Week Three 5370 Part 3.3

Janet Kelly
October 22, 2011
Cohort 13 / ET 8027
EDLD 5370

Week 3 Assignment, Part 3.3
Reflections on assignments in EDLD 5326 School and Community Relations

Self–Assessment

The knowledge I gained during the course School and Community Relations was mainly in the area of federal requirements. I really had no idea that the parent training classes held at the schools were part of No Child Left Behind, I just thought it was a nice thing the schools did for parents. Usually they planned a light dinner before the event as an incentive for attendance.

I did always know that stakeholders and their knowledge of the schools is an important facet of public education today. This will become even more important in the coming months as voters listen to those who think schools waste money and those who do not understand the way the legislature funds schools. “Such involvement is valued as a means to generate both needed resources to support school improvement efforts and students” learning, as well as community support for educational expenditures and school referendums” (Sanders & Lewis, 2005, p. 1).

During this course, we created a community outreach program to help students. I chose to write about a program that would have the goal of evening out the playing field for students that are economically disadvantaged. In some ways, my proposed project would monitor the digital divides between the haves and have nots and facilitate the “equitable access to technology resources for all students” (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 135)

Learn as a Learner

To complete this assignment, I looked at programs already in place. I chose aspects of the programs I was familiar with and came up with a program called “Kids First”. Reflecting on how I did this assignment, I think that in the future I would look more into the research associated with an endeavor like this one. I think I may find I would tweak the program a little.

This course did not require as much interaction in terms of collaborating with colleagues other than the discussion board. However, as always, my Skype group was great for helping understand assignment expectations. Many were already familiar with NCLB’s requirement for parenting classes and presentations on the school’s AEIS report (Public Education Network, 2002).

Lifelong Learning Skills

One of the lessons that will stay with me in seeing how community relations were at one time a nice thing to do and how they have morphed into a requirement for schools. I do also see the need for the site-based decision making that must occur in schools. School staff, parents, and community leaders all need to work together to create a learning environment that has the most success for the most students. In our School Community Relations lecture series, Dr. Adams spoke “as teachers and schools work to close that achievement gap, it is also important to focus on closing the ‘parent involvement gap’ that exists as well” (Adams).

Bibliography

Adams, N. EDLD 5326 School community relations week 4: Parental involvement among diverse groups. Beaumont: Lamar University.

Network, P. E. (2002). Using NCLB to improve student acheivement: An action guide for community and parent leaders. Retrieved Oct 22, 2011, from publiceducation.org: http://www.publiceducation.org/pdf/nclb/nclbbook.pdf

Sanders, M., & Lewis, K. (2005). Building bridges toward excellence: Community involvement in high schools. The High School Journal, 88(3) , 1.

Williamson, J., & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every k-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene: International Society for Technology in Education.