Section 2:
Office of the Dean
OVERVIEW OF FAMILY EDUCATION PROGRAM
The Family Education Unit has two primary areas of focus at the Clerc
Center:
- Involving families in our school community as partners in the education
process of their children.
- Family Educators on each teaching team working closely with children,
parents (family members), school teachers and staff.
1. Family Involvement
Using the family involvement model developed by Joyce Epstein of Johns
Hopkins University we will be working towards getting parents involved
in their child (ren)’s education. Epstein’s model has six different types
of involvement for parents:
- Communication
- Parenting
- Volunteering
- Decision making
- Learning at home
- Collaborating with the community
Parents as Partners committees consists of parents, family educators,
teachers and staff working together to develop a plan for how parents
can become involved in our school program. At the elementary school there
is one committee for each team, along with a sub committee that will look
at school-wide issues and needs for students and their families. At the
high school there will be one committee with representatives from each
of the teaching teams. All committees should have diverse representation,
representing the various families and people in our community.
2. Family Educators on the Teaching Teams
Family educators are assigned to Clerc Center instructional teams. These
individuals are full time professionals on the team and are involved in
all aspects of the team, i.e. working directly with students, lunch duty,
participating in team meetings. Family educators work with all students
on the team, working in the various classrooms on a rotating basis so
that they have opportunities to interact with all students.
The family educator is also responsible for making sure a team newsletter
is published. At the elementary school this newsletter is published on
a weekly basis while at the high school it is published twice monthly
allowing time for student involvement in the development and writing process.
The newsletter is a medium for communicating to parents exactly what students
are learning in the classroom. The newsletter displays student work and
has pictures of students in action. Each team should have an editorial
review board for their newsletter. This group should review the newsletter
to make sure that information in the newsletter is accurate and things
written by adults are grammatically correct.
Routine contact with families is made through the family educator. Twice
monthly, parents are contacted. The primary purpose of this call is for
a discussion about their specific child and how things are going. This
is an opportunity to share positive information with the family. Parents
learn not to make the assumption that a call from the school is negative
or bad news.
In order for the family educator to do all of these things they should
be in the classroom 4 days/week. During these 4 days, they are there
to work directly with students – some examples are doing a read aloud,
involved with writer’s workshop or guided reading, working with students
doing research, helping students plan a field trip, work with students
on the newsletter. The fifth day should be dedicated to working on the
newsletter and making contact with families.
Family educators shift their work schedules to accommodate events and
programs that occur after school hours or on the weekend such as sign
language classes, meetings, workshops and working in the residence halls.
The varied work schedules will be planned ahead so that they fit with
the team schedule.
In addition to Parents as Partners and the work on the teams, the Family
Education unit sponsors the Family Sign Language Program and Family Math,
a demonstration school and national mission project.
Family Sign Language Program
This sign language program currently provides sign language instruction
to family members 12 years old and above. We have expanded the program
to include sign language instruction to siblings ages 5-11, and to families
who speak a language other than English. Childcare services are provided
for siblings under the age of 5 during class time.
Family Math
The family math project gives families the opportunity to come together
and experience fellowship while enjoying math related games and activities.
Currently, the Clerc Center, in conjunction with a grant from Bristol-Myers
Squibb, is sponsoring family math in three sites (KDES, St. Joseph’s School
for the Deaf, and Worcester Public Schools). This project also provides
job opportunities to several high school students. These students are
hired to work as aides during the family math session and to help assemble
family math materials.
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