How Many Windows Does Your School Have?

One of the things I am most passionate about is trying to make our schools as transparent as possible.  We live in a world where you can start your car from 1,000 miles away (still not sure why you would need to do this), answer emails anywhere you can receive a cell signal, and check your bank account 24/7 and know the exact balance to the penny.  With all of these new technologies we need to leverage some of them to help parents stay more informed about their most prized possession, their children.  We need to create virtual windows where parents can connect with the school on their phone or computer.  Here are three ways to try and make your school more transparent.  


1. Weekly Newsletter
Traditionally parents have received a weekly newsletter from schools keeping them informed about the learning that takes place in the building.  There were two problems with this.  1st many students would lose the newsletter before they walked in the door to show mom and dad.  2nd it is from an adult perspective, not one of the students who are the experts about what is happening in school.  Students are the ones living it every day and we should consult them.  To address this problem I tried to emulate Tony Sinanis and contact a weekly podcast to keep parents informed.  The feedback from parents has been very positive, they love being informed and seeing the students front and center is what makes the videos amazing.  

2. Window into the Classroom
When I sent out our first video I asked parents for any feedback they could give me.  I thank them for getting back to me with two suggestions.  #1:  Fix the camera angle so the viewer doesn't feel like they are looking up the entire video.  That will be an easy fix, no problem there.  #2: Parents would like to see images of students in action as they are learning.  While I will not be able to incorporate those action shots into the Weekly Podcast we send out, we do have an idea to help parents see students in action.  Our administration is hoping our Board of Education will allow us to take pictures of the students in action and then use Twitter to share those images of students with parents.  At the end of the week we will send out an email via Storify to show the parents action shots of the students.  By creating this window into the classrooms we are hoping to change the conversation at home.  As students come home from school the question is no longer, "What did you do in school today?" It is now, "Tell me more about that science experiment I saw you working on today."  It allows parents to stay engaged and have much more meaningful conversations with their students.  



3. Phone Calls Home
While new technologies are great, a phone call home is necessary to communicate with parents on a more personal level.  This year we have our grade level teams to reach out and contact parents at least once by phone before our Back to School Night.  The teachers who have done this have received positive feedback from parents.  Teachers said parents were so surprised to get a phone call when their son or daughter was doing well.  I have tried once a week to make a positive phone call home to at least one student this year.  There are weeks where I have been able to call up to five and weeks where I only called one.  As an administrator I need to do a better job calling parents about the positive, our school has so many fantastic students it is not difficult to find some to highlight.  I just need to do a better job balancing my time to make this possible.  

I am hopeful these three windows, along with traditional ones, will keep parents better informed about what is happening in our schools.  In our community most families have two parents who are at work during the day.  When they come home at night they are busy with so many things from making dinner, to driving to lacrosse practice, to helping with homework, they don't always have time to take a breath and have a long conversation about what happened in school.  Most parents do have a phone however, and if we can push out meaningful information to a parent's phone they can look at that information at a time that is convenient for them.  Parents are our most valuable allies, and we need to do everything we can to keep them informed, breakdown the walls of the school, and get them involved.  I'd like to thank Amber Teamann for reminding me that regardless of family income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to:   

• Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs
• Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits
• Hve better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school
• Graduate and go on to postsecondary education. (Henderson & Mapp 2002)

I am a new administrator, and I realize I have a great deal to learn.  If you have other ideas on how to 'Add More Windows' into your school, help keep parents informed,  and become more involved in the school I would love to hear them.

3 Changes to Back to School Night

I recently helped to organize my first Back to School Night as a Vice-Principal.  As my principal, Fran Schlenoff (an amazing leader), and I began to plan for the night we looked at what was done previously and didn't want to change things that worked in years past, but there were changes we wanted to make.

In the past all the parents met in the school auditorium where the principal greeted and welcomed them.  Once everyone was seated the principal spoke, the PTA president said a few words, and then our Education Association president made some remarks before.  Parents were then dismissed to meet with the teachers of their student as a grade level team.

Highlight the Teachers
Our principal thought it was important to recognize our staff with all the parents present.   To do this we arranged seats for them in the auditorium facing the other parents.  When their name was called they quietly stood so all parents could see them.  I know this might seem like a small step however, I think it sends a powerful message. These teachers are here to be recognized for their efforts in the school, and they deserve to be a part of this large group gathering.  It was important to face the audience so when they do stand all the parents can see who it is.  I had never thought of this before but most of the time when a teacher is introduced so many parents just see the back of the teacher's head.

Student Highlight Reel
I wanted to provide parents with a window into our school so they could see the students in the halls with friends, working in small groups on science experiments, and actively engaged in learning in every subject area.  I emailed the teachers and told them I was putting together a highlight-film to show the parents at back to school night, if they had something they wanted me to see please email me and I would do my best to make it into their room.  Being a new administrator I was afraid many of the teachers would be reluctant to invite me into the classroom, but I was wrong.  Many of the teachers wanted a chance to share what they were doing, and were excited to have an administrator take note of their great work.

I went into the classrooms armed with my iPhone and took pictures and short video clips from every grade level and many different subject areas.  I clipped the images and videos together using iMovie and had "Home" by Phillip Phillips as the background music.  At our Back to School Night we played the video and received a round of applause from the parents who were there.  I learned whenever possible highlight the students in action because it is the students everyone wants to see.

Student Ambassadors
The next change we made involving students was our Student Ambassadors.  Each grade level in our school addresses parents after meeting in the auditorium.  We asked each grade to choose about three students from the previous year's class to introduce teachers, share memorable experiences, and provide advice for parents on how to help.  These Student Ambassadors were a huge hit, they came dressed professionally to our Back to School Night, and were able to explain things through the eyes of a student.  It is one thing for a teacher to say, "This year will be challenging, but your son/daughter will grow a lot this year."  It is quite another to hear a student say, "I had a really difficult time learning how to be a good writer at the beginning of 5th grade, but with the help of my teachers, I can now say I am a great writer."  Both parents and teachers provided us with positive feedback about the student ambassadors, and it is something that will be part of our Back to School Night routine next year.

By recognizing our teachers and placing students at the center of our Back to School Night I believe we made some significant improvements, however there is still more work to be done.  For example, next year I want to provide child-care for parents, I do not want the lack of childcare to be an obstacle for parents to have to overcome.  I'm sure there are many other ways to make our Back to School Night experience a better one.  I would love to hear other suggestions educators, parents or administrators have that has made your Back to School Night a success.