Parent Engagement -- NYCpublic

NYCpublic.org’s Parent Engagement Lab

a new vision for parent power

NYCpublic.org’s projects enable public school parents to:

!  learn about educa@on policy issues !  connect and collaborate with other parents across geographical, economic, social, and ethnic divides

!  maximize the reach of parent-‐led campaigns through a variety of online and offline tools

!  build solu@ons and take ac@on! 11/21/13 NYCpublic.org 2

11/21/13 NYCpublic.org 3

Three Goals of the Day

!  Model a new process for parent engagement

!  Re-‐envision parent engagement in NYC public schools

!  Present parents’ solu@ons to mayoral candidates


Daiyu and Pat make a case for parents collabora@ng.


We promised that we would share the day’s outcomes with the next

mayor.


Why a Parent Engagement Lab?

!  The Parent Engagement Lab is NYCpublic’s version of the charreWe.

!  The charreWe, a structured brainstorming protocol with roots in architecture, invites full par@cipa@on and collabora@on between diverse stakeholders.

!  Parent Engagement Labs support parents as they move from iden@fying challenges to building solu@ons (together).


Step 1: Hear from a variety of experts about the current state of parent engagement in NYC and beyond.

Lisa Donlan, CEC 1 President

How has mayoral control impacted parents’ access to power and input into decision making?

Kim Sweet, Execu@ve Director of Advocates for Children

What powers do parents have legally under mayoral control?

Fran Huckaby, Professor of Educa@on at TCU

How are parents organizing & engaging across the country to improve schools?


Step 2: Iden@fy the impacts of the current parent engagement model.

200 post-‐its captured over 200 “impacts.”


Par@cipants noted impacts anywhere that parents interact with the school system.

!  school level (ex: language barriers make it hard to have in-‐depth conversa@ons about their child’s progress, or to par@cipate in the PTA)

!  district level (ex: parents are not consulted for key district decisions like what kinds of new schools are needed or where to site them)

!  system level (ex: parents are seen as a group to managed and policies are rolled out without parents’ input)


Step 3: Brainstorm solu@ons that address current challenges and suggest a way forward for the next

mayor.


Some of the ideas that emerged

The mayor could adopt the following approach to his new job:

!  See himself as working in service of the schools and not as someone who must control them

!  Create policies that come from a variety of stakeholders, educators, parents, administrators, community members, and experts in the field

!  Appoint an educator to the posi@on of Chancellor 11/21/13 NYCpublic.org 12

Step 4: Breakout groups each select one idea to flesh out.


Step 5: Breakout groups present “big ideas” to mayoral candidates or their representa@ves.


Even the former DoE Accountability Chief now realizes that parents want to be seen as partners.

“The idea was that if you give parents beWer results, beWer service — 311 sorts of things — and more choice, then you don’t need poli@cs, they don’t need par@cipa@on, they don’t need to be involved because they’ll get what they want as a consumer,” Jim Liebman said. “And I think that’s true for some things, but it turns out that public educa@on is something that parents really, deeply want to be involved in.”

Gotham Schools, 11/20/13


Step 6: Collect every post-‐it and document parents’ collabora@on.


Step 7: Build in new solu@ons as more and more parents respond to the original ideas.


Talking Transi@on Ac@vity

1 Circulate around the tables and read parents’ ideas about how the next mayor can beWer engage and empower parents.

2 Once you have read several ideas, please select a table with the topic that most interests you.


1 What ques@ons do you have about these ideas? Please limit ques,ons to one per post-‐it. Lay finished ques,ons out on your table.

2 Select 1-‐2 of the ideas that appeal most to you. Each par,cipant can use 2 dots to “vote”. If there is a ,e, resolve through discussion.

3 What do you want to tell the new mayor about why you would like to see this or these policies/solu@ons implemented? As a group, come up with a 1-‐2 min. “pitch.” In crea,ng your pitch, include how the policy would posi,vely affect your child, school, the district, or the system.


Group Share


“…what is needed to improve schools is an ac,ve ci,zenry, invested in solving educa,onal problems through public

delibera,on.”

-‐ Kenneth Howe and David Meens, Democracy LeI Behind, 2012



Step 7: Build in new solu@ons as more and more parents respond to the original ideas.


Video example


NYCpublic is proud to have received grants and dona@ons from:

Gale Brewer, ManhaWan Borough President Elect Elance Estelle Harris Four & Twenty Blackbirds Renee Rosenberg Maizie and Sue Schaffner

We are especially thankful to Jack and Helen Gorelick for their recent gir. And to our fiscal sponsor, Fund for the City of New York.

We invite you to add your name to this list.


Please stay in touch.

[email protected]

Compendium of ideas generated by public school parent par@cipants at the NYCpublic.org December 2012 Parent Engagement Lab (charreWe)

Ins@tu@onalize/priori@ze/privilege parent engagement.

!  Strengthen the current structure to meaningfully include parents or work to change the structure.

!  “Accountability” should include how well a school or the system invites and listens to parents’ voices.

!  Publish a “report card” for parent engagement at each school determined by authen@c parent surveys and input.

!  Create a citywide leadership team where all cons@tuents (parents, students, teachers, principals, advocates) weigh in on policy issues.

!  Establish regular “town mee@ngs” where the mayor just listens to issues. He or she can start the next mee@ng by recoun@ng what he or she heard and what his or her progress is on each issue.

!  Establish office hours where reps or the mayor hears from parents. 11/21/13 NYCpublic.org 29

!   Create a truly inclusive system that mandates real parent and community input in decisions at the school, district, or city level.

!   Provide for (parent involvement) as a line in each school’s budget to pay for trainers and technical assistance (same as DYCD and other agencies that provide services through CBOs).

!   Create a parent feedback system that is not aWached to the Progress Report.

!   Each school could create a shared project with teachers and parents (this could be about any issue in the school, like how to create less waste at lunch) with the goal of fostering communica@on and collabora@on.

!   Each cabinet member is given the task to meet with 100 parents, each year, to discuss and debate policies.

!   Create real/meaningful volunteer roles for parents and provide training support.

!   Train school personnel on the rights of children and parents, respect and friendliness.


Take steps to guarantee that parents on School Leadership Teams (SLTs) have a real

voice in school level decisions.

!  Implement the enforcement of legislated avenues for parent input.

!  Ensure real well-‐func@oning SLTs. !  Give SLTs members comprehensive training so they

understand the poten@al of their role and can make meaningful contribu@ons.

!  Principals should not chair SLTs. !  Add evalua@on of power sharing on SLT to the Quality

Review.

!  Comprehensive Educa@on Plans (CEPs) should be streamlined and re-‐evaluated, and should play a role in school/principal evalua@ons.


Take a close look at PTAs across the city and

find ways to strengthen them all.

!  Help PTAs get a sense of how well they are func@oning in rela@on to other PTAs.

!  Offer those that are struggling or whoever wants it opportuni@es for support.

!   Ins@tute Peer-‐to-‐Peer exchange between PTAs where they share: !   Agendas !   Outreach !   Fundraisers !   NewsleWers !   How to run mee@ngs

!  New PTA presidents are mentored by seasoned PTA presidents:

!  Check to see that PTA Presidents Councils are func@oning. !  Presidents Councils should let parents know their rights. !  Empower PTAs to func@on as key partners in school community.


Re-‐examine the role of Parent Coordinator.

!  Parent coordinators should not report to the principal (conflict of interest).

!  The parent coordinator’s focus should be on uni@ng and suppor@ng parents.


Restructure so that elected bodies (Community Educa@on Councils and the Panel on Educa@onal Policy) act as checks and balances for the Mayor/

Chancellor.

!  Give Community Educa@on Councils (CECs) authen@c authority to impact decision making.

!  Give CECs approval over co-‐loca@ons and opening/closing/trunca@ng schools.

!   Elect CEC reps directly by all parents using cumula@ve vo@ng.

!   Empower CECs to roll call vote on Panel for Educa@onal Policy (PEP) policies.

!  Allow CECs to create job descrip@ons and supervise, inform, train and evaluate parent coordinators with input from PTAs.

!   Re-‐make the PEP so that parent representa@ves are the majority and all members serve fixed terms.

!   Put parents on the PEP -‐-‐ should be like the School Leadership Team (SLT), where #Educators= #Parents

!   Change supervision of Presidents Council to include PTA execu@ve board.

!  Give PEP appointees independence to not rubber stamp.

!  Give up mayoral majority on the PEP. 11/21/13 NYCpublic.org 38

Return power to superintendents.

!  Let superintendents back in schools, supervising principals.

!  Superintendent reports to the Community Educa@on Council (CEC).

!  Make the community superintendents the place where the buck stops for policy, budget, and complaints.

!  Air complaints in public monthly mee@ngs.


Mayoral control -‐-‐ consider giving it up.

!  Allow parents to create a survey to assess mayoral control

!  Give power back to stakeholders and support the sunset of mayoral control

!  Run schools with an elected school board just as the districts in NY state do


Define a new role for City Council and other elected officials.

!  Give more elected power for checks and balances (City Council)

!  Use local elected officials community-‐based exper@se and invite them to influence policies


Create ways for parents to get answers and follow up.

!  Create ombudspeople who can listen to complaints and direct parents to actual solu@ons. They should follow up (carry a caseload) too.

!  Make ads and post them everywhere in various languages to no@fy parents of a hotline site where parents can go with their problems.

!  Contact info should be posted clearly in each school office.

!  Set up an anonymous hotline where parents can ask or tell their problems without fear of retribu@on.

!  Require schools to post: name, address, phone # of troubleshoo@ng offices in mul@ple languages.

!  Create a “road map” for where parents can go with their concerns.


Create more independent, parent-‐led support.

!  Have Title I parent involvement money go to organiza@ons controlled by parents, not the Department of Educa@on.

!  Contract with mul@ple outside organiza@ons with parent-‐advocacy exper@se.


Use charreWes, or convenings like them, to solicit real input.

!  Mandate cross-‐district communica@ons and mee@ngs, for Community Educa@on Councils, School Leadership Teams, PTA.

!  Solicit input from parents in a real way and use this to make policy.

!  Create a system of roundtables to invite input and allow that input to influence policy.

!  Use networks to connect parents – create facilitated discussions. !   Ins@tute Chancellor mee@ngs with parents in every district, with

translators, and report back to parents on result of concerns – may break into small groups with deputy chancellors and report back to group.

!   Invest resources in winning the par@cipa@on of many, many stakeholders.

!  Have frequent events, maybe monthly even, that involve parents within a district, within a community, to have their voices heard on the issues that concern them.

!  Use highly inclusive, par@cipatory models like the charreWe to rethink school placements, closures, and new school development.

!  Treat new school placement and development as something whose success depends on early/deep Community Educa@on Council/community input in the design phase.


Opening doors at the top will invite open doors in schools too.

!  Inspire/make principals truly open their doors to all parents.

!  Give parents greater access to their children’s classrooms so that they are able to observe how their children’s school is run.


Make it possible for parents who do not speak English as a first language to truly engage with their

schools and the system.

!  Have translators/dual language support so everyone is heard equally. (Just try and incorporate us!)

!  Conduct mee@ngs in the first language of parents and translate for English speakers.

!  Create “transla@on squads.” Students get credit and are trained to be interpreters at all events and mee@ngs (similar to “mouse squads”).

!  Give grants to Community-‐Based Organiza@ons (CBOs) for them to offer transla@on/interpreta@on services in schools.

!  Work with parents who are bilingual and offer workshops. !  Hire staff (teachers, admin, etc.) who speak the languages of

the community.

!  The Department of Educa@on (DOE) needs to make training school leaders truly inclusive (in terms of language and culture).


Explore/create policies that will make the system more equitable.

!  Put integra@on back on the table as a priority. !  Create schools in all neighborhoods that parents would feel proud

to send their kids to. !  Ask communi@es about what school they might want to see in their

neighborhood and then request proposals that can meet this need. !  Look at special needs as a diversity and treat it as a civil rights issue. !  Provide adequate resources to children with disabili@es, making

parents sign off as a legi@mate part of the process. !  Parents evaluate Individualized Educa@on Plan (IEP) process/

service.s !  Parents of children with special needs receive training that explains

their rights. !  Leadership/parent development should include working across

cultural differences. !  Make provisions for “Parent duty” (like the Family Leave Act). !  Require all employers in NYC to provide @me for parents to

par@cipate in children’s schools. (Can be a voucher system.)


Create new web tools/social media outreach.

!  Create/sponsor web-‐based tools for parent educa@on and involvement for each school.

!  Create local wikis/blogs. !  Create websites that allow parents to have a voice. Department of Educa@on staff should monitor these and respond to ques@ons and concerns.

!  Fund tools that allow parents to connect remotely via blogs, community forums; share best prac@ces from all schools.

!  Provide innova@ve and concrete ways for parents to connect (for example, a group for kindergarten parents across the city).

!  No@fy and encourage all parents of their op@ons for engagement in decision-‐making.


Education

Parent Engagement -- NYCpublic