RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 1

Revisions

Introduction: addition of quotation to purpose statement

Baseline: Parent communication: addressing the implications of accounts for School Loop;

Overall Assessment: Use of data clarification

Implementation: Addition of current practices to three areas of need

RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 2

Multi-Tiered System of Support

to Increase Achievement for African American Students

Michelle Ignash

California State University, Fullerton

RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 3

Introduction

In order to promote communication between parents and the school, there are permanent

lines of communication set up in order to keep families involved their childs education.

Currently parents are able to access information in regards to the progress of their child through a

website titled Schooloop. Parents are able to create a login separate from their childs which will

allow them to see their childs current grade in all subject areas, email the teachers, glean

information in regards to events that are happening on site, and stay up to date the assignments

and assessment calendar for each class. This site can be accessed from either a computer or on a

mobile device. The school reports that roughly 65% of parents have signed up and created an

account. The school also makes use of a device called ConnectEd that will automatically call

parents with information about attendance, upcoming events, and information about the school

schedule. The school has also made an attempt to provide face time for parents to come into

school to meet with counselors and administration during an event that takes place monthly on

Friday mornings from 9-10 am called Coffee Cup Counseling. Parents have the opportunity to

participate in similar presentations that are provided to students that provide information about

graduation requirements, scheduling of classes, and upcoming events. Parents can purchase

spirit gear and have informal conversations with counselors and administrators. Counselors

report that roughly 80 parents attend this meeting which is about 8% of the population. The

school also provides Back to School night in the Fall, Back to School Night in the Spring, and

Parent/Student Orientation in the Spring for incoming Freshman. A parent committee is also

formed for participation in the WASC accreditation process which the school is currently

involved in.
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 4

The school has also begun to work on reaching out the parents of our African American

population. The school began meeting with the African American students quarterly through a

round group where they completed surveys about their experience at school and the school could

better support them and their families. Students shared that involving their parents by providing

opportunities to meet with school staff would improve parent relationships and engagement with

the school. The counselor implemented a plan that involved setting up a parent meeting in the

summer. Parents would informed of this meeting by a personal phone call or hand written

invitation to attend this meeting. Then 3 subsequent evening meetings were set up throughout

the year to address parent concerns and provide opportunities to hear guest speakers. It is

reported that roughly 30% of parents participated in the meetings in the evening where childcare

and food was provided for attendees. In addition, during February the school also put on a black

history month celebration which had the largest turnout from the community with 70% of the

African American population attending.

After reading the first two chapter of A Cord of Three Strands and reflecting on current

practices at my site, I am able to see where improvements need to be made in order to get a

greater amount of engagement from our parents. Hong (2012) states parent engagement are

proven more effective when families and school design them together (p.30). I believe a larger

number of families attend the black history month celebration because that was a direct request

from families. They were involved in planning the night from the type of food that was provided

to the type of entertainment during the celebration. I also believe that this event was the most

successful event because parents did not feel intimidated by the school setting. We need to begin

to build relationships of trust and understanding that would replace deep-seated fears and

anxieties, (p. 28) as explained by Hong (2012).They were familiar with the purpose of the
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 5

celebration. In order to continue to get a larger turnout of parent involvement the school must

begin to provide opportunities to be part of the decision-making meetings where conversations

and discussions unfold (Hong, 2012, p. 26).

Overall I feel that the school has tried to reach out to engage parents in the best way that

they know how. However, there is always room for improvement and the school does need to

begin to think outside the box of how to reach out to parents, on their terms. How do we allow

for parent involvement when for so many years there has been a disconnect to the school? Other

questions to consider are how do we begin to show parents that their involvement is crucial to

the success of their child? How do we facilitate the building of a positive relationship between

parents and school staff? How can we weave the participation of parents into the school culture?

Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, & Davies (2007) address most of these issues in the core belief

number 2 in Beyond the Bake sale by describing three objectives that would address this issues.

These objective include developing the job description of an involved parent, building families

confidence in their ability to help their children, and making sure all families feel welcome and

invited by school staff and their children (p.34-35). The partnerships would best be fostered by

building trusting relationships between the parents and school. Henderson et al., (2007) state

that parents tell us that feeling welcome and being treated with respect by school staff is the

number one key to their connection with a school (p.47). In order to address these questions

above the site must start with this belief and build on the core two belief in order to achieve a

strong partnership between the community and the school. I believe that the staff at West

Campus are vested and need to be pushed to find new and innovative ways to implement targeted

supports for students and families. In addition they need to accurately assess if the targeted

inventions are working by taking data that can be monitored and assessed for success. In order to
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 6

push staff to begin to involve parents, leadership from the principals must take place as they play

the key role (Henderson et al., 2007, p. 39).

After reading Beyond the Bake Sale, Paramount High School West Campuss version of

partnership would be categorized as an Open-Door School. Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, and

Davies (2007) list several qualifiers to determine the partnership that has been built between the

school and the community and all of them can be applied to this site. By looking at the

descriptors under building relationships, PHSW is only lacking in the area of parent

coordinator is available if families have questions or need help (Henderson et al., 2007, p.16)

because there is no parent coordinator on site, however the site does have five counselors on site

that work with parents. Overall PHSWs strongest area would be addressing differences. The

staff and campus have worked tirelessly in finding ways to meet the needs of the population

within Paramount Unified by making each minority group feel that they can be connected to

the school district. The one area that the site can improve upon is linking to learning. At the

high school level I feel that parents are disconnected from the curriculum and the type of

instruction that is taking place at the site. Currently there is no official form of communication

that addresses curriculum and the school does not hold curriculum nights three or four times a

year (Henderson et al., 2007, p.16).

Purpose Statement

As Alameda-Lawson (2014) points out, for the past 40 y ears, parent involvement has

been viewed by practitioners and educational policy makers as a key way to enhance the

academic achievement of children of color (p. 199). With this in min, through this project, I

would like to create a tiered system of interventions that will provide the African American

population in the Paramount community supports and services that will engage parents and
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 7

community members to assist in the academic, social, and emotional success of our students.

Baseline

In order to create a baseline for how we communicate with parents we must look at

current activities that are currently in place at the school site. I have categorized the parent

activities into two categories: parent involvement at school and parent communication. Next, I

discuss the implications of the lack of data and my overall assessment of how the school site

communicates with parents. Finally I discuss what two goals the school site is implementing.

Currently the information below is a reflection of my observation of what is taking place at this

particular school site as my current position is at the district office.

Parent Involvement at School

Parent are invited to attend varying events through the school year. The most popular

events at the school site are black history night and mariachi night, both of which take place at

night on a Friday night. Although both nights are organized a bit differently, they both entail

celebrating culture. Parents not only attend this event but they also become involved in a

multitude of different ways from performing at the events to setting up or tearing down the

events. There are no sign in sheets at these events, the administrator at the site states that these

two events bring out at least 40% of the parents at the site. Other events that are not attended

with as high of a percentage are back to school night in the fall and open house in the spring.

According to sign in sheets, each teacher roughly will have 12-15 parents attend per class period.

A higher tour out is received in the honors classes and teacher report that roughly 16-18 parents

attend per class period. This information is supported by the sign in sheets that are turned into

the office the following morning. Open house in the spring is attended by far fewer parents and

sign in sheets show that the number of parents per class decrease by roughly half the number of
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 8

parents. Also in the spring the campus is open on two separate nights to allow for parents to

attend for 9th grade orientation. At this activity there is no attendance taken so there is not an

official account of whom attends this evening. On a monthly basis, counselors open the doors to

parents to come and join a Coffee Cup Counseling from 9am -10 am on Friday mornings.

Counselors report that about 80 parents attend this event which would be about 8% of the student

population of parents are able to participate. The school also schedules monthly ELAC meetings

but school staff shares that very few parents attend these meeting that take place on Wednesday

mornings. Sign in sheets reveal that the school is only getting participation from about 2% of the

parents, which works out to be about 20 parents. The school is also in the beginning stages of

the WASC accreditation process. During this time the school has quarterly meetings, which

parents can attend to be a part of the accreditation process. Currently, there is a small committee

of parents that are part of this process, which is around 20 parents.

Parent Communication

Currently the school has several modes of communication in place. Through these

avenues the school attempts to reach out to parents to share information in regards to activities

that are happening at school or share important information that may pertain to their child.

Parents and teachers are able to communicate through email which is directly linked to a district

wide site called School Loop. In this system parents are able to set up an account that will allow

them to view a calendar of events that are happening, check on their childs academic progress

(grades, assignments, assessment schedule etc), and email teachers. There is no exact data found

that measures how many parents have created an account for this site. Although it appears that

parents are aware of this form of communication as shared by counselors and most (roughly 75%

) of parents have created accounts. The high number of accounts would imply that the parents
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 9

are connected to the school and use this form of communication to stay informed in regards to

school business. However, the site needs to consider the number of parents actually using

School Loop to communicate with the staff at the site. Many parents may have signed up and

opened an account, but are they using it as a means to interact with site staff and to access

information regarding the site? The school also uses an automated phone service titled

ConnectEd to call parents and inform them of important upcoming dates, absences, or changes

in the daily schedule. The system uses the phone number that is currently in the district wide

information system and it is believed that the auto dialer, when programmed correctly, will call

each household in the district as needed. The school has an electronic bulletin board in the front

of the school that shares information for the community and is accessible to all that pass by the

school.

Overall Assessment

From my perspective, it appears that the forms of communication that the school is

attempting are adequate. In my current position of working at the district office (and not this

particular school site), I am aware that many school sites in the district have implemented similar

forms of communication to attempt to get more parent feedback and engagement in school

activities. It appears that district wide schools are struggling with having parents and community

members engage in school functions. Currently there is very little quantitative data to support if

these above-mentioned forms of communication are effective. Without data, it is difficult to

justify the use of these forms of communication because the site has no proof to determine if

parents are receiving the information and/or becoming a participant in the activities. The lack of

data also prohibits use to determine who is not participating in these events therefore not

allowing the school to figure why they are not attending and what the school could change to
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 10

increase attendance at events. Since the school is lacking data regarding this matter, it would

then make it difficult to determine the needs of parents. In addition, without knowing the needs

the school site would not be able to implement changes to their current forms of engagement.

When looking to improve current data collection practices, the site must also determine the most

appropriate type of data to collect. The collection of data should not focus on the quantity of

data that is collected, rather the quality of the data. The districts LCAP from the 2016-17 school

year is also lacking the component of parent engagement. The district has recognized this as an

area of growth and the committee discussed on addressing this need for the future LCAP.

Current Goals

Looking at the current goals for the school site, it appears that there is a focus on finding ways to

communicate with parents to share information about what is happening at the school site. Goal

one for the site is to inform parents about the schools participation in Title I and their right to be

involved. The school site works to share with parents meeting dates/times and locations, topics

to be addressed, and up and coming events at the school site. Goal two for the site is to increase

meaningful communication with parents in a timely manner. Currently the site is using the

following way to share information with parents: parent activities calendar, School Loop, report

cards, meeting agenda, minutes from meetings and mailings home. In order to assess the level of

parent engagement the school site is using sign-in sheets and communication logs to document

parent contact. As mentioned above, the data collection is an area of growth. The site needs to

continue to find ways to increase participation. The site would also like to discuss student

achievement through parent conferences and meetings, district wide. Additionally the site could

look to gather data from the Title I Parent Survey and solicit feedback from parents.
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 11

Target Participant

I was able to speak with a local business owner that has recently moved into the area.

Through this interview, we first reviewed the make up the city. After our interview, I was

interested about population and history of Paramount and so I did some research in regards to

these two aspects. I learned the following information about Paramount. According to the

Census Bureau, the city of Paramount covers 4.8 square miles and has seen an increase in

population every year since 1960 (with the exception of 2010, when the population decreased by

110 people). In recent years, the city of Paramount has seen chain hospitality businesses moving

into the area replacing once family owned businesses with establishments such as The Habit,

Yogurtland, Chipotle, Starbucks (2 locations), and Hiccups. Despite the recent infiltration of

large businesses into the area, residents of Paramount mean family income remains at $45,7921.

This lower end of mean family income is reflected in the large number of students that are

currently enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program. It is reported that 92% of students in

PUSD qualify for free or reduced lunch2. According to the CDE, 35% of the student population

are classified as English Language Learners and 35% of the population is considered

socioeconomically disadvantaged while 25% are foster youth.

The city of Paramount was founded in 1948 and was home to the farming and dairy

industry until 1977 when the cost of land was too expensive for farmers to maintain. Over time,

the city has evolved from a farming town to more of a residential area. The LA Times reports

that the average household size averages 4 people, which is high in comparison to the rest of the

county and 41% of the residents in the city limits are foreign born. Roughly 57% of the

population in the city rent their property, while 43% own. In addition, the city has maintained a

1
https://datausa.io/profile/geo/paramount-ca/#economy
2
http://www.ed-data.org/district/Los-Angeles/Paramount-Unified
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 12

lower level of education with only 7.0% of residents 25 and older having a four-year

degree. Crime in the city of Paramount is a concern with the crime index at a 14, which means

that Paramount is safer than only 14% of the U.S. cities.3 Annually there are 287 violent crimes,

1,704 property crimes, for a total of 1,991 crimes.4 I think information is important to know

when working in Paramount as the business owners in the community need to learn about the

population that they are serving.

The businessperson that I interviewed discussed why he chose to open his small business

in the city of Paramount. As a former graduate of Paramount High School, he understands the

need for residents of the city to find work close to their home. He is currently in partnership with

Paramount Adult Transition and does give priority to hiring local residents. He sees a need to

work with the population in the city but does acknowledge that other local business owners do

not feel the same way. He does feel that here is a lack of communication between the local

school district and business owners. He shares that he believes a stronger partnership between

the two entities where both would benefit from a positive relationship could be built. In order to

begin such a partnership he believes that the school district does need to reach out into the

community and find a way to involve local businesses more in the events that are happening

within the school district. He shared ideas of having a job far with local businesses at the high

school, working with counselors to provide job interview and resume building sessions, and

opportunity for businesses to work with graduating seniors on skills needed for jobs in the area.

3
http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/paramount/)
4
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/paramount/crime
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 13

Implementation Plan

Paramount California is located outside of the greater Los Angeles area that covers an

area of approximately 4.8 square miles with a population of almost 55,000 people, according to

the Census Bureau (2016)5. The California Department of Education reports Paramount High

Schools (PHS) current enrollment for the 2016-17 school year is 4,762 students in grades 9-12

with 88% of the population identifying as Hispanic, 7% Black, 1% White and less than 1%

Asian, Pacific Islander, and Filipino6. The graduation rates for the 2015-16 cohort year at PHS

showed that 87% of students graduated in four years and the dropout rate was 12%. While in

comparison the African American subgroup at PHS, for the 2015-16 cohort year, is only

graduating 79% of the students with the dropout rate at 10%. Martin, D., Martin, M., Gibson,

and Wilkins (2007) states African American adolescent disproportionately perform poorly

compared to peers in both behavioral and academic aspects of their educational experience

(p.689). In order to address the needs of this subgroup schools must begin to implement

interventions that provide support in and out of school along with increasing parent involvement

and support. After reviewing current practices at Paramount High School West Campus, I have

realized that there is a need to increase parent engagement in order to assist with the success of

the student population. With this in mind PUSD West Campus has implemented some forms of

communication to reach out to parents, however, parents are not responding in high numbers to

become involved in the community. In order to increase these numbers the staff at West Campus

must take the time to address this need. There are three areas of need that I feel should be

focused on in order to increase parent engagement at the school site.

5
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045216/00
6
http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Enrollment/Ethnic
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 14

What are the barriers that prohibit parents of African American students from becoming

involved with activities at the school site?

According to Latunde and Clark-Louque (2016) little is known about what makes

parents/guardians of Black students feel unwelcomed and disillusioned and stop communicating

with schools (p. 78), however, if schools are able to recognize, accept, and welcome the

different cultures into the school environment communication and collaboration will be

increased (Latunde and Clark-Louque, 2016). Currently the school does receive participation

from parents at Coffee Cup Counseling and Black History night in February; however, there

are no current forms of consistent documented communication with parents. The site does

access ConnectED (an autodialer) to reach parents but determining if parents hear this

information shared is not known. There is a disconnect between how the school contacts parents

and what is the best form of communication for parents. Despite not knowing exactly what may

cause parents to become disengaged with their childs school, Hong (2012) does state that

building relationships of trust and understanding would replace deep-seated fears and

anxieties (p. 28). In addition, Latunde and Clark-Louque (2012) state, black families often feel

that their efforts to engage with their childrens education are largely ignored by schools (p.72).

In an attempt to eliminate the fear, anxiety, and feeling of inadequacy that parents are feelings,

school sites must reach out to parents, on their terms, to determine how they can feel better

supported. Prior to the school year beginning, school sites should open the school for parents to

attend a Welcome Reception. During this reception, parents can learn about the school and find

ways to get involved. In addition, the school site can survey parents in order to determine their

level of support. Parents would be invited to participate in curriculum nights and have

opportunities to assist school site staff in development of programs to better support families and
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 15

students. It is important to provide opportunities to be part of the decision making meetings

where conversations and discussion unfold (Hong, 2012, p.26).

How can the attendance of parents of our African American student be increased school

related meetings and/or activities?

As a school district some of above mentioned issues are ones that cannot be addressed at

the school site without a whole system change. However, when planning for the reform of the

current district based interventions programs, districts need to keep in mind that the programs

must go beyond the classroom and begin to find ways to increase parent involvement and build

trust between community and school (Bailey and Bradbury-Bailey, 2010). For example,

currently PHS uses quarterly meetings with African American parents to address concerns raised

by parents at the first meeting. In order to increase the level of support for parents, these

meetings could take place monthly, instead of quarterly, and provide support not only on parent

concerns, but also to support the parents in understanding their role to helping their child prepare

for their post-secondary future. Organizing college visits for families, guest speakers, tutoring

sessions on current curricula, and providing information on health care, housing, and the job

market are important components to incorporate into informational sessions. Baily and

Bradbury-Baily (2010) state research related to parent involvement leads to an increase in

academic achievement, cognitive development, and improved student behavior resulting in

higher grades, better critical thinking skills, and less discipline problems (p.65). The meeting

topics must be decided on by parents prior to the beginning of the school year and parent of

African American students should be contacted personally. Overall, current practices to involve

parents in a meaningful way that will be beneficial to parents is minimal.

RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 16

What support can be provided to expand teacher awareness?

As Latunde and Clark-Louque (2016) point out school administration can support home-

school collaboration by providing staff with professional development on working with diverse

families (p.77). Site administrators should start the year off by surveying the staff to determine

what level of support is needed so that staff is supported with tools to work with PUSDs diverse

learner population. Once there is an understanding of what is needed, site administrators can

begin to provide training to better support staff through professional development targeted at the

area of need, as gathered by the survey data. In addition to providing the necessary training,

teachers should also be able to view their site administrators modeling the desired behavior when

working with diverse learners (Latunde and Clark-Louque, 2016). Site administrators can also

begin to model the strategies learned through training for teachers to see including greeting

families, inviting input from families, and creating culture of open communication (Latunde and

Clark-Louque, 2016, p. 77).

In order to support teachers to become more culturally aware, administrators must find a way

to raise a level of awareness for educators about how social, cultural, and racial dynamics

influence their ongoing interactions with children (Adams, 2015, p.15). One of the best ways to

raise awareness is to incorporate families and community members into developing a family-

engagement curriculum. According to Adams (2015), by including families and community

members, it will give them an opportunity to share their experiences, create bonds, and develop

priorities for improving the school together (p. 15). Currently teachers are not provided with

the same information that is shared during Coffee Cup Counseling and there is no open

communication between administration and teachers to allow for collaboration on strategies that

work with the African American population.

 RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 17

Timeline

Group Summer Fall Spring

Parents Send home parent Begin monthly parent Assist with college
survey to collect Data meetings paperwork
Hold Welcome Curriculum Cultural Night
meeting prior to start development Curriculum Night
of school year College Visits
Family Night
Curriculum Night
Staff Conduct survey during Provide professional Visit opportunities for
back to school development to teachers to walk
meetings address areas of need through classrooms
Provide professional Allow for Create an at risk list
development for collaboration time of students
administration, as during professional
needed development
Curriculum
development
Students Determine level of Progress monitoring Implement strategies to
support needed by Survey to address improve school climate
conducting welcome school climate Continue meetings
meetings concerns with students for
graduation check
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 18

Community Map and Resources

RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 19

1. SASSFA ( ). 15538 Colorado Ave, Paramount CA 90723

A community organization to help with

workforce needs. The mission of the
Southeast Area Social Services Funding
Authority is to enhance the quality of life in
our communities by developing partnerships
designed to promote self-sufficiency and
independence through coordinated services
and comprehensive referrals.

2. Paramount Community Center ( ). 14400 Paramount Blvd, Paramount CA, 90723

Provides services including classes,

activities, transportation, excursions and a
nutrition program.

3. Paramount Petroleum Community Learning Center at Spane Park ( )

14400 Gundry Avenue, Paramount Ca 90723

The Paramount Petroleum Community

Learning Center at Spane Park supplies a
great educational support system for hundreds
of local kids and adults at any given
time. Community members can benefit from
the following services: homework help,
English as a second language class, adult
aerobics, parenting class, workshops for
parents.
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 20

4. Paramount Library ( ), 16254 Colorado Ave, Paramount, CA 90723

Paramount library offers a variety of services

to the community including: metro tap cards,
photocopier, in person and telephone research
assistance, live homework help, homework
center, family place, and learning express
library.

5. Paramount Adult School ( ) 14507 Paramount Blvd, Paramount, Ca 90723.

The mission of Paramount Adult School is to

provide a quality education, which ensures
that all students reach their goals. Classes
offered to help students earn a diploma or
high school equivalency (GED, Hi-SET,
TASC). They also provide programs in
vocational education, basic skills, parenting,
and citizenship.

6. Paramount Swap Meet ( ). 7900 All America City Way, Paramount, CA 90723

Owned and operated by a local Paramount

family the swap meet offers a central location
for todays entrepreneur to start a successful
business with a very low operating cost. In
addition, the swap meet provides job
opportunities for many residents that live in
the city of Paramount.
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 21

7. Paramount Care Foundation ( ). 8303 Alondra Blvd, Paramount, CA 90723.

We are a non-profit that seeks to serve the

Paramount community through education,
recreation, poverty relief, and development.
The mission of Paramount Care Foundation
is to serve the residents of Paramount, CA,
by working with students and parents to
raise students proficiency in academic
studies, fostering a high moral code among
our students, providing a sports program as
an alternative to gangs, assisting the less
fortunate towards self-sufficiency, and
providing intermittent events to be a light to
the less fortunate in our community.

8. STAR Program. Locations at all K-8 PUSD school campuses.

STAR stands for Success through

Academics and Recreation after school
program. It operates every day of the week
on each of PUSD K-8 campus from the final
bell of the school until 6:00 pm. This
program receives funding from the city but
the school district, provides the space.
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement
Tools
Task
Creating of survey for parents
and staff to determine needs
for professional development,
parent support, student
support, school climate
Progress monitoring of
students
Collection and Interruption of
survey
Welcome meeting to be held
Monthly parent meetings
Research and coordinate
outside consultants to address
topics for teachers and
parents
Collaboration time for
teachers planning
Coordinating walk through
for teachers
Organize and plan family,
culture, and curriculum nights
College visits
College paperwork
22
Staff Members Cost
Counselors Surveys could be created
Teachers during professional learning
Administrator community time or during
back to school meetings
Counselors as part of their No additional cost
academic counseling
Form a committee at school Provide time after school.
consisting of teachers, Additional cost for teachers
counselors, administration and counselors for non-
student hourly pay
Teachers Additional cost for teachers
Counselors and counselors for non-
Administration student hourly pay
Teachers Additional cost for teachers
Counselors and counselors for non-
Administration student hourly pay
Administration NO extra cost
Counselors No additional cost,
Teachers collaboration to take place
during professional learning
community time
Teachers Pay for period coverage
Administration
Counselors Ask volunteers to work
Teachers events. At the event
Administration additional cost to provide
childcare and dinner/snacks
for parent participants.
Counselors Additional cost for busing.
Teachers Ask for staff volunteers to
Administration attend visits.
Counselors Integrate into academic
counseling or part of career
center.
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 23

Sample questions below are shown that could be included on surveys handed out to students,
parents, and staff members to help determine the areas of need that will be addressed during
meeting and professional development.
Parent Survey Example
Question Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly No
Agree Disagree Opinion
Do you feel knowledgeable about your
childrens current curriculum?
Do you understand graduation
requirements for your child?
Are you aware of junior, community
college or university options for you child?
Do you know how to access academic
resources available to your child?

Student Survey Example

Question Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly No
Agree Disagree Opinion
Do you know how to access academic
support at your school site?
Are you aware of how to access your
counselor?
Do you understand graduation
requirements?
Do you know how to fill out paperwork
related to attending junior, community
colleges and universities?
Are you aware of finical aide and how to
access it?

Staff Survey Example

Question Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly No
Agree Disagree Opinion
Do you feel know how to best support
struggling African American students?
Would you benefit from attending from
professional development to support lower
performing students?
RUNNING HEAD: Increasing Achievement 24

References

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