Week 1 Assignment Social Support Essay Social support is an important concept in schools. Schools are not just charged with academic development, they are charged with aiding emotional and physical development as well. Social support systems aid in this development. As noted in your text (Hjalmarson,Chapter 2), this can be an important aspect of a successful school, such as “Los Pen.”  In a two- to five-page paper (not including the title and reference pages), describe the value of social support through addressing the following:  · Define the term Social Support and explain what relevant scholarly research states about it.  · Describe your personal experiences with social support systems as student and/or teacher. · Discuss significance of social support in a school setting. Be sure to include and reference at least three scholarly sources (not including your textbook) properly cited in APA style. Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment. INSTRUCTOR GUIDANCE WEEK 1 INTRODUCTION *Special thanks to Dr. Patrice Jones for sharing her original guidance in this document. Welcome to EDU617: School, Family & Community Partnership. Each week before beginning your assignments and initial discussion board post, it is highly recommended that you review the Instructor Guidance, which serves to supplement the required and recommended readings, videos, and multimedia webpages for each week of material. The Instructor Guidance begins with a theoretical foundation of the weekly learning outcomes, progresses to authentic examples, and then concludes with guidance for the discussion board prompt and completing the weekly assignment. The Instructor Guidance can be used to support your discussion posts, responses, and other required assignments. Figure 1. Encouragement makes a big difference for all kids. Reprinted from Morguefile, by Pippalou, 2013 http://mrg.bz/MDZTaM. Copyright 2016 by Morguefile. Begin this week by thinking about “how important is parent involvement in the teaching and learning process?”  Then, take a look at the Harvard Family Research Project (2014), which has published articles and digests on their Family Involvement Research Digest website that address family involvement across all cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and grade levels. The overall theme of these studies show a correlation between family-school partnerships and positive student achievement. For example, highlights from African-American and Chinese-American Parent Involvement: The Importance of Race, Class, and Culture (Links to an external site.) indicate that, depending on their cultural background, parents had different levels of home-based involvement. It was recommended that teachers leverage these unique cultural differences to build stronger family and community connections. A summary of the research findings from another article point out that parental involvement serves as ...

1. Week 1 Assignment Social Support Essay
Social support is an important concept in schools. Schools are
not just charged with academic development, they are charged
with aiding emotional and physical development as well. Social
support systems aid in this development. As noted in your text
(Hjalmarson,Chapter 2), this can be an important aspect of a
successful school, such as “Los Pen.”
In a two- to five-page paper (not including the title and
reference pages), describe the value of social support through
addressing the following:
· Define the term Social Support and explain what relevant
scholarly research states about it.
· Describe your personal experiences with social support
systems as student and/or teacher.
· Discuss significance of social support in a school setting.
Be sure to include and reference at least three scholarly sources
(not including your textbook) properly cited in APA style.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)
for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
INSTRUCTOR GUIDANCE
WEEK 1
INTRODUCTION
*Special thanks to Dr. Patrice Jones for sharing her original
guidance in this document.
Welcome to EDU617: School, Family & Community
Partnership. Each week before beginning your assignments and
initial discussion board post, it is highly recommended that you
review the Instructor Guidance, which serves to supplement the
required and recommended readings, videos, and multimedia
webpages for each week of material. The Instructor Guidance
begins with a theoretical foundation of the weekly learning

2. outcomes, progresses to authentic examples, and then concludes
with guidance for the discussion board prompt and completing
the weekly assignment. The Instructor Guidance can be used to
support your discussion posts, responses, and other required
assignments.
Figure 1. Encouragement makes a big difference for all kids.
Reprinted from Morguefile, by Pippalou, 2013
http://mrg.bz/MDZTaM.
Copyright 2016 by Morguefile.
Begin this week by thinking about “how important is parent
involvement in the teaching and learning process?” Then, take
a look at the Harvard Family Research Project (2014), which
has published articles and digests on their Family Involvement
Research Digest website that address family involvement across
all cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and grade levels. The
overall theme of these studies show a correlation between
family-school partnerships and positive student achievement.
For example, highlights from African-American and Chinese-
American Parent Involvement: The Importance of Race, Class,
and Culture (Links to an external site.) indicate that, depending
on their cultural background, parents had different levels of
home-based involvement. It was recommended that teachers
leverage these unique cultural differences to build stronger
family and community connections. A summary of the research
findings from another article point out that parental
involvement serves as a positive driving force behind student
achievement post high school graduation. Therefore, teachers
need to continue encourage parents’ engagement in their child’s
education throughout middle and high school years.
To create the best structural foundation for parent and
community engagement, a plan of action must be developed and
implemented. Specific structures are needed so that teachers,
administration, and parents are aware of, and comfortable with,
the action plan for involvement and participation. As

3. Hjalmarson (2011) points out, a “school-wide management
system” (p. 14) was developed and put into place so that
everyone could work together for the best outcome. What
practices does your school have in place to engage parents? Is it
inclusive of all cultures? If you aren’t yet teaching in a school,
think about what practices you might recommend to a school.
There is oftentimes an unintended perception that the involved
parent usually refers to the mother; however, fathers are an
equally important contributor to a child’s education. In the
video 8 Ways Fathers Can Reconnect with Their Sons (Links to
an external site.), Geoffrey Canada, educator and social
activist, provides a list of examples fathers can do to be active
in the education of their child.
Week 1 Discussion Guidance
As you now know, having parents involved in their child’s
education promotes academic success throughout grade school
and beyond. Hjalmarson (2011) directs teachers to “provide a
positive social environment for children while at the same time
delivering academic results” (p. xi). For this week’s discussion
post, Positive Environment, begin by thinking about the support
your parents provided to you while in school, grades K - 12.
Did you perceive this support as positive or negative? Do you
feel like this support influenced your post high school
graduation choices?
Please review the discussion board rubric prior to your initial
post to ensure you are fully meeting each of the set criteria to
earn full credit. Your initial post should include relevant
professional, personal, or other real-world experiences in a
manner that is rich in thought and provides valuable insight into
the topic. Additionally, all elements of the discussion board
prompt should be thoroughly addressed with strong and precise
connections to previous and/or current course content, or to
real-life situations. When substantively replying to your peers’
posts, be sure to provide a thorough and constructive analysis

4. relating the response to relevant course concepts that
incorporates pertinent follow-up thoughts or questions about the
topic, and demonstrates respect for the diverse opinions of
fellow learners.
Week 1 Assignment Guidance
Social support is almost as important as academics during
elementary school. A recent study by Perez-Felkner (2015)
found that students from low-income urban schools, who were
predominately Latino, faced non-academic challenges that often
impeded their ability to achieve academically. Perez-Felkner
suggests the overall positive benefits of a structured support
network be implemented by teachers and school staff, for this
underrepresented population. She notes that “school regard was
associated with students’ persistence through the transition to
college — and to stronger colleges — even in the face of
academic, socioeconomic, and personal challenges” (Perez-
Felkner, 2015, para. 10). For this week’s assignment, Social
Support Essay, you will explore the significance of social
support in the school setting through independent research and
your own personal experiences. Make sure to use the grading
rubric as a self-checklist before submitting the final copy of
your assignment to confirm you have met or exceeded each
required expectation. The highest level of achievement on the
rubric is “distinguished,” which is only earned through
exceeding posted expectations at the proficiency level. Please
remember you are in a masters-level program. Therefore, your
writing, research, and content are held to graduate-level
expectations.
References and Resources
Diamond, J., Wang, L., & Gomez, K. (2006). African-American
and Chinese-American parent involvement: The importance of
race, class, and culture (Links to an external site.). Harvard
Family Research Project. Retrieved from
http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/publications-

5. series/family-involvement-research-digests/african-american-
and-chinese-american-parent-involvement-the-importance-of-
race-class-and-culture (Links to an external site.)
Harvard Family Research Project. (2014). Family involvement
research digests (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from:
http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/publications-
series/family-involvement-research-digests
Hjalmarson, F. (2011). Differentiated parent support: Engaging
parents in unique ways to increase their involvement in school.
San Diego, CA: TurnAround Schools Publishing.
Jones, P. (2015). Week 1 instructor guidance [EDU617: School,
family & community partnership]. San Diego, CA: Ashford
University
Oprah Winfrey Network. (2013, July 7). 8 ways fathers can
reconnect with their sons (Links to an external site.). Retrieved
from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=
QBPnFboYZM8
Patrikakou, E. (2004, September). Adolescence: Are parents
relevant to students' high school achievement and post-
secondary attainment? (Links to an external site.)Harvard
Family Research Project. Retrieved from
http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/publications-
series/family-involvement-research-digests/adolescence-are-
parents-relevant-to-students-high-school-achievement-and-post-
secondary-attainment
Perez-Felkner, L. (2015, October 15). Researcher: Social
support in schools is key to student success (Links to an
external site.). Florida State University. Retrieved from
http://news.fsu.edu/More-FSU-News/Researcher-Social-support-
in-schools-is-key-to-student-success
Pippalou. (2014). DSCN8260 (Links to an external site.)
[photograph]. Retrieved from
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/857815
Required Resources

6. 1. Read from your text, Differentiated Parent Support: Engaging
Parents in Unique Ways to Increase Their Involvement in
School:
· Chapter One – Destiny
· Chapter Two – One School’s Story
Recommended Resources
1. Anderson-Butcher, D., Lawson, H. A., Iachini, A.,
Flaspohler, P., Bean, J., & Wade-Mdivanian, R. (2010).
Emergent Evidence in Support of a Community Collaboration
Model for School Improvement. Children & Schools, 32(3),
160-171. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
1. This study provides preliminary data resulting from six pilot
schools' implementation of a community collaboration model
for school improvement. A mixed-method evaluation design
yielded promising results. For example, stakeholders'
perceptions regarding their student support systems increased
positively, and overall stakeholders were satisfied with the
implementation experience.
· Bryan, J. A. & Griffin, D. (2010). A Multidimensional Study
of School-Family-Community Partnership Involvement: School,
School Counselor, and Training Factors. Professional School
Counseling, 14(1), 75-86. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
1. This article examines the educator’s involvement in school-
family partnerships and the factors that go into supporting
student success.
· Glogster (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from
http://www.glogster.com
1. This site allows users to create online posters.
Another unedited example of Week One Assignment: Please
note, this is just an example and you still need to include a title

7. and reference page along with using appropriate APA
formatting in all assignments.
There are multifarious social supports. Such supports can be
informational, network, emotional, esteem, and tangible. Each
support acts as a catalyst to implore the recipient towards the
accomplishment of a desired outcome. Support can be provided
by family, friends, co-workers, or total strangers. Positive
supports are linked with mental, emotional, and physical health
(Karlsen, 2016). When a student has a positive social support
system, he or she has the potential to excel.
What is a social support?
There are several definitions for social support. Seeman (2008)
defines social support as assistance that people receive from
others and is generally comprised into three categories:
emotional, informational, and tangible. Emotional support
could be an encouraging word during a stressful situation.
Informational support could consist of sharing available
resources to a family in need of food or clothing. Tangible
support could be providing free child care for a family member
or friend that cannot afford to pay for childcare. Each of these
supports assist the recipient in a manner which is conducive to a
desired overall outcome of any situation.
Personal experience with social support as a student.
A parent, teacher, or an individual in the community that
demonstrates genuine concern for a student is a potent
ingredient in nurturing personal and academic growth (Pathways
to College Network, 2007). I can certainly attest to this
statement as it relates to my personal and academic growth. I
had a rocky start academically. I missed an excessive amount
of days due to the prognosis of a heart disease at the age of
four. Because of the absences, I did not get a good academic
foundation on basic content. When I did attend school, I was
grouped with my peers homogeneously. I cannot recall one
teacher trying to help me to get on grade level between
Kindergarten to third grades. In fourth grade, my teacher tried,

8. but I can always sense her frustration at my inability to grasp
the content. There were many days that I would go home
depleted and dreading another school day. My mother was a
constant support during this time. She would often tell me how
smart I was and how I had so much potential. She would often
ask me what I wanted to be when I “grow-up” and would inform
me that my career choices would come to fruition with my
graduating high school and attending college. I did not believe
I would ever go to college. However, my fifth-grade year, I
encountered a social supporter, my teacher. She asked if I
could stay after school for tutoring. I asked my mother and she
excitedly said yes. My teacher tutored me each day, Monday
through Thursday for an hour. She was patient and very kind.
The result of this support was rewarding. I made my first “A”
in the fifth grade. I was ecstatic! I wanted to learn any and
everything once I realized that I could learn. With the support
of my fifth-grade teacher and my mother, I did 360 degrees turn
academically.
Personal experience with social support as a teacher
I have witnessed the lack of parental support with high school
students since I began teaching two years ago. Teachers should
communicate regularly with parents so they are co-collaborators
in reinforcing high expectation for their children’s education
(Pathways to College Network, 2007). However, despite how
many times I call and leave messages on a parent’s phone, I still
become hurt, disappointed, and frustrated when he or she
neglects to contact me back. Many of these calls are regarding
the lack of the student’s efforts and a few times the student has
been at risk for not graduating. One would think that a high
school senior’s parents would be an active, visible individual of
this phase of their child’s academic journey. Moreover, when I
inform my students that I am going to call parents, these
students respond, without fail, “My mama don’t care. She ain't
gonna do nothing.” This breaks my heart and I see that I must
step up and do for these students what my fifth-grade teacher
did for me. I have learned in these two years of teaching that

9. the students with no to very little support are the ones that do
not do well academically. However, I have also learned that
when I become a little more supportive, these students will put
forth more effort.
Significance of social support in school setting
Social supports in the school is important because students
come from diverse backgrounds with various needs. Having
counselors, social workers, caring teachers, administrators,
family and friends can assist a student to meet some or all his
life goals. When students have social supports in the school
setting, the results are rewarding. Social supports provide a
foundation for learning and enhances a student’s ability to
succeed in school, careers, and life (Weissberg, 2016). Students
with social supports have been found to know and manage
themselves, understand the perspectives of others, and make
logical personal and social decisions. When students have
positive social supports they are more apt to graduate high
school and attend post-secondary institutes (Seeman, 2008).
Conclusion
There are several definitions for social support. However,
despite the definition the action and the desired outcome is the
same. With social supports, students can perform well in
school, prepare for post high school decisions, such as college,
military, or going to the workforce. Students that have these
positive supports make life decisions that can alter their lives
for the better. Contrary, students that lack these supports make
unwise decisions that can have an adverse effect on their lives.
References
Karlsen, Micaela. 2016. The Benefits of Social Support for
Your Healthy Lifestyle. Center for Nutrition Studies. 4(23)
pgs. 23-27. Retrieved on May 7, 2018
Pathways to College Network. 2007. Social Supports: an
essential ingredient to success. Retrieved
from http://www.adlit.org/article/32509/ (Links to an external
site.)

10. Seeman, Teresa. 2008. Social Support. Journal of Health &
Social Behavior. 3(27) pg.317-331. Retrieved
from http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/research/psychosocial/socsup
p.php (Links to an external site.)
Weissberg, Roger. (2016, February 15). Why Social and
Emotional Learning is Essential forStudents. Retrieved
from www.edutopia.org/blog/why-sel-essential-for-students-
weissberg-durlak-domitrovich-gullotta
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