2. B. C. Charles Elementary received partial accreditation from Virginia
Department of Education for the 2014-2015 school year. Charles met
the accreditation benchmarks in all subject areas except reading.
Charles didn’t meet the 75% pass rate for reading but satisfied criteria
for improving school.
Reading pass rate for 2014-2015 72%
Reading pass rate for 2013-2014 65%
Reading pass rate for 2012-2013 60%
3. My vision is to combine two family-school-community engagement
programs- the tutoring program and home reading program. They both
have the same goal-improving reading skills. The two programs will have
more structure, accountability, training, and incentives. The tutoring
program will have more structure because there will be better
communication between school and community partners. There will be
more accountability because the leadership team will monitor home reading
calendars and will track reading progress of children receiving tutoring to
monitor effectiveness of program. This is not additional work for teachers.
This data can be pulled from district web-based program and the school
share-point. Parents will receive training for home reading program through
Family Literacy Night. Parent volunteers and high school volunteers will get
training on using the reading strategy cueing cards. They will read aloud to
children to build vocabulary and comprehension, and model fluency.
Children will reread books from guided reading to build fluency. College
students are actually pre-service teachers. They will receive similar training
but will work on comprehension strategies as well. Currently, the only
incentive for home reading is a monthly drawing for free books. The
leadership team would brainstorm to find other incentives, including
incentives for volunteers. The school counselor and PTA member would do
more of the legwork for gathering resources and recruiting others to help.
4. Community and family involvement have shown
to impact student achievement in several ways.
Promotes better attendance
Decreases grade retention
Decreases discipline problems
Improves academic scores
Increases graduation rates
Ensures school-related satisfaction
Increases motivation and self esteem
(McNeil, 2015)
5. Family Literacy Night
Teaching parents about dialogic reading
Teaching parents how to use visual cueing
cards for reading strategies
Teaching parents why reading with their
children is so important
Offering community incentives to encourage
participation.
6. Train volunteers on dialogic reading/lap
reading. (Knopf & Brown, 2009)
Teach volunteers how to use visual cueing
cards for reading strategies.
Pair high school students and parents with K-
2 students.
Pair university students (preservice teachers)
with 3-5 grade students to work on
comprehension strategies.
7. Feb-Talk with
stakeholders to
gain consent.
Mar.- Meet with
stakeholders to
share vision and
research behind
program.
April- Power Point
presentation for
school staff and
interested parents
to create interest
and support.
May- Begin
planning Family
Literacy Night and
volunteer training.
June- Leadership
team meets to
establish baseline
data for program
and determine
how many
volunteers are
needed for
struggling
readers.
September- Family
Literacy Night,
volunteer training,
and home reading
program begins
October-
Volunteers begin
tutoring students.
April- Leadership
team will meet to
analyze program
based on 3
quarters of
benchmark data,
home reading
participation, and
volunteer logs.
Make suggestions
for next year.
June- Look at end
of year data. Did
students make
AYP?
8. When Who What
Feb. Me Ask for principal approval
Feb. Me Attend PTA Board Meeting to generate interest and support
Feb. Me Talk with reading specialist and guidance counselor to see if they are willing to lead and
recruit
Feb. Me Talk with high school student support specialist and university education department head to
see if they are willing to expand efforts
Mar. Me Give Power Point presentation to all stakeholders to share vision and research behind program.
Meeting will generate discussion and input for adjustments. Brainstorming session for
incentives.
April Me Give (revised) Power Point presentation to school staff and interested parents to generate
interest and support
April PTA
Guidance counselor
Begin contacting local businesses to gather incentives for the home reading program
April Education
Professors
Make adjustments to Fall /Spring Syllabus for volunteer participation
May Reading Specialist
Me
Begins planning and preparing for Family Literacy Night in September
Begins developing volunteer training for parents and high school volunteers on dialogic
reading and using visual cueing cards for reading strategies for grades K-2.
College volunteer training will include comprehension strategies for grades 3-5.
June All members of leadership team Look at state test scores and end of year benchmarks for all students. This will be baseline
data for program. Estimate how many volunteers will be needed to support struggling readers
in the 2016-2017 school year.
Determine percentage of students participating in home reading program. This will be used as
baseline data.
Determine average number of hours/volunteers per month to serve as baseline data.
Discuss what needs to be done by each committee member over the summer.
Sept. Me
Reading Specialist
Teachers
Guidance Counselor
Principal
Family Literacy Night- To include a book fair, PTA meeting explaining the home reading
program and recruiting reading volunteers. Parent training on dialogic reading. Visits to
classrooms. Opportunities to practice dialogic reading and ask classroom teacher questions.
Teachers are encouraged to give parents suggestions for helping with reading at home that are
grade level appropriate.
Sept. Parents Home reading participation begins immediately because it is a district initiative
Oct. Volunteers Begin working with identified students. October is chosen as start date due to establishing
schedules and routines for students and volunteering needing training.
Kindergarten students will be identified by beginning of the year assessments.
Nov.
Feb.
April
June
Me
Reading Specialist
Principal
teachers
At the end of each quarter, progress will be monitored by looking at quarterly benchmark data,
home reading participation, and volunteer log.
April All members of leadership team With three quarters of data, team will determine effectiveness of program and make
suggestions for improvement for next year.
9. There are 3 goals for this project.
Baseline data will be gathered in June.
1. Increase participation in district Home Reading program.
This will be monitor by SIS reports. Classroom teachers
reporting how many home reading calendars filled
out each month.
2. Increase student reading pass rate.
This will be determined by district quarterly benchmarks
and state testing.
3. Increase community participation.
This will be monitored by school volunteer login books.
Data will be analyzed each quarter. Adjustments will be made
based on student need.
10. Volunteer to tutor
Volunteer to create training for parents and
tutors
Look for community incentives
Join the leadership committee
Help plan Family Literacy Night
Help recruit tutors
Help train tutors.
11. Knopf, H. & Brown, H. (2009). Lap reading with kindergartners-
Nurturing literacy skills and so much more. Young Children,
80-87.
McNeil, J. (Course Lecture). (2015). Part 1- Parent and Family
Involvement: Module 1. [video]. American College of Education.
Retrieved: http://ace.edu
Virginia State Department of Education. (2015). Newport News
(117): B. C. Charles Elementary (319). In 2015 Virginia School
Report Card Retrieved from
https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard.do?division=117&scho
olName=319
