2012 End – May 2013 Monthly throughout the school year	Results from current engagements and attendance records.  Teacher and PTO attendance at meetings	Review what worked and what didn’t.  Solicit feedback for changes for next month’s events.
Parent Involvement Committee meetings to discuss changes to plan and new events needed.	Parent Liaison, Administrators, and Teachers	Start – September 2012 End – May 2013 Ongoing throughout the school year.	Monthly meetings	Continue to keep strong records from meetings and add new events as needed.  Record results and parent attendance based on targeted sample.
Mid Year and End of the Year Results Meeting	Parent Liaison, PTO, Administrators, and Teachers	Start and End – December 2012 and June 2013	Results from events throughout the school year	Review results of parent involvement, correlate to children’s scores, determine changes made within identified sample.  Make recommendations on changes and new tactics for rest of the year and upcoming year.

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)