Week 3 Assignment, Part 1: Establishing a Project Timeline

What is a realistic timeline for your project? What are the required tasks? Who will make sure the timeline is followed and that the tasks are completed? Create a task list for your project, as well as a timeline for the completion of each task, using the chart below.

Task	Who?	What?	When?
Gain approval of the program and establish funding	Principal	Share the initial plans of the Family Writing Day with the principal and get his approval.  Discuss the possible needs for fund to purchase supplies and possible ways to support the program.	April 2013
Initial meeting to establish goals and academic needs	Principal, teachers, parent representatives from each grade level, PTSO representative	Review data that supports the need for a school plan to improve writing in all grade levels.  Share the plan for Family Writing Day.  Discuss how this activity will support the academic need.  Discuss possible activities and ways to fund the supplies needed.  Decide which teachers will be the lead teacher for this program for each grade level and establish a committee made up of all shareholders.	April 2013
Planning Committee- Meeting One	Principal, Lead teachers, parent representatives, PTSO representative	Plan the initial dates that the activities will take place alternating one during the school day and one at night.  Consider all families and plan activities to meet the needs of different family schedules. Include plans and accommodation for ELL students and families.	May 2013 – August 2013
Establish writing activities and procedures	Lead teachers for each grade level and other teacher volunteers	Create the initial plans for each Family Writing Day and decide on the length of the activities.  Determine how parents will be participating. For ELL students and families have interpreters and accommodation as available for the day if needed.  Decide what supplies will be needed and compile a list to share with parent representatives and PTSO.  Decide on how to create family take home packets for each six weeks and establish procedures for putting these together.   Pay careful attention to ELL students and families and create any necessary additional “helps” for these families.	May 2013 – August 2013
Planning Committee – Meeting Two	Principal, Lead teachers, parent representatives, and PTSO representative	Teachers will share the ideas and supplies needed and committee will decide on funding.  Generally, PTSO is very willing to help fund these types of activities and each grade level also has funds allocated that could be used.  Decide who will collect supplies for each grade level.	May 2013 - August 2013
Advertising/ Marketing Family Writing Day	Principal, Lead Teachers, PTSO	Flyers for the Family Writing Day/Night will be created and sent home with students.  Information about the event will be added to the school calendar and put on the school website.  Information will also be shared on the school’s message board outside the school.	August 2013 – May 2014
Planning for first Family Writing Day	Teachers	The teachers will be responsible for planning the writing activity for the Family Writing Day.  Grade level chairs will ensure that persons responsible for gathering supplies are aware of what is needed.  Family take home packets will be put together and a procedure for getting take home packets to families that do not participate will be established.	August 2013
Evaluation of Family Writing Day	Principal, teachers	At the end of each Family Writing Day, the principal and teachers will meet to discuss family participation and outcomes of the event.  Positives and negatives will be discussed as well as any changes that may need to take place.  Writing skills of students will be noted and scores on benchmarks and STAAR test will be watched to assess academic growth of students.	September 2013 - May 2014
Planning Committee – Evaluation	Principal, Lead teachers, PTSO, Parent Representatives	Principal will share the results of the Family Writing Day with the committee and get feedback from parents about how to make the program more effective.	September 2013- May 2014

Week 3 Assignment, Part 2: Establishing an Evaluation Process

The ultimate goal of the family-school-community partnership that you are advocating is increased student achievement. You have established measurable goals for the proposed partnership. How will you know that the partnership has met those goals?

Describe the evaluation process that you will use to assess the outcomes of the proposed family-school-community partnership.

In order to evaluate this program, it will be necessary to look at many factors.  1.  Participation will be evaluated, and we will look for an increase in parental participation with each Family Writing Day. 2.  We will look to see if the STAAR scores for fourth grade were at or above the state average.  (Last year we were below the state average with 67% meeting level 1 requirements.)  ELL student scores will improve. 3.  District assessments at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year will be compared. 4.  Teachers will compare writing samples from the beginning of the year and to the end of the year.  Growth should be seen in all students. 5.  A teacher survey will be done to get their input on the success of the program.  Did the parental involvement help get kids further in the writing process than in previous years? 6.  A parent survey will be given to see if materials sent home and lessons done at school gave parents the support they needed to help their child in the writing area.

What are the measurable goals that you have established for the proposed family-school-community partnership? What criteria will you use to determine if the partnership has met those goals?

1.  STAAR test scores in writing will exceed state scores by at least 2% at level 2 and will be at or above the state average for advanced level. (Exact percentages cannot be given because the state average is determined when the scores are reported.) 2.  STAAR test scores in writing for ELL students will be at or above state average. 2.  Parent participation will increase by 4% from the first Family Writing Day to the last.  3.  Writing samples will improve in at least 90% of the children, as determined by the teachers. 4.  District writing assessments will improve in at least 80% of the students from the first district assessment to the last.  5.  Parents surveys will be assessed, and at least 80% of those surveyed will determine the program helpful in supporting parents with at home materials. 6.  Teacher surveys will be assessed, and at least 80% of those surveyed will have scored the program as beneficial.

How do you envision using the data that will be generated from the evaluation process?

The data we collect will be shared with all stakeholders and used to determine if the program had any effect on the academic growth of the children in writing.  If we see tests scores improving and overall writing samples improving, we can conclude that the program was beneficial.  Also, if we see parental involvement increase, we will know that the parents see this program as an effective use of their time and helpful to their children. If the data shows no improvement or lack of attendance, I think further evaluation should be done to see if there are areas we could improve the program and make it more effective.