PARENT ENGAGEMENT
IN DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Expect Success Schools:
What challenges
do educators face in taking an asset framework into schools?
On November 5, 2001,
Assets for Colorado Youth (ACY) convened a group of 21 educators, students,
and family advocates from the metropolitan Denver area. Participants discussed
their strategies and needs in taking the asset framework into schools
and received ideas, inspiration, and motivation from sharing together.
Outcomes of the meeting were captured and published in the recently released
Educator's Forum Report. Read
the report.
Order a free copy
of the ACY Educator's Forum Report!
Email your request to ACY.
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What is ACY doing
to help schools link asset-based youth development and academic achievement?
In 2001, ACY published
The Power of Parents: Parent Engagement in Schools and the Developmental
Assets. The publication discussed the need for meaningful home-school
partnerships using the developmental assets that young people need as
a common vision. The Power of Parents, and the accompanying presentations
and workshops that resulted from the report, caught the attention of members
of the Denver Public School's Board of Education, and ACY presented its
work with parent engagement before the School Board in August, 2001.
ACY's presentation
led to a formal partnership with Denver Public Schools in 2001-'02, which
resulted in the Expect Success Project. Superintendent Wartgow and two
area superintendents identified five schools-rated low or unsatisfactory
from the Colorado Statewide Assessment Program (CSAP) scores. DPS and
ACY's goals for each school included: defining the roles of teachers,
parents and students in ensuring academic success; building capacity to
increase parent involvement by collaborating with DPS departments and
community-based organizations; improving relationships between parents
and teachers; and improving communication between home/school/community.
The Expect Success
Project is designed as a collaborative effort partnering school staff,
parents, students and community members to support youth. By successfully
implementing an asset-based development framework school communities can
provide a caring school climate conducive to increased academic achievement
and lower incidence of violent behavior. Parent engagement is the cornerstone
of the project.
The schools involved
in the project were:
- Castro Elementary
- Smedley Elementary
- Kepner Middle School
- Horace Mann Middle
School
- Abraham Lincoln
High School
EXPECT SUCCESS
PROJECT OVERVIEW
During 2001-2002
Assets for Colorado Youth (ACY) is implementing a multi-level parent engagement
plan coupled with asset training for parents and school staff, linking
the asset framework and parent engagement to academic achievement. ACY
is collaborating with staff and parents in five Northwest and Southwest
Denver public schools struggling with student achievement. The evaluation
team at the University of Denver (DU) is overseeing the evaluation component
of the ACY project. The following provides an overview of the project
and the DU evaluation team's goals, strategies, and deliverables.
Project Goals and Objectives
- Define roles of
parents, students, and teachers in ensuring academic success.
- Build capacity
by collaborating with DPS departments, community-based organizations,
and neighborhood organizations in order to increase parent involvement
and student achievement.
- Improve relationships
between parents and teachers.
- Improve communication
between schools, parents and communities.
Project Strategies
- Train parents and
school staff on developmental assets.
- Provide training
to school staff that promotes understanding of cultural behaviors and
perspectives that influence parent engagement and enhance school/family/community
communication.
- Develop delivery
systems to systematically reach parents and communities.
- Engage students.
- Partner with various
community and/or national organizations, as well as other leaders in
education.
- Engage in strategic
planning with school staff.
How
will this project be evaluated?
Contact
ACY for more information.
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