Parent engagement newsletter, 2015 Summer

"Educating Georgia's Future"
Parent Engagement Newsletter Summer 2015

"Free Digital Books Available to Inspire Summer Reading and Fun"

As students approach the end of the school year and the upcoming summer break, I encourage you to make summer reading a priority and find ways to have fun while doing so. We know that when students continue reading during the summer, they avoid the potential "summer slide" in their reading skills. As children's first and most important teachers, families play a major role in keeping reading fun and motivating children to read during the summer months.
Summer is a time when children can read what they please, when and where they please. You can help your child find new items to read by visiting the library and making sure you have plenty

of reading material available, whether it be books, newspapers, magazines or informational material to spark the interest of a young reader. Books that teach kids how to make or do something are a great way to get them reading and keep them occupied.
To help parents support their child's summer reading, the Georgia Department of Education has partnered with the Get Georgia Reading Campaign to provide access to digital books over the summer. The campaign's purpose is to ensure that all children in Georgia learn to read proficiently by the end of third grade so they can read to learn throughout school and life. In order to ensure that families

have access to books over the summer, the Get Georgia Reading Campaign has partnered with myON reader to provide every child in Georgia with FREE access to a library of more than 8,000 enhanced digital books. The digital book format brings the stories to life and provides audio support that creates a magical experience for children of all ages. You can learn more about this partnership at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/pqfxpd6
Summer leaves extra time for children and families to enjoy fun activities, and it is my hope that all Georgia's children grow up knowing the magic of a book!

-Mr. Richard Woods, Georgia's School Superintendent

Family Engagement In The Field: Stories of Success

"Involvement Matters"

Parent involvement matters - from the fresh-faced Kindergarten student who walks nervously to his classroom or to the senior who has worked hard for years, with the help of his family, to make it one step closer to achieving his dreams. Beginning the day your child is born, involvement matters.
I have found that when working with families, simple incentives make a difference. By giving parents something to work toward, they are generally more motivated to participate in a variety of involvement opportunities around the school. My school, Cumming Elementary, created a successful parent engagement program based on this idea. With the charge, `Involvement Matters,' parents are encouraged to play a positive role in their child's education in a variety of ways. Some ideas of the ways parents can be involved include chaperoning field trips, volunteering at the school to assist teachers in the classroom or by attending academic events held at the school. Our school also invites parents to visit the Parent Resource Center where they are able to

check out educational materials to use at home with their students. If parents are unable to make it during the school day due to work schedules, they can fill out a request form and materials will be sent home with their student. Engaging with your child at home through educational books or games is a great way to be involved in your child's education without necessarily having to be at the school to do so. Regardless of the manner in which each family chooses to be involved, we provide red paper tokens to parents each time they are engaged with their student. When ten red tokens are earned, the parent trades them in for a special t-shirt for the student. The students are also eager for their parents to be involved so that a red token will be earned. Receiving a t-shirt is always a reason to celebrate!
It's not the tangible prize, though, that is most important. The time spent building connections within the school community and with their childen is the biggest reward of all. The more often parents are engaged, then the more

committed they are to the school and to the teachers. A successful partnership is established when families feel welcome and comfortable within the school, and it is with this joint effort that academic progress is seen among all children. I encourage all parents to explore the opportunities for involvement available at their child's school. It will be an investment of your time that always results in great gains.
-by Katy Gunter Parent Involvement Coordinator Cumming Elementary, Forsyth County
For more blog posts, videos, and engaging discussions visit the Georgia PIC Network blog at: gadoeparentengagement.edublogs. org

What's Inside
School Climate: Why it Matters - 2 Through The Looking Glass: STEM Edcuation- 3 STEM Resources - 3 The 2015 Georgia Family Friendly Partnership School Award Winners - 4 Save the Dates - 4
GaDOEParentEngagement @GaDOEParents

02

School Climate:

Did you know that your child's comfort level at school and feelings of safety can actually

Why system that communicates
to stakeholders how a school

it

matter s

shape their learning and development? is doing with regard to

These aspects of school life along with preparing Georgia students

Please take time to review your child's

the relationships that students form with for college and career readiness. The School Climate Star Rating as this is an

peers and teachers work together to form School Climate Star Rating does not affect important tool that can help you to better

a school's climate. The National School a school's CCRPI score, but serves as an understand the impact of school culture

Climate Center defines school climate as additional informational tool for schools, on student achievement. The GaDOE

the quality and character of school life. administrators and parents.

encourages parents to be part of school

According to research, The National Center

improvement efforts by partnering with

reports that schools with positive climates

The School Climate Star Rating teachers and principals to build a strong

statistically have higher test scores and utilizes a star rating scale, with 5 stars family-friendly school climate. These

graduation rates than schools with negative representing an excellent school climate efforts are a direct way for parents to be

school climates where students may feel and one star representing a school climate engaged in creating a school climate that

unsafe or part of a hostile environment. most in need of improvement. A school's promotes high student achievement and

final rating is determined by using a happiness.

In response to this profound research, multitude of data. Data is collected from

the Georgia Department of Education the Georgia Student Health Survey, Georgia

(GaDOE) created the School Climate Star School Personnel Survey, Georgia Parent

Rating. The School Climate Star Rating is Survey, student discipline records from a diagnostic tool to determine if a school is each school, and attendance records for

Georgia School Climate

on the right path to school improvement students, teachers, staff and administrators.

Star Rating

based upon the school's climate. "Students All information that is collected from these

cannot learn in environments that do not sources is compiled into four components

support them," Superintendent Woods that are reported as the School Climate

said. "Georgia is committed to measuring Star Rating. These four components are:

the quality of its learning climates from School Climate, Student Discipline, Safe

preschool all the way through 12th grade." and Substance-Free Learning Environment

and Attendance.

Georgia is the first state in the nation

to include school climate as an early

The 2014-2015 School Climate Star

indicator within its College and Career Rating for each public school in Georgia is

Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI). located on the GaDOE website at:

The CCRPI is an academic accountability http://tinyurl.com/q9lghtx

03
Through the Looking Glass:
STEM, Achievement, Students and Beyond

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education is based on the idea of educating students in these fields using an integrated approach where learning becomes meaningful through real-world applications. In a STEM school, student learning and achievement undergoes a transformation from the ordinary to the extraordinary, as students enter and engage in a world of their own imagination. Under the lens of STEM, 21st century learning is combined with content and practice, as schools seek new ways to prepare students to thrive in a new world. STEM education shifts from teaching students to remember and recall isolated facts and skills to having students experience learning as evolving young scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. By providing a hands-on, student-centered curriculum interwoven throughout the STEM fields, learning becomes a powerful and more meaningful way to capture and keep students' attention. STEM activities can take the form of many subjects, such as learning how geometric shapes can be applied in bridge building, making the pages of the book, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, come alive by developing real world solutions to pollution and extending the principles of magnets by designing and building a MAGLEV train that will take students to new field trip destinations.
Activities such as these are the essence of STEM and encourage students to become active creators of their education, rather than passive learners. The STEM curriculum integrates rigorous content that captures the curiosity of students while establishing a foundation for their success at the next level, whether that level is middle school, secondary education, college, or a career. As a STEM teacher,

I expect every one of my students to want to learn and even more importantly to understand. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences." I look at my students with the firm belief that I can support them as they explore a multitude of possibilities that their lives have to offer. I frequently find myself crafting STEM instruction that will not only awaken the minds of my students, but also inspire their passions. Providing students with a solid foundation in STEM education is just one way that I can inspire my students to eagerly seek new experiences and show them that achieving their goals and dreams is clearly within their educational reach. STEM education can kindle a flame of curiosity that will propel them into new and exciting worlds that they have yet to imagine.
-by Dr. Judy Wright K-5 STEM and Aquaponics Lab Specialist Canton Elementary STEM Academy Cherokee County Schools

STEM Resources
Parents, check out these great resources to help you and your student learn more about STEM education.
STEM Georgia website:
http://stemgeorgia.org/
Girls and STEM:
http://tinyurl.com/nqk6dtp
Brain POP: educational videos to help explain STEM concepts
https://www.brainpop.com/
Searchable database for STEM Education and Careers:
http://www.stemconnector.org/
Free quality K-12 STEM resources:
http://sciencenetlinks.com/

04

The 2015 Georgia Family-Friendly Partnership School Award Winners!

Campbell Elementary School Fulton County Schools
Centerville Elementary School Houston County Schools
Chestatee Elementary School Forsyth County Schools

Five Georgia schools were selected as 2015 winners of the Georgia Department of Education's FamilyFriendly Partnership School Award. The winners were selected because they represent the best in customer service for Georgia families, whether it's on the phone, in the front office or online. The schools have welcoming staff members, comfortable waiting areas, clear signage, and engaging student work throughout the building.

for the entire state regarding parent engagement," said Georgia's School Superintendent Richard Woods. "They open the door for other schools to see the positive results that can be achieved when families are seen as true partners in their child's education. I offer my congratulations and thanks to all of the winners and finalists."

Harris Elementary School Gwinnett County Schools
Ware C ount y High S cho ol Ware County Schools

They have easy-to-navigate websites and are forging partnerships with parents to help improve student achievement. The schools also provide unique, engaging, and innovative parent engagement programming that is successful in reaching all families in the school. "The schools that won this award are truly models

To read the award booklet and learn more information about the winning schools, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/lpuxkqk

May 18 - June 18, 2015
National Smile Month Build on the theme of this month by asking students to

Save the Dates June5,2015

take a picture of themselves with their biggest and
brightest smile, then write about one event they
experienced during the school year that made them smile.

World Environment Day This day is used by the United Nations to stimulate worldwide awareness of environmental issues and encourages preventative action to keep our environment clean and

June 14, 2015
Flag Day This is a day of patriotism,
so parents can take the

sustainable.

opportunity to hang or

display their native flag on

their lawns with their children

Program Staff

and discuss with them what patriotism means

July 1, 2015
International Joke Day This day gives parents and children

an opportunity to

Nathan Schult,

Interim Parent Engagement Program Manager

Vision Statement

nschult@doe.k12.ga.us The Parent Engagement Program believes that parents,

share laughter together by telling their favorite jokes.

404-463-1956

schools, families, and communities working together can create

Deana Bearden, Parent Engagement

meaningful partnerships that ultimately lead to significant gains across the board in student achievement.

Specialist dbearden@doe.k12.ga.us 404-232-1148

Have a Question?
AskDOE

404-656-2800 v askdoe@doe.k12.ga.us

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facebook.com/GaDOEParentEngagement
@GaDOEParents

gadoeparentengagement.edublogs.org

www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/AskDOE/Pages/Parents.aspx www.gadoe.org/School-Improvement/Federal-Programs/Pages/Parent-Engagement-Program.aspx