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| Gallaudet > Clerc Center > Family Involvement | search | site index |
Family Involvement |
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Family involvement is one of the three national mission priorities at the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. The goal of the Family Involvement Unit is to enable children to be fully participating members of their families. Family Involvement has two primary areas of focus at the Clerc Center: 1) involving families in our school community as partners in the education of their children, and 2) family educators on each teaching team working closely with children, parents (family members), school teachers, and staff. InvolvementUsing the family involvement model developed by Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University we involve parents in their child’s education. Epstein’s model has six different types of involvement for parents:
Both KDES and MSSD sponsor the Parents as Partners committee. Each school has a committee that works together to develop programs and opportunities for parent involvement for the entire school. These committees consist of parents, family educators, teachers, and staff working together to develop plans for how parents can become involved in various school programs. Each teaching team has parent and staff representation on the committee. Both committees have diverse representation and include the various families and people in our community. During FY 1999 Parents as Partners sponsored a Parent Weekend at the high school. Parents attended various workshops and were involved with a variety of social activities. A variety of things happened as a result of the elementary school committee, including a spirit week, a baseball and barbecue event, and several parent workshops. Family Educators on the Teaching TeamAll the teaching teams at KDES are assigned a family educator. At MSSD, the family educators follow the caseload assignments of the personal counselors in the Mental Health unit. Their caseloads will be mixed ages, and the family educators will stay with the same groups of students throughout their years at MSSD, thus providing continuity for students and families.These full-time professionals are involved in all aspects of the team, such as working directly with students, lunch duty, and participating in team meetings. Family educators work with all students, serving in various classrooms on a rotating basis so that they interact with all students. The family educator is also responsible for making sure a team newsletter is published twice monthly. The newsletter communicates to parents exactly what students are learning in the classroom. The newsletter displays student work and has pictures of students in action. Students at the high school are involved in writing articles for the newsletter. These articles are developed by the students and are edited using the writer’s workshop process. Each team has a newsletter editorial review board. Routine contact with families is made through the family educator. Parents
are telephoned twice monthly to discuss how their child is progressing.
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. Family educators are in the classroom, working directly with students, four days a week. For example, family educators conduct read alouds, writer’s workshops or guided reading, work with students doing research, help students plan field trips, and guide students as they produce the team newsletter. One day a week, family educators work on the newsletter and make contact with families. In addition to Parents as Partners and the work on the teams, the Family Education Unit sponsors Family Sign Language and Family Math, which are demonstration school and national mission projects. Family Sign LanguageThe sign language program provides sign language instruction to family members. We offer three different types of classes for family members. There is an adult class as well as a sibling class for children between the ages of 5-12 years. Classes are offered at a variety of times to try to meet the varying schedules of the parents at the Clerc Center. Classes are two hours long and are offered for 10 weeks each semester. These classes are designed to teach parents American Sign Language (ASL) and the skills to communicate with their children on a daily basis. Twice during the semester a set of special topic classes are offered. These classes are developed from topic areas that parents have asked for assistance with, i.e., signs related to religion, sex and drugs, deaf culture, and ASL idioms. In addition to these classes, families are encouraged to stay after class for potluck silent lunches where they can practice what they have learned with other parents and deaf adults. During FY 1999 two new classes were started. One class was a sibling sign language class specifically for siblings 5-12 years of age. Children under the age of five continue to go to the childcare program and children above the age of 12 attend classes with the parents. The second class was a class for non-English speaking families. Family MathThe Family Math project gives families the opportunity to come together and experience fellowship while enjoying math-related games and activities. Family Math is a hands-on approach to learning mathematics skills. It is an opportunity to bring the whole family to the school for an evening full of fun. Students, parents, and siblings gain an appreciation for mathematics in a fun-filled way. Families learn how to sign math signs, how to help their children with math at home, and how to make math fun. Families get to take home activities that they can continue to enjoy after the workshop is done.
During FY 1999, the Family Math project developed and disseminated Year 2 materials for our two expansion sites. This consisted of materials for 12 weeks of Family Math workshops. Development of Year 3 lessons and materials began during the last quarter of FY 1999. Family Math was renamed Families Count!. For more information, see the Families Count! product description. The Clerc Center's Family EducatorsCarla Hanyzewski, Coordinator, Family Involvement Rosemary Adamca-Balzer,
Early Childhood Education Related ResourcesFERPA The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/l We are Equal Partners: Recommended Practices for Involving Families in Their Child's Educational Program, a paper edited by Dr. Margaret Hallau. It is available as a KidsWorld Deaf Net E-Document or through the Sharing Results series. KidsWorld
Deaf Net Family Involvement Weblink Resource Library
The links below will take you out of the Clerc Center's Web site. About Our Kids BEGINNINGS for Parents of Children
Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Center on School,
Family, and Community Partnerships (a collaboration with Johns Hopkins
University’s Center for Social Organization of Schools) American Society for Deaf Children National Parent Information Network The Center for Child
and Family Studies Children, Youth and Family Consortium ParentingMatters EnCompass Children First Butte Publishing Inc. |
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![[photo of a parent and child]](images/family3.jpg)
![[photo of Leslie and Janet viewing a Family Math video]](images/family2.jpg)
![[photo of a mother and son using a calculator]](images/family1.jpg)
The
Clerc Center, in conjunction with a grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb, is
sponsoring Family Math at three sites (KDES, St. Joseph’s School for the
Deaf in New York, and Worcester Public Schools in Massachusetts). This
project provides jobs for several high school students. These students
work as aides during Family Math sessions and help assemble Family Math
materials.