August GATE Equity Webinar - PowerPoint Presentation

AugustGATE Equity Webinar Attendance 201: Engaging Families through Attendance Cafes Exploring topics related to equity in graduation success The webinar will begin soon. While you wait, please share in the chat panel: Your name, school/district and role Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, State Superintendent

Connect to AudioYou can join by computer audio or call in.Dial +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 122-657-497Test Audio

Tips for Participating Share comments and ideas in the Chat panel (send to “All”) Ask presenters questions in the Q&A panel Slides are available on the GATE Equity Webinar page in the Archive now. Recording will be available at the end of the month.

Webinar Etiquette

Do you need clock hours? We are offering 3 free Clock Hours for attending both of today’s Dual Credit Webinars. Attend both the morning and afternoon GATE Equity Webinars Live. Complete the pre-reading assignment.Register for clock hours.Print and sign the clock hour form. Send the signed evaluation to Ronnie.Larson@k12.wa.us.  Clock Hour Instructions and Registration Here!

AugustGATE Equity Webinar Attendance 201: Engaging Families through Attendance Cafes Exploring topics related to equity in graduation success Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, State Superintendent

Objectives Learn a strategy to connect with families through hosting Attendance Community Cafés Learn from a school improvement coach how they are supporting attendance in Washington schools Get resources to get started

Who Are We?

Vision: All students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement. Mission: Transform K–12 education to a system that is centered on closing opportunity gaps and is characterized by high expectations for all students and educators. We achieve this by developing equity-based policies and supports that empower educators, families, and communities. Values:

Equity Statement Each student, family, and community possesses strengths and cultural knowledge that benefit their peers, educators, and schools. Equity

Office of System & School Improvement

Next MonthSeptember, 2019School Climate 101: Behavior Supports 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. School Climate 201: Behavior Supports 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Questions & Polling 2 In the chat: What’s one strategy you use to gather your families feedback?

Attendance Webinar 101:You may have missed... Attendance in Washington BasicsDefinitions, reporting, research, data, best practicesVancouver Public Schools Focus on eliminating gaps between student groups Multi-tiered district-wide approach

Attendance Community Cafés

Misconceptions Absences are only a problem if they are unexcused Missing 2 days per month doesn’t affect learning Sporadic absences aren’t a problem Attendance only matters in the older grades Suspensions are not relevant Barriers Illness, both chronic and acute Lack of health, mental health, vision, or dental care Family responsibilities Trauma Unsafe path to/from school Poor transportation Housing and food insecurity Frequent school changes Involvement with child welfare or juvenile justice systems Inequitable access to resources due to bias & discrimination. Negative School Experiences Struggling academically and behaviorally Ineffective or harmful interventions Bored Social challenges Bullying Suspensions and expulsions Harsh, biased disciplinary practices especially for students of color Negative attitudes of parents due to their own school experience Undiagnosed disability Lack of appropriate accommodations for disability Lack of Engagement Lack of or inequitable access to challenging, culturally responsive, engaging instruction & enrichment Lack of academic, emotional and behavioral support No meaningful or negative relationships to adults in the school Stronger ties with peers out of school than in school Unwelcoming school climate Failure to earn credits/ no future plans Many teacher absences or long-term substitutes *Attendance Works Misconceptions

Elements of Success of MTSS for Attendance

Family and Community are Key They know their experienceBarriersCultureLanguageExperience in schoolResources We don’t have to have all the answers.

Questions & Polling 2Have you involved your attendance clerks or front office staff in training, planning, or other efforts to address attendance? YesNo

What Does A Successful Program Look Like?

Engaging Communities through Attendance Cafés Kathryn A. Page Continuous Improvement Partner, OSSI

Who Am I? Where Am I From? Kathryn Page Continuous Improvement Partner (CIP) Toppenish, Grandview, Ellensburg, Kittitas, Wahluke Elementary and Middle School Administrator, Special Education Director, Response to Intervention Coordinator, Special Education Teacher, SWIS Facilitator

Core Belief “The knowledge, wisdom, and solutions we are searching for are already present in this room.” A core belief that is the basis for hosting a Community Café is that….

What is an Attendance Café aka Community Café? Community Cafés are a series of guided conversations using the  World Cafe model. Participants use carefully structured questions to guide meaningful conversations, allowing individuals from diverse cultural, socio-economic, and educational backgrounds to engage in discussions that increase community wisdom, build parent voice, and facilitate action to improve the lives of children.  Each Cafe produces a Harvest, which is a report that captures the discussion and serves as a tool to facilitate communication within and between communities. By collecting and synthesizing Cafe Harvests, community level perspectives, concerns, and goals can be shared with state leaders to infuse policy that affect families with authentic community voice. New York State Parenting Education Partnership (NYSPEP)

Comments from a Recent Attendance Café(Attendance Clerks, Counselors, Instructional Coaches, Administrators) “We have good ideas. We need to unify across the district.” “I am committing to educating families and building relationships based on concern rather than compliance.” “Be positive in response to student absences. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem.”“Attendance is not a surface level issue but a deeper problem with not one root cause or one solution.” “We need to make school a place they want to be successful. There needs to be a sense of belonging and community.”

Types of Cafés and Audience Sample Topics for Cafés Audience *Attendance*Beginning of the School Year*Kindergarten, MS, HS Transitions*Feedback on School Policies/Procedures*School Improvement Planning*New Superintendent, Principal, etc.*Assessments *Safety *Community Resources*College and Career*Social-Emotional Topics*Curriculum Adoption*US School System *Neighborhood concerns*Budget *Behavioral concerns*9th Grade on Track*Homework concerns and questions*ANYTHING you or your community decide is worthy of a Café. *Parents *Students *Staff *Community members *Local businesses *Parents from feeder schools (elementary or middle school) *PTA or PTO *MS Students Reflection on ES *HS Students Reflection on MS

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare Single story

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Attendance Why did you start looking at attendance?

Root Causes: What did you find?

What did you do as a result?

What Were Some Themes You Noticed?

Transforming Schools Through Systems ChangeCharles Salina, Suzann Girtz, and Joanie Eppinga “Administrators at struggling schools may say, We have to improve communication with parents, but typically the communication they are referring to is one-way. They might say to parents, “Your child has only ten credits. What are you going to do about it?” Parents don’t know the answer and neither do schools. All too often, leaders inform parents about their child’s failures rather than asking parents to help them understand the student better and offering systems that will support the child.”

Planning the Café

Location, Location, Location (Where should you hold an attendance or community café?) SchoolCommunity CenterLibrary ParkWhere is your community? Don’t hesitate to go “to” the community Ask your parent leaders for guidance on the location

Sample Attendance Questions 1. Were you aware of your school's percentage for regular attenders prior to today's event? If you weren't aware, does it surprise you?  If so, how? 2. How do you believe we can partner with our community to improve student attendance in _________ SD? 3. Who else needs to be invited to the table to take part in this important conversation in the future? 4. How do you see yourself using the information that was shared with you about attendance in the future? 5. What do you think is the "root cause" of attendance issues for our youth in ______ SD? Definition: Root cause helps us identify not only what and how an event occurred, but also why it happened. 6. What would be one step we could take to improve student attendance in ___________ SD? 7. In what ways, in my role, do I impact or influence student’s attendance? 8. Do you believe we need to improve our communication with families to support student attendance and  learning? What can we do? 9. What question didn't we ask that we should have asked? 10. What will you commit to do to positively impact student attendance after taking part in this community café today? 11. What would be some other topics that we should take to a community café format whether it is with parents, community, students or staff?

Setting the Stage… Setting the Stage

hat does it look like? What does it look like?

Café Agreements

Harvest HARVEST…

Practicing Critical Reflection Through an Equity Lens Brookfield (1995) describes critical reflection as focusing on three interrelated processes: (a) questioning widely held assumptions ; (b) considering alternative perspectives on taken-for-granted ideas or forms of reasoning; and (c) recognizing the influence of dominant cultural values. Think about hosting a Community Café and focusing on these three processes. Simply ask your team, department or staff to see what responses you receive without ever looking at the data. How many assumptions do we make about absenteeism? Are there alternative perspectives? What is the influence of the dominant cultural values?

What Advice Would You Give To People Starting This Work?

So What? What Happened? MTSS for AttendanceNudge Letters-2019-2020Community Café community created to support attendanceProcedures and Training for Attendance Clerks and Staff Short survey developed for all students to take about caring relationships. Strides will be taken to connect students with caring adults at school.

Guide for World Café or Community Cafés http://www.theworldcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Cafe-To-Go-Revised.pdf

Resources

Books

Assistance-Questions? Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have further questions or want to share your success! I love to hear how Cafés are impacting your community. Kathryn PageContinuous Improvement Partner, OSSIkpageconsulting@gmail.com

Margaret quote“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” — Margaret J. Wheatley

References

GATE Evaluation This presentation will change my practice in the future:Definitely Probably Not SureNo – not helpfulThis presentation was well organized with a variety of participant involvement:Strongly agreeAgree Disagree Strongly DisagreeThe presenters were content experts:Strongly agreeAgreeDisagreeStrongly Disagree The presentation met the stated learning objectives:Strongly agreeAgreeDisagreeStrongly Disagree GATE Evaluation

Get Personalized AssistanceDo you want personalized support? We want to help connect you to the right people! Use the Green Button!

Contact Bonnie Zimmerman Program Specialist OSPIBonnie.Zimmerman@k12.wa.us

Creative CommonsExcept where otherwise noted, this work by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License.Many of our images come from Canva.com and TheNounProject.com.

Discussion Questions for the Chat