Refugee School Impact Grant : semi-annual progress report

Final Progress Report Cover Sheet

Grant Number:

90ZE0074/01

1. Grantee's Name and Address:

Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family and Children Services OFI Two Peachtree Street, NW Suite 21-402 Atlanta, GA 30303

2. Telephone Number: (404) 657-5118

3. Project Title: Refugee School Impact Grant

4. Period Performance: 08/15/2005 thru 08/14/2010

5. Approved Project Period: 08/15/2005 thru 08/14/2010

6. Period Covered By Report: First Semi-Annual Second Semi-Annual Final Report

(Check One)

7. Principal Investigator's Name and Telephone Number: Michael B. Singleton (404) 657-5118

8. Authorized Representative's Name and Telephone Number: Michael B. Singleton (404) 657-5118

9. Date of Report: 11/01/2010

10. Report Number:

11. Name of Federal Project Officer: Lorraine Berry

12. Date Reviewed by Federal Project Officer:

13. Comments:

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES Division of Family and Children Services Refugee School Impact Grant Semi-Annual Progress Report Award Number: 90ZE0074/01

1. Major activities and accomplishments during this period:

The three project subgrantees were Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Refugee Family Services, and the DeKalb County School System. During the 5 year project period, August 15, 2005 August 14, 2010, approximately 8,971 refugee parents, students and schools received services through the Georgia Refugee School Impact Program. This report will highlight the services, successes and challenges for the Georgia Program as a whole. The subgrantee reports are also included in this report, which will provide a more detailed account of each agencies activities and accomplishments.

There were 5 major services provided as a part of this grant:

Service
Parent Orientation Services

Description
2 hour interactive sessions designed to introduce newcomer parents to the American school system in a culturally and linguistically meaningful way.

Parenting ESL (PESL)/Academic Support skills classes
School-based Assistance

Classes designed to address the limitation refugee parents experience with involvement in their children's education and enhance their English Language skills as they relate to school issues. There were typically 12 week, 2 hr classes.
This service provided direct assistance to schools to meet the unique needs of the refugee population. Services included Teacher/School Personnel training, interpretation and

Additional Comments
It was determined, through program analysis and feedback from parents and schools, that in order to maintain parental involvement in the schools; which is a strong indicator of student success; parents needed more than just an introductory course upon arrival. In 2009, this service was expanded to include sessions throughout the year that would continue to help refugee parents with their school interactions. Topics included Standardized Testing, Special Education, Communication with School, College Application Process, etc.
In addition to actual classroom instruction, referrals to existing ESL classes were an essential component of this session. Limited transportation and children's activities were provided by certain subgrantees. Classes included computer training.

Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
August 15, 2010 Page 1 of 6 All Rights Reserved

School-related Casework, e.g. guidance and assistance during registration, school related referrals, home visits, participation in parent/teacher conferences and other school related meetings, etc.
Refugee Summer Youth Program (FY 2009 and FY 2010)

translation services.
Comprehensive case management services designed to provide additional supports to refugee parents and students to further assist with parental school involvement and student academic achievement.
Summer camp activities for refuge youth to continue to enhance students learning and provide them with various out of classroom experiences. There was also a parental involvement component of the programs to continue to encourage parents to be active in schools educational activities.

The following graph details the numbers of parents/students served and services provided.

Georgia RSIG Service Numbers

3,500 3,000

3,049

2,326

3,321

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000 500

222

53

0 Parent

P-ESL

Orientation Classes &

Sessions Referrals

School Based Assista nce

School Re l a te d Ca se w ork

Summer Camp

Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
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2. Problems:
The subgrantees, State Refugee Office (Department of Human Services DHS) RSIG Coordinator and the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) continually evaluated the Georgia Refugee School Impact Program in order to improve service delivery, enhance skill development in the partners and address problems and concerns of the program. The State Refugee Office convened semi-annual meetings with the subgrantees to discuss concerns and develop effective solutions to address those concerns.
The most significant concern addressed by subgrantees was the service delivery model; specifically the geographic boundaries. For the project period this report covers, Georgia was only able to provide services to 3 counties; DeKalb, Gwinnet and Fulton (which included 2 school districts). As a result, agencies were allowed to work with clients of a specific county; Catholic Charities served Fulton County residents, DeKalb Board of Education served DeKalb residents and Refugee Family Services served Gwinnett residents. The rationale was that with this service delivery model, duplication of services would be greatly reduced or eliminated. The concern by subgrantees however, was that this model did not allow for continuity with the refugee parents and students and also sometimes limited their ability to reach clients or provide a continuum of services.
Through researching a more effective documentation system in order to address the duplication of services issue as well as discussion on how removal of the county specific model would enhance services to our refugee parents and students, the service delivery model has been redesigned for the upcoming project period.
Another concern addressed was the accuracy of our evaluation tools and measurements. Though the grant for this project period did not require performance outcome evaluation, the Georgia program did measure outcomes. This area will be covered in detail in the Significant Findings section. For the Orientation Sessions and P-ESL classes, written pre and post tests were used. The tests were translated into the appropriate languages; however many of the refugee parents that we work with have difficulty reading and writing in their native languages. Based on this, it was determined that the written evaluations may not be the most effective way to measure their progress and skill level. The State Office, along with the subgrantees, are researching other evaluation methods that may work better for this specific population.
Lastly, there was some incongruence in how information was reported to the State Office; number of services versus number of unduplicated parents, etc. Subgrantees were concerned that by solely reporting unduplicated numbers, the full impact of the program and their work would not be conveyed in the reports. In order to accurately report the number of unduplicated refugee parents and children served as well as give a true picture of the Georgia program; including number of services, outcomes, etc., the RSIG Coordinator continues to meet with the subgrantees in order to ensure accurate and congruent information. Future reports will include unduplicated numbers, total number of services as well as outcomes.
Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
November 8, 2010 Page 3 of 6 All Rights Reserved

3. Significant findings and events:
As briefly discussed in the Problems section, beginning in program year 2009 (August 15, 2008) two significant components to the Georgia Refugee School Impact Program were added; contract/agency monitoring and performance outcome based reporting. The RSIG coordinator began conducting annual monitoring visits of the subgrantees. This helped inform practice, enhance service delivery and collaborate with the partners in order to ensure best practices were used in the programs. In addition, agencies were required to report on several performance based outcomes. As a result of these two measures, a detailed Program Analysis, which was submitted to ORR, was completed on the Georgia School Impact Grant by the RSIG Coordinator. The desire was that in addition to having impressive numbers of refugee parents and students served by the program, the results of the monitoring, analysis and outcome measures would show that the Georgia program was successful in both increasing parental involvement in their children's educational activities and that participation in the program increased the skill levels and knowledge of the participants.
Performance outcomes were developed for each area of service. This report will highlight 3 outcomes:
75% of Parent Orientation Session participants will demonstrate increased knowledge,
75% of Parenting ESL Session participants will demonstrate increase knowledge*, and
50% of parents served with an initial school-based service, and remaining in the school system, will return to the school for at least one additional school based activity within 3 months (i.e. parent-teacher conference, PTA meeting, School Assembly, etc.)
The results show that the Georgia program achieved 2 of the 3 outcomes highlighted. The following graph will provide the results for each outcome. As noted earlier, the Georgia partners wanted to ensure that the program utilized best practices as well as followed state standards for the services provided. *In researching the standards for participants in ESL classes, the Technical College System of Georgia's Core Indicator Goals for Adult ESL/Literacy classes were utilized. It was determined that a higher standard was placed in the Georgia RSIG program than state standards. The goal for increased knowledge/skill level for ESL participants ranged from 44% to 53% based on level (beginning, intermediate and advanced). As a result, the standard for this outcome will be changed for the upcoming project year.
Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
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Georgia RSIG Performance Outcomes

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
0 Parent Orientation

P-ESL

School Involvement

Actual Goal

4. Dissemination activities:
Over the course of the project period, subgrantees have used the following dissemination activities:
Stakeholder meetings, orientations, and trainings Information packets to schools and other refugee service agencies Fact sheets School system e-mail Flyers Power Point presentations Newsletters
Catholic Charities, due to the decline in numbers of new refugees being resettled into the Fulton County area, enhanced their school and community outreach efforts in order to reach refugee parents and students. The other subgrantees also continued to increase their presence in the community in order to promote the Georgia School Impact Program.
In addition, the State RSIG Coordinator has participated in various informational visits, conferences and trainings to locate other collaborative partners, inform others of available
Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
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services, and increase the community's awareness of the Georgia School Impact Program.
5. Other Activities:
In addition to the major activities already cited, specific additional activities can be found in the attached subgrantee reports. Highlights include:
The introduction of the Rosetta Stone software into the P-ESL Classes (DeKalb County School System) "How to Start a School Liaison Program" presentation at the Refugee & Immigrant Conference (Refugee Family Services) "Partnerships for Refugee Student Success: Bridging Services" presentation (Refugee Family Services and DeKalb County School System) Standardized P-ESL Curriculum (Catholic Charities and DeKalb County School System) "Connecting Refugee Families with Schools- A Cross Service Workshop" presentation at the Georgia TESOL Conference (Catholic Charities) "The Many Faces of Adult Education: Focusing on Alternative and Methods in ESL Teaching" presentation at the Southeast TESOL Conference(Catholic Charities) "Summer Camp Program" presentation at BRYCS Quarterly RSIG Network Teleconference(Catholic Charities).
6. Activities planned for new Project Period:
Through intense review, research and evaluation, Georgia can report that the Georgia School Impact Program has been a success throughout the course of the five year project period. The refugee parents and children in Georgia have received valuable skills and resources that will enable the students to succeed in school and increase parental involvement as a result of the services provided.
The chosen service delivery model for this reporting project period; while not representative of all possible services needed to fully achieve refugee academic success and successful integration into the American School System is supported by research and best practices models. A growing body of research shows that successful parent involvement improves not only student behavior and attendance but also positively affects student achievement. The Georgia program has strengthened and increased the refugee parents' involvement in their children's school activities. The Georgia Program will now expand the program to include increased work with refugee students which will include after-school tutorial sessions.
In addition, DHS and GaDOE will convene an introductory meeting with the new RSIG subgrantees to discuss expectations, reporting requirements, outcomes as well as training needs. GaDOE and DHS will sponsor semi-annual trainings for the RSIG subgrantees. DHS will complete an analysis of the 2010 program year.
Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
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DHR Semi-Annual Report Refugee School Impact Grant

[ ] Monthly [ ] Semi-annual [ ] Quarterly [ ] Annual

[ X ] 5 Year

DHR Contract #:

Period Covered by this report:

August 2005 August 2010

Contractor: Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta

Table 1: Summary of Services: (Please include a list of clients and schools served for report period.)

Activity

Goal for 5 Year
Contract

Actual Numbers Served (5 Year Contract Period)

Parent

320

361

Orientations/Education

Sessions Services

P-ESL Classes

72

95

School Based Assistance 101

174

School Related Casework 250

295

Summer Camp

26

Narrative analysis of project accomplishments to include by objective: Staff activity, program progress, or any other phase of Contractor activity to assist the Department in program evaluation.

Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
All Rights Reserved

Evaluation/ Measuring Outcomes

Provide refugee parents with school information via orientation session

Indicators

2006

2007

2008

2009

N/A

N/A

43%

85.7%

% of orientation/information sessions participants who

showed an increase in knowledge and school

involvement after receiving services by using pre/post

assessments

Provide skill instruction to refugee parents and children to foster increased school engagement

2010 75%

N/A

N/A

N/A

64%

72%

% of student participation during the P-ESL sessions

% of student participation during the summer camp

N/A

N/A

N/A

50%

87%

sessions

N/A

N/A

75%

38.5% 67%

% of students who increased knowledge of English/

American School System by using pre/ post assessment

Major activities and accomplishments during this period
Parent Orientation Services and Education Sessions
During the past five years, Catholic Charities Atlanta has worked diligently to provide Orientations to the American School System to refugees that have been resettled in the Atlanta area. The progress that we have made in the past five years has been increasing yearly, and we have worked hard to meet the goals we set each year. Our School Orientations include an overview of the American School System, and how parental involvement will impact their children's education positively. We make sure to include what is expected from the parents and students, and what they can expect from the teachers.
When refugees come to the orientations, they are willing and eager to learn. However, after assessing their needs, we have decided to conduct orientations by refugee groups as much as possible. This has shown to be effective because it allows the clients to be more engaged and ask more questions regarding the topics that we are addressing. We have also made exceptions and offered sessions in clients' homes. This usually happened if childcare is an issue or if the parents speak a rare dialect, and we have to perform a three way interpretation.
Because we are continuously assessing the needs of the new populations, most recently, we have begun incorporating information sessions for our refugees that target other relevant topics. Our
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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clients have responded positively to them, and have been very engaged in the sessions. We are covering topics such as bullying, internet safety, public safety, standardized testing, and mental health. We have had many refugees comment how helpful these information sessions have been and eagerly ask us about future topics. We feel that this is a positive way to give clients more information as well as follow up with them to see how they are adjusting to their new life.
Parenting ESL
Over the past five years, we have served 95 refugee parents in our Parenting ESL (P-ESL) courses. The classes have evolved, and we ended the five year period with two successful locations: Capitol View Apartments in South Atlanta and Sandy Springs Middle School in North Fulton County. Our assessment tools have also improved over the years, and we began using the BEST Plus Assessment to track language proficiency and measure outcomes.
Through collaboration with DeKalb County School District, we developed a P-ESL curriculum. As staff transitioned and classes grew, instructors developed site-specific lessons according to the overall curriculum goals. The lessons always contained English education with a parenting focus. Instructors also attended adult education trainings to strengthen their teaching skills.
We worked to strengthen relationships with community organizations, school staff, and refugee communities in attempts to increase student enrollment. We created a class brochure and disseminated it to our contacts as a way to spread the word. Volunteers and interns have always been invaluable within our P-ESL program, and they have been able to help when classes have different ability levels.
While attendance can sometimes be a challenge, we continuously evaluated our class locations and times to make sure we were reaching as many students as possible. We also utilized incentives such as books/dictionaries, MARTA passes, and other tokens to attract high attendance.
Summer Camp
Summer Camp has always been a fun activity for our staff. Since we work with families throughout the year, spending time with their children is a delight. Academic enrichment has been an important focus of the Camps, but we also incorporated field trips, physical activities, and guest speakers into the daily activities. We enrolled children of our P-ESL students as well as other families for which we provided services. Because we had existing relationships with the parents, involving them in the camp was easier. Each week we had a theme for the children, so we offered information sessions for the parents that aligned with the weekly topics (such as nutrition and mental health). We also incorporated P-ESL classes into the Summer Camp for the parents throughout the years. Additionally, parents served as volunteers and participated in Camp events. We also utilized external volunteers, such as high school students and community members. We always tried to have volunteers that spoke the same languages as the children. The Summer Camps gave refugee children extra English practice, academic support, and exposure to a variety of American places and activities.
School-Based Assistance
Our goal has been to increase school referrals for services and to work with school staff so that we can educate them about the refugee population and the resettlement process in general. We
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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provide schools with the basic tools to better understand the behaviors and traditions of the multiple refugee populations that are being resettled in the Metro Atlanta area. Schools are being visited, and have been made aware of the Refugee School Impact Grant and the kind of support it offers to public school systems. Furthermore, the Refugee Parenting Services Coordinator has met with officials from the school systems Instructional Support Center, so that information can be disseminated from a higher level. Services that we provide to the schools are interpretation, translation, transportation, and support in Parent/Teacher conference and/or SST or IEP meetings. The following schools were visited during the past five years:
1. Martin Luther King Middle 2. North Atlanta High School 3. Gideon's Elementary School 4. Dunwoody Springs Elementary 5. Ridgeview Charter Middle School 6. Park Middle School 7. Garden Hill Elementary School 8. North Spring Charter High School 9. College Park Elementary School 10. Atlanta International Center 11. Therrell High School 12. West Manor Elementary School 13. Benjamin Mays High School 14. Alpharetta High School 15. Creekview Elementary School 16. Lake Winward Elementary School 17. Webb Ginn Middle School 18. Adamsville Elementary School 19. Deerwood Academy School 20. Margaret Fain Elementary School 21. Fickett Elementary School 22. Ridgeview Charter School
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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23. Heards Ferry Elementary School 24. Lake Forest Elementary School 25. Riverwood Elementary School 26. Atlanta Public School Instructional Support 27. Beecher Hills Elementary School 28. Capitol View Elementary School 29. E.L. Connally Elementary School 30. Venetian Hills Elementary School 31. Highpoint Elementary School 32. Ison Springs Elementary School 33. Hembree Springs Elementary School 34. Hillside Elementary School 35. Conley Hills Elementary School 36. Parklane Elementary School 37. Hamilton Holmes Elementary School 38. Oak Knoll Elementary School 39. Paul D. West Middle School 40. Hutchinson Elementary School 41. Rivers Elementary School 42. North Atlanta High School 43. South Atlanta High School 44. Sutton Middle School 45. Price Middle School 46. Crawford Middle School 47. Mimosa Elementary School 48. High Point Elementary School 49. Cook Elementary School 50. Bethune Elementary School
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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51. Woodland Elementary School
52. Benteen Elementary School
53. Martin Luther King Middle School
54. Northwood Elementary School
55. Austrey Mill Elementary School
56. Barnwell Elementary School
57. Dolvin Elementary School
School Related Casework
One of our main goals is to promote parental involvement with the refugee community. We do not want them to feel that just because they do not know the English language, that they cannot participate and make a positive impact in their children's education. This has helped the refugee families feel comfortable in reaching out to us when they have questions about school related issues, homework or how their children are adjusting socially. We provide refugees with assistance to any school related issue that they may have. Types of assistance that we have given refugees are help with PTA meetings, providing school supplies, doing home visits, library assistance, accompanying clients to school meetings and providing interpretation so that they may address their concerns.
Problems Encountered
Our biggest challenge for orientation/information sessions was the geographical boundaries. As time continued, fewer refugee families were being resettled in Fulton County, and recruiting clients was problematic. We were able to increase outreach and expand services to include Information Sessions, but meeting our goals continued to be arduous.
We tried different ways to resolve these issues, including school and community outreach and the development of the information sessions. We strongly felt that if we could continue to educate the parents and invite them to more information sessions that dealt with topics that were relevant to the school, then we could help parents maintain involvement in their children's education. We are still developing curriculums for topics, however many of these topics have been presented with much success:
o Standardized testing o Behavior management o Special education o Communication with the school o Parental involvement o Communicating effectively with your children o Gang prevention
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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o Parental rights within the schools o College application process o Adolescence o Bullying o After School/Summer Employment
We realized that due to work schedules and English classes, attendance can be challenging. In order to ensure the highest level of attendance, we worked closely with our interpreters to provide sessions when our clients are available to attend. As mentioned previously, we have been concerned about P-ESL attendance over the past five years. Regular attendance is challenging for parents that work and/or have children. We continuously assess our classes to make sure we were reaching as many students as possible. Our locations and class schedules have changed over these five years in an effort to mitigate the problem.
We have also questioned the accuracy of our written pre- and post- tests for Orientations and Information Sessions. When dealing with low-literacy level clients who often have difficulty reading and writing in their native languages, a written standardized test may not be the best measure of their knowledge. To address this, we plan to research other evaluation techniques for specific populations.
Significant Findings and Events
A major finding was simply logistical: scheduling and location. If we offered a P-ESL class, Orientation, or Information Session, parental attendance always depended on location and time. Working in the evenings and on weekends has helped us accommodate our clients' valuable time and resources. The interpreters that we work with have been useful in helping us identify convenient times and locations.
We also found that increasing outreach significantly improved our outputs. Throughout the five years, we met with people in a variety of settings (other refugee-serving agencies, government entities, apartment complexes, police departments, and schools). As more schools and organizations knew about our program, the more often we were called to provide services.
Lastly, our experiences over the past five years have reinforced the purpose of this grant. We strongly believe in educating and empowering parents to help their children succeed in school. Through this grant, parents that we work with have been able to: communicate with school personnel through interpreters and on their own thanks to P-ESL instruction; learn about American schools and other relevant topics; receive extra support for their families as they navigate educational systems, and send their children to an enriching Summer Camp. Their children have benefitted in immeasurable ways from these services. We have also been able to fill a crucial gap for schools in helping to meet the needs of their refugee students.
Dissemination activities
In order to promote our services and provide needed information, we created multiple brochures. Program brochures include a list of services available to clients, required registration documentation, a class schedule, and location details. We have worked to strengthen
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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relationships with Schools Administrators and Instructional staff, and the brochures have been beneficial when publicizing our services.
To promote Summer Camp, we created multi-lingual fliers, and our Parenting ESL students spread the information. We unfortunately had to create a Waiting List because we were not able to accommodate all of the children that wanted to attend.
Other Activities Program staff has been active participants at the Georgia TESOL and Southeast TESOL conferences. Loretta Siefferman and Lina Rodriguez presented "Connecting Refugee Families with Schools- a Cross Service Workshop" at the Georgia TESOL Conference in 2008. Lisa Shanty Chaudhari and Loretta Siefferman presented "The Many Faces of Adult Education: Focusing on Alternative and Methods in ESL Teaching Workshop" at the Southeast TESOL Conference in 2009. In addition, Kate Walker presented "Summer Camp Program" at BRYCS Quarterly RSIG Network Teleconference.
Activities Planned for New Reporting Period:
We are excited to expand our service area to surrounding counties. We will continue providing School Orientations, Information Sessions, and school-based assistance for refugee parents. New Information Sessions are being developed to meet all of our parents' needs. Additionally, we will still offer school-based assistance for school staff. We plan to update our PowerPoint presentation to inform schools of new grant requirements.
Instead of running P-ESL classes, we will train community-based groups that work with refugee parents and youth, such as ESL staff at local churches or apartment complexes as well as AfterSchool Program staff at various organizations. Finally, we intend to continue our Summer Camp so that refugee children can get much needed extra help outside of school.
We plan to improve the evaluation tools for the Orientation and Education Sessions to better measure outcomes. Additionally, we want to strengthen our Interpreter Bank to limit any delay in service delivery based on interpreter availability.
We have utilized interns over the years (mostly MSW students), and they have always been an asset to our program. They have assisted with outreach, recruited P-ESL students, and even served as interpreters. Our new MSW intern will help us create a Resource Book for refugee parents as well as a Cultural Considerations hand-out for people working with refugee populations.
We are currently planning our future year events, and we are creating strategies that will help us reach out to the school systems as well as refugees to make them aware of the services that we provide.
_____________________________ Contractor Project/Program Manager
_____________________________ Date Submitted
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report DeKalb County School System
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The DeKalb County School System Parent Outreach program goals is designed to help refugee families make constructive strides towards involvement in the school community, and to claim a sense of belonging. Additionally, the program helps them adjust to their new surroundings, fostering basic skills for self-sufficiency, and assisting with English Language practice. The program helps families develop an understanding of American culture as well as show them how to navigate the community and take advantage of public resources such as libraries, parks, and public transportation. Instruction thus far, has focused on parents being able to provide personal information in writing and verbally. Adult students practice dialogues to aid communication with teachers and others. Instructors may also help them complete small tasks such as job applications, setting doctors appointments, or assisting their children with homework.
MAJOR ACTIVITIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
The International Center Parent Outreach Program initially met every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6:00 8:00 P.M. Free transportation and child care was provided nightly. Meeting times went through an evolution to accommodate parents and to avoid conflicts with PTA, Parent Conference Nights, and Open House. The most recent program schedule was from 5:00 to 7:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Parent Outreach program addressed specific English Language acquisition needs of parents from a wide variety of nations and language groups. This meant about [200] refugee and immigrant families in the DeKalb County School System were served. At the outset of the program, the primary languages spoken by participants were Spanish, Somali, and Russian. These language groups were eventually joined by others, representing the pattern of immigration to the area. Parents received instruction in beginning English (Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking).
The program was structured in a modular format which initially followed the workbook series Parenting for Academic Success, (Delta Publishing Company). The lessons in this series include Setting Goals, Cooking/Family Traditions, Homework/Progress Reports, and Preparing for Parent-Teacher Meetings. Teachers supplemented the structural design with individually selected materials providing the parents with additional language support for their job sites, school communications, and other topics of interests. The program now uses Side by Side, an English Language program for young-adult and adult learners from beginning to high-intermediate levels. Through guided conversations, students engage in meaningful conversation using structured grammar. The text is supplemented with role-play and authentic documents. In 2008, we developed the RSIG Parent Orientation Modules. The modules were fully implemented in 2009 as the core of our program. These modules enabled parents to communicate more in English and become more active in the classroom. Adult students were able to benefit from oral activities and obtained "hands-on" activities with skills taught in the modules.
Parents learned to identify and participate in "every day activities." These students improved their ability to communicate with teachers and others and completed small tasks such as providing basic information about themselves and their families, completing
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report DeKalb County School System
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job applications, making doctor's appointments, assisting their children with homework, identifying important items on a report card, requesting time off from work to attend meetings at school, identifying parts of a computer and producing a simple "Word" document, and reporting emergencies.
The children's portion of the program made great strides. It developed into a full-blown after school tutorial/pre-K type activity focusing on vocabulary development. Children from ages 4 to 16 years of age have taken advantage of this program. Averaging 25 30 students participating two evenings each week. In response to parents requesting more instructional time, we established a summer school segment to the program in June, 2006. This provided an additional month of English language instruction.
Parent Orientation Sessions: were held at various schools to inform parents about school policies and procedures, discipline policies, progress reports, school events, and homework tips, how to write an absentee note, the importance of attending PTSA, parent conferences and parent volunteers. These sessions were concurrent, and in various languages.
Translation/Interpretation Services: Interpretation and translation services were provided for school PTSA meetings, Parent Conferences and at the Student Evidentiary Hearing Committee by the International Center pool of interpreters and translators. Language Line, (a telephone system, which enables parents in schools to speak with a live person in their own language), has been provided in all of the highly populated refugee schools, this program provides 170 different languages and decreases language barriers in schools with high refugee populations.
Transportation: Families who indicate a need receive free transportation to and from program activities. Every effort is made to ensure that families are aware that transportation is available and lack there of is not a reason to miss out on the opportunity to participate.
SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS AND EVENTS:
It was pleasant and beneficial to find that students who were excited about attending the program and maintained regular attendance made academic improvement. A positive biproduct of the children's attendance was better attendance by their parents and general increased enthusiasm about the program. We purchased textbooks and provided them to families as consumable materials. This appeared to encourage parents and allowed them to practice more effectively outside of class time.
ServSafe is a program to prepare food service workers to handle food properly and safely. There were seven adult learners studying exclusively in this program. They reviewed pre food preparation procedures and discussed test taking strategies. The students had practical learning on safe serving techniques such as how long and how to
Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report DeKalb County School System
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wash their hands for food preparation. The curriculum included guest instructors and video demonstrations. A very special accomplishment was two program participants passing the ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification Examination. These students are now certified to work in the food industry. In fact, at the time of writing this report, they are under consideration for cafeteria positions with the school district. Special activities completed included a "clothes closet" where program attendees were able to choose from donated clothing. This activity was well received and many families were able to benefit from it. Another beneficial activity was our guest speaker series. A school principal and counselor presented and answered questions for parents in the programs. A pediatric dentist spoke to our parents about the necessity and benefits of good dental care. Parents were also addressed by elementary and high school ESOL teachers.
As parents have a clearer understanding of American school system rules and are becoming more involved with the schools, they are able to encourage and motivate their children.
Considering the success of the current programs, we are planning to continue providing the same services to our refugee parents. We continuously plan ways to improve our services and address their concerns. Transportation: is being provided for parents who are participating in the Parent Outreach (ESL) program.
Childcare: While parents receive instruction, their children participate in academic activities designed to improve English Language proficiency and to improve performance on standardized tests.
Translation/Interpretation Services: Interpreters are available in the classrooms to assist parents with interpretation of content provided by certified teachers with the ESOL endorsement.
Concerns:
While we consider the program to be successful and beneficial, there are a few concerns. It would be helpful if parents were provided with a light meal or snack while participating in the program. Also, parents have expressed a desire to have the program continue for a longer period of time. We have tried to address this by providing a summer segment through June without interruption. Finally, we would like to increase participation among parents and children with more consistent attendance. We made significant effort to make potential clients aware of the program, but enrollment suffers somewhat when there is a delay of on usual start date and significant problems with transportation. Informing parents during registration continues to be an effective way of advertising and registering parents.
The new waves of refugees present a challenge with communication. Finding skilled interpreters in new dialects is a daunting task.
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Information about refugee services should be disseminated more often and sent to schools, radio stations, newspapers, and local schools on a semester basis. Dissemination of Activity Related Information Families were invited to register for the program while registering their children for school. We sent flyers to the various schools to be distributed during PTA meetings and Parent Conference Nights held at each school with a particular focus on the schools with high ELL populations. Other activities: Adult students were introduced to technology by learning the definition of a computer, the parts of a computer, differences between input and output devices, how to log on to and shut down a workstation properly. They began working with the Microsoft Windows Operating System and how to use Microsoft Word. Also parents used software such as Rosetta Stone; students further developed their vocabulary and technology skills. Goals Planned for the Next Period: We also hope to employ other methods of spreading the word about the Parent Outreach Program and increasing attendance. We intend to pre-register parents and have bus routes scheduled prior to the program start date. We intend to make even more direct contact with the communities we serve. We will continue the ESL classes through the Parent Outreach Program. When parents learn English, school procedures, and so forth, the more they want to come to the local school and be involved in their children's education. We will offer free reading materials to parents such as magazines, textbooks, novels. We will provide additional forums to disseminate parent information in various languages. We will provide more fieldtrip opportunities for parents.
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Evaluation / Measuring Outcomes

Provide refugee parents with school information via orientation session

Number of parents served annually in various orientation sessions.

Service
Parent Orientation
Sessions

Annual Target Goal
or (5 Year Goal)
500 (2,500)

Actual FY 2006
510

Actual FY 2007
575

Actual FY 2008
655

Actual FY 2009
600

Actual FY 2010

Total

562 2,542

Indicator
75% of parents served will demonstrate and increased understanding, using pre/post test Annual Target = 375, 75%

FY 2006
375 74%

FY 2007
431 75%

FY 2008
491 75%

FY 2009
450 75%

FY 2010
421 75%

Provide skill instruction to refugee parents to foster increased school engagement

Number of parents served annually in a structured class.

Service
Number of parents served annually in a structured class.

Annual Target Goal
or (5 Year Goal)
300 (1,500)

Actual FY 2006
350

Actual FY 2007
410

Actual FY 2008
450

Actual FY 2009
450

Actual FY 2010
400

Total 2,060

Indicator
Based on those completing the class, 80% will demonstrate increased knowledge using pre/post assessment. Annual Target = 240, 80%

FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008

280

328

360

80%

80%

80%

Provide school based services to parent and/or school system personnel

Indicator

FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008

60% of parents served with an

initial school-based engagement

activity, and remaining in the

school system will return to the school for at least one additional

300

310

300

school-based engagement activity

within 3 months.

Annual Target = 300, 60%

FY 2009 360 80%
FY 2009
298

FY 2010 320 80%
FY 2010
300

Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report DeKalb County School System
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2009-2010 Top Refugee Languages

Home Language

Total

Burmese

549

Nepali

396

Arabic

188

Somali

146

Kirundi

123

Amharic

77

Spanish

71

Vietnamese

71

French

45

Farsi

43

Swahili

41

Kunama

25

Nepalese

23

African

22

Kiswahili

15

2010-2011 Top Refugee Languages

Home Language

Total

Burmese

728

Nepali

458

Arabic

227

Somali

156

Kirundi

119

Amharic

68

Spanish

68

Swahili

64

Vietnamese

61

French

42

Kiswahili

35

Farsi

33

Nepalese

30

Kunama

28

Tigrinya

21

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2009-2010 Top Refugee Lanugages

Nepalese, 23

Kunama, 25

African, 22

Swahili, 41

Farsi, 43

French, 45

Kiswahili, 15

Vietnamese, 71

Spanish, 71 Amharic, 77

Burmese, 549

Kirundi, 123 Somalian, 146 Arabic, 188

Nepali, 396

2010-2011 Top Refugee Lanugages

Nepalese, 30

Farsi, 33 Kiswahili, 35

Kunama, 28 Tigrinya, 21

French, 42

Vietnamese, 61

Swahili, 64 Spanish, 68

Amharic, 68

Kirundi, 119

Burmese, 728

Somalian, 156

Arabic, 227

Nepali, 458

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Refugee Languages 2009-10
Home Language Africaans African Albanian Amharic Arabic Asia Azerbaijani/Azer Bangla Bengali Bini Bokmal Burmese Cambodian Chinese Creole Croatian Dari Dinka English-Non/American Ethiopian Languages European Languages Ewe Farsi French Fulani Ghanian Gio Gokana Hindi Ibo Kalenji Khmer Kikongo Kinyarwanda Kirundi Kiswahili Korean Krio Kunama Kurdish Macedonian

Total 2 22 3 77
196 4 1 1 3 1 1
599 1 6 6 3 1 5 68 5 4 1 43 45 6 2 11 4 1 1 1 1 1 8
123 15 4 7 25 15 1

Refugee Languages 2010-11
Home Language Africaans African Albanian Amharic Arabic Asia Azerbaijani/Azer Bangla Bariba Bengali Bini Burmese Cambodian Chinese Creole Croatian Dari Dinka Divehi English-Non/American Ethiopian Languages European Languages Ewe Farsi French Fulani Ghanian Gio Gokana Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Ibo Indian Kalenji Khmer Kikongo Kinyarwanda Kirundi Kiswahili Korean

Total 2 21 3 68
227 3 1 2 2 3 1
728 1 6 10 1 3 6 1 53 5 3 1 33 42 5 2 8 4 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 10
119 35 3

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Mande Mandingo Nepalese Nepali Nuer Nyanji Ogoni Oromo Other African Other Asian Other European Persian Punjabi Russian Sango Serbo-Croatian Sign Language Slovak Somali Soto Spanish Swahili Thai Tigray Tigrinya Turkish Urdu Uzbek Vietnamese Wolof Grand Total

2 5 23 414 1 3 5 11 11 7 1 4 1 4 3 13 1 2 146 1 71 41 6 1 12 3 5 3 71 1 2196

Krio Kunama Kurdish Mande Mandingo Nepalese Nepali Nuer Nyanji Ogoni Oromo Other African Other Asian Other European Other Indian Persian Punjabi Russian Sango Serbo-Croatian Slovak Somali Spanish Swahili Tamil Thai Tigray Tigrinya Turkish Urdu Uzbek Vietnamese Wallisian Wolof Grand Total

8 28 12 2 3 30 458 1 1 2 9 9 10 1 2 3 1 2 3 10 2 156 68 64 6 12 1 21 1 8 4 61 1 1 2424

Georgia Department of Human Services Subgrantee Report DeKalb County School System
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Number of Refugees

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000
500 0

861 2005-06

DeKalb County Schools Yearly Refugee Enrollment

1046

1389

1592

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

School Year

2196 2009-10

2424 2010-11

Number of Students

1200

1000

967

Annual New Refugee Enrollment
1109

800

785

703

600 530

478

478

400

364

336

296

251

203 200

0 1999 - 00

2000 - 01

2001 - 02

2002 - 03

2003 - 04

2004 - 05

2005 - 06

School Year

2006 - 07

2007 - 08

2008 - 09

2009 - 10

2010 - 11

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DEKALB INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SCREENING CENTER
INTERPRETATION/TRANSLATION REPORT
August 2005 August 2010

SCHOOL YEAR
AUGUST 2005-AUGUST 2006 AUGUST 2006-AUGUST 2007 AUGUST 2007-AUGUST 2008 AUGUST 2008-AUGUST 2009 AUGUST 2009-AUGUST 2010

INTERPRETATIONS TRANSLATIONS

210

32

979

319

766

646

1210

728

1655

810

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DHR Semi-Annual Report Refugee School Impact Grant

[ ] Monthly [] Semi-annual [ ] Quarterly [ ] Annual [X] 5 Year

DHR Contract #:

Period Covered by this report: August 14

[ ] August 15 February 14 [ ] February 15

Contractor: Refugee Family Services, Inc. 5561-H Memorial Dr. Stone Mountain, GA 30083

TO: Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Family and Children Services Office of Family Independence Attn: Michael Singleton, State Refugee Coordinator Two Peachtree Street, Suite 21-403 Atlanta, GA 30303-3142

Table 1: Summary of Services:

Activity

Goal for Contract Year

Parent Orientations Services P-ESL Classes (referrals) School Based Assistance School Related Casework

Actual Numbers Served (Current Five Year Reporting Period)
116
171
48 Schools
514

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Service
Parent Orientations
75% participants will demonstrate increased knowledge
School Related Casework
50% of clients will return to additional school engagement within six months
School Based Assistance
100% of clients will receive services as
requested Summer Camp Maintain an 80% attendance rate

Annual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Targeted FY FY FY FY FY
Goal 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 30 clients 40 (only N/A N/A 34 37 45
2010)
75% N/A N/A 80% 86% 85%
80 clients (120 in 127 124 97 86 80 2006 and 2007)
50% N/A N/A 52% 58% 56%

15 schools N/A N/A 18 15 15

100% N/A 80%

N/A N/A 100% 100% 100% N/A N/A N/A 13 14 N/A N/A N/A 82% 95%

TOTAL 116 84% 514
55% 48 100% 27 88.5%

Major activities and accomplishments during this period
Over the five years of the grant period, RFS fulfilled its goals. The majority of our activities were related to providing language assistance and advocacy under school related casework category. We assisted refugee parents with the following parent-school engagement activities: special education meetings, parent-teacher conferences, school workshops, SST meetings, interpreting school notes, resolving behavior incidents at school, and referrals to after school programs.
From October 2005 through February 2007, we provided total of 580 school related services. Since February 2007 we reported only first-time offered services to new parents under this category, this number doesn't reflect the total number of services provided. From the total number of parents reported under school related casework (514), an average of 55% returned to the school for a least one additional school based engagement within six months.
Many refugee families received multiple services, especially those with two or more school-aged children. We estimate that parents may have received more than 1,200 services during the entire grant period.
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Refugee students and their parents received assistance in the following languages: Amharic, Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Burundi, Burmese, Cambodian, Farsi, French, Kirundi, Russian, Somali, Vietnamese and Hmong.
We did not have clear defined outcomes for School Based Assistance category, however we kept record of school served each year, according to that list we assisted total 48 Gwinnett public schools mainly with the interpretation services.
Parent Orientations
We started counting parent orientations as a separate category beginning in February 2007. Although most parents received more than one orientation on different topics, we reported only one orientation per client. A total of 146 parents received orientations during 2007-2010 grant periods. New clients received orientations on the following topics: General orientation to the Gwinnett County School System and Gwinnett school rules and regulations. We also provided refugee parents with several customized orientations that covered a broad range of topics based on individual needs such as: special education, online services for parents, Title I, graduation requirements, and GPS disciplinary procedures.
The uniform set of assessments was used with parents who received orientation about school system policies, more that 85% parents demonstrated an increased understanding of this topic presented to them.
Problems Encountered
Gwinnett County is the largest county in the Atlanta area. The refugee population in Gwinnett County is scattered throughout the county, which posed a great challenge in terms of program recruitment. Even though we communicated on a regular basis with the resettlement agencies, in order to obtain referrals of newly resettled families the referral system did not reach full efficiency as we expected .We received fewer requests for services from Gwinnett public schools than we anticipated. The extensive outreach within Gwinnett Public Schools and program introduction to administrators did not increase the number of referrals from GPS personnel. One of the possible reasons may have been the lack of communication among school personnel; another possibility is that administrators were not interested in utilizing our services, because RSIG services could only be provided to refugee students. Even so, we were able to reach a good number of refugee students by introducing the program directly to the teachers during school engagement events such as parent-teacher conferences, open houses and curriculum nights.
In the second half of 2006, RFS went through a staff reorganization process due to the funding cuts, and three part-time multilingual school liaisons were replaced with one part-time school liaisons and independent contractors.
Significant findings and events
ESL Classes
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ESL classes were a much needed service in which refugee parents wanted to participate, but often did not access due to transportation issues. Therefore, we found ways to hold classes in locations which were convenient for parents to reach.
During 2006-2007 the Gwinnett School Liaison program offered ESL classes for refugee parents with children at the World Relief offices in Lawrenceville. Nine parents were enrolled, and showed a rate of attendance of about 90%.
In 2008 we started ESL classes at the Bosnian Community Center; sixteen students were enrolled in the class. We offered class for two semesters, eight students from that group completed the class with excellent attendance (95%). Eighty percent (80%) demonstrated increased knowledge through a curriculum based assessment.
In the spring of 2009 we offered ESL courses for Moldovan and Ukrainian refugee parents; the class was designed around their needs, and with the intention of providing the maximum benefit to the students. One way of enhancing the learning experience was creating a group consisting of five to six people. Due to fact that each family had a large number of children, ranging from four to eight per household, we hired two babysitters from within the Moldavian community. The students from that group completed the class with excellent attendance (95%).
We discontinued offering ESL classes due to growing difficulties in securing free classroom space; however, at the beginning of each school year, we made it a point to compile a list of free ESL classes available in Gwinnett. A total of 171 parents were referred to ESL classes throughout the county. In 2010 we tracked the number of parents who actually started attending ESL classes after being referred, 70% of ESL class referrals result in enrollment.
Summer Camp
During the summer break of 2009 we organized a four-week summer camp at the Bosnian Community Center. The summer camp provided thirteen (13) children age five to 12 with a structured educational environment. Each week of camp had a different focus, children used their hands, imaginations, and creativity during a very pleasant learning process, and they cultivated and tended their own garden. We recorded daily two outcomes: the individual attendance and DEAR time (Drop Everything and Read).The students spent total 89.5 hours in reading, and the average camp attendance was 82%
In 2010, we had a heterogeneous group of 14 refugee children ages 6-13. This year a major emphasis was put on reading. The students got familiarized with the process of making an appropriate reading selection, types of literature, and navigating the book store and public library. The students enjoyed the subsequent discussions about their reading choices and were happy to share the content of the books. We did not have a separate reading program as previous year because in 2010 the camp emphasis was on reading comprehension, our goal was to develop and nurture reading habit in all camp attendees
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by offering a variety of reading material and having daily discussions. We reached high average attendance of 95% due to fact that this year our program provided transportation to all enrolled children.
During the course of the four weeks of summer camp, each Friday, students were taken on field trips that supported that week's lecture. The following places were visited: Atlanta Zoo, Botanical Garden, Gwinnett Recycling Center, Fire Station, Fernbank Science Museum, and The Center for Puppetry Art and Borders Bookstore.
Dissemination activities
In 2006, our School Liaison Program Fact Sheet was included in the Gwinnett County School System Online ESOL Handbook. As result of the meeting with the Gwinnett County School System ESOL Department and International Newcomer Center staff, a system-wide email was generated notifying school personnel about our program. RFS School Liaison Program information packets were distributed in a total of 32 schools. Additionally, we distributed information packages to the Parent and Instructional Support Coordinators from 26 Title I schools. Our staff participated in Title III Parent Outreach Liaison meetings for two years. Program information packages were given to all participating parent outreach liaisons working in more than 20 Gwinnett Public Schools.
Debra Furce, RFS program manager, presented at the Refugee and Immigrant Conference in Chicago "How to Start a School Liaison Program". She also co-presented "Partnerships for Refugee Student Success: Bridging Services" with Dr. JL McBrien, Assistant Professor at University of South Florida and Sandra Nuez, Director of English Language Learners Program . The presentation highlighted the partnership between the school system and the refugee service agency in approaching and improving parent involvement and the evaluation of this model by the researcher.
We regularly attended meetings organized by the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services (the Coalition); this is a public/private partnership whose mission is to facilitate collaboration that improves the well-being of the community. Our program was added to the Common Client Information System, a database involving government and non-profit user organizations that serve more than 275,349 consumers each year.
The RFS School Liaison program made up of culturally and linguistically competent caseworkers provided a range of services to refugee families including advocacy for educational services, translation/ interpretation, transportation, enrollment in community programs, and problem-solving support. The program was a valuable asset to refugee families in Gwinnett due to fact that their tremendous need for language access and advocacy was not fully addressed by the limited resources of the Gwinnett County Schools International Newcomer Center.
Jasmina Talundzic Contractor Project/Program Manager
______10/29/1010_________ Date Submitted
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