FCS 3180 Positive Behavior Support (PBS) To address the unusually high rates of violence in US schools, the federal government has recently funded an external, national assistance center whose job it is to help schools implement the Positive Behavior Support (PBS) system. This “Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports” is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). PBS is a theory-based approach to practical, in-school intervention. In this article you will be introduced to how to use positive behavior support at each of the three levels of intervention: 1) primary, 2) secondary and 3) tertiary. Why is it so important to focus on teaching positive social behaviors? In the past, school-wide discipline has focused mainly on reacting to specific student misbehavior by implementing punishment-based strategies including reprimands, loss of privileges, office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Research has shown that the implementation of punishment, especially when it is used inconsistently and in the absence of other positive strategies, is ineffective. Introducing, modeling, and reinforcing positive social behavior is an important of a student’s educational experience. Teaching behavioral expectations and rewarding students for following them is a much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to occur before responding. The purpose of school-wide PBS is to establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm. What is School-wide PBS? A major advance in school-wide discipline is the emphasis on school-wide systems of support that include proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors to create positive school environments. Instead of using a patchwork of individual behavioral management plans, a continuum of positive behavior support for all students within a school is implemented in areas including the classroom and non-classroom settings (such as hallways, restrooms). Positive behavior support is an application of a behaviorally-based systems approach to enhance the capacity of schools, families, and communities to design effective environments that improve the link between research-validated practices and the environments in which teaching and learning occurs. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining primary (school-wide), secondary (classroom), and tertiary (individual) systems of support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social, family, work, recreation) for all children and youth by making problem behavior less effective, efficient, and relevant, and desired behavior more functional. 1. PRIMARY PREVENTION - What is Primary Prevention? Primary Prevention involves system-wide efforts to prevent new cases of a condition or disorder. For example, giving children vaccinations against common diseases such as measles and chicken pox is done to prevent initial occurrences of these diseases. As a system-wide Primary Preve ...

1. FCS 3180
Positive Behavior Support (PBS)
To address the unusually high rates of violence in US schools,
the federal government has recently funded an external, national
assistance center whose job it is to help schools implement the
Positive Behavior Support (PBS) system. This “Center on
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports” is funded by
the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).
PBS is a theory-based approach to practical, in-school
intervention. In this article you will be introduced to how to use
positive behavior support at each of the three levels of
intervention: 1) primary, 2) secondary and 3) tertiary.
Why is it so important to focus on teaching positive social
behaviors?
In the past, school-wide discipline has focused mainly on
reacting to specific student misbehavior by implementing
punishment-based strategies including reprimands, loss of
privileges, office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions.
Research has shown that the implementation of punishment,
especially when it is used inconsistently and in the absence of
other positive strategies, is ineffective. Introducing, modeling,
and reinforcing positive social behavior is an important of a
student’s educational experience. Teaching behavioral
expectations and rewarding students for following them is a
much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to
occur before responding. The purpose of school-wide PBS is to
establish a climate in which appropriate behavior is the norm.
What is School-wide PBS?
A major advance in school-wide discipline is the emphasis on

2. school-wide systems of support that include proactive strategies
for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student
behaviors to create positive school environments. Instead of
using a patchwork of individual behavioral management plans, a
continuum of positive behavior support for all students within a
school is implemented in areas including the classroom and
non-classroom settings (such as hallways, restrooms). Positive
behavior support is an application of a behaviorally-based
systems approach to enhance the capacity of schools, families,
and communities to design effective environments that improve
the link between research-validated practices and the
environments in which teaching and learning occurs. Attention
is focused on creating and sustaining primary (school-wide),
secondary (classroom), and tertiary (individual) systems of
support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social,
family, work, recreation) for all children and youth by making
problem behavior less effective, efficient, and relevant, and
desired behavior more functional.
1. PRIMARY PREVENTION - What is Primary Prevention?
Primary Prevention involves system-wide efforts to prevent new
cases of a condition or disorder. For example, giving children
vaccinations against common diseases such as measles and
chicken pox is done to prevent initial occurrences of these
diseases. As a system-wide Primary Prevention effort in
schools, positive behavior support consists of rules, routines,
and physical arrangements that are developed and taught by
school staff to prevent initial occurrences of problem behavior.
For example, to prevent injuries to students caused by running
in hallways, schools may develop Primary Preventions by 1)
establishing and teaching the rule, “walk in the hallways;” 2)
creating a routine in which staff station themselves in the
hallways during transition times to supervise the movement of
pupils; or 3) altering the physical arrangement, such as making
sure that an adult is with any group of students when they are in
the hallways.

3. A. PRIMARY PREVENTION - What are we trying to prevent?
It goes without saying that we want to prevent the major
“behavioral earthquakes” that we hear about in the news:
violent acts against teachers or other students, theft, bullying
behavior, drug use, and the like. However, research has taught
us that efforts to prevent these serious problems are more
successful if the “host environment”—the school as a whole—
supports the adoption and use of evidence-based practices.
Practices that meet these criteria include teaching and
rewarding students for complying with a small set of basic rules
for conduct, such as “be safe,” be responsible,” and “be
respectful.” These rules translate into sets of expectations that
differ according to various settings in the school. Thus, on the
playground “be safe” means stay within boundaries and follow
the rules of the game. In hallways and on stairs, it means to
keep your hands and feet to yourself and to walk on the right
side. Some parents and educators believe that students come to
school knowing these rules of conduct, and that those who don’t
follow them simply should be punished. However, research and
experience has taught us that systematically teaching behavioral
expectations and rewarding students for following them is a
much more positive approach than waiting for misbehavior to
occur before responding. It also establishes a climate in which
appropriate behavior is the norm. Finally, the use of Primary
Prevention strategies has been shown to result in dramatic
reductions in the number of students being sent to the office for
discipline in elementary and middle schools across the United
States and Canada. In effect, by teaching and encouraging
positive student behavior (i.e., positive behavior support), we
reduce the “white noise” of common but constant student
disruption that distracts us from focusing intervention expertise
on the more serious problems mentioned above.
B. PRIMARY PREVENTION - How is Primary Prevention

4. implemented in schools?
As with any effort to create change in an organization, the first
step is to gain consensus on several issues:
1) Is there a problem that we need and want to address?
2) What is the nature of this problem?
3) What are we going to do about it?
The most efficient way to establish consensus is to arrange a
meeting of the entire school staff (teachers and aides,
administrators, office and cafeteria workers, custodians,
counselors, etc.) to discuss these questions. If the majority of
staff respond proactively to these questions (e.g., “Yes, student
behavior is a problem and we want to do something about it;”
“The rates of office disciplinary referrals from classrooms and
the cafeteria have increased 50% since the last quarter;” “We
will implement a school-wide disciplinary plan based on
positive behavior support”), the next step is to conduct further
assessments, as necessary, and then to agree on a set of
strategies to address the problem(s). Typically, all of this can be
accomplished in a facilitated one-day meeting of the entire
school staff. An important rule for establishing consensus is
that at least 80% of all staff must agree on the problems and the
strategies to address them, and make a commitment to
implement the strategies as planned. Obviously, some Primary
Prevention strategies will be easier to implement than others.
This is why it is important for all staff in the school to have
input and to agree on which strategies will be implemented and
commit to use these.
C. PRIMARY PREVENTION - What if Primary Prevention
doesn’t work?
Primary Prevention, through positive behavior support, does
work for over 80% of all students in a given school (based on a

5. criterion of the number of students who have one or fewer
office discipline referrals per month). But obviously, it will not
work for everyone. For a variety of reasons, some students do
not respond to the kinds of efforts that make up Primary
Prevention, just as some children are not completely protected
by vaccinations. Putting into place systematic Primary
Prevention strategies offers two advantages: First,it reduces the
“white noise” caused by large numbers of office discipline
referrals for minor problems. As we suggested earlier, this
volume of referrals obscures and distracts our attention from
more serious problems. Second, having a system for
documenting the occurrence of problem behaviors (e.g., office
discipline referrals) provides a way to determine which students
need more intensive intervention. For example, the criterion for
considering the need for moving into secondary prevention for a
student or group of students might be 4 or more office
discipline referrals in a month. Without Primary Prevention, of
course, the number of students meeting this criteria and needing
additional help will be much larger.
2. SECONDARY PREVENTION - What is Secondary
Prevention?
Secondary Prevention is designed to provide intensive or
targeted interventions to support students who are not
responding to Primary Prevention efforts. Interventions within
Secondary Prevention are more intensive since a smaller number
of students within the yellow part of the triangle are at risk for
engaging in more serious problem behavior and need a little
more support. Common Secondary Prevention practices involve
small groups of students or simple individualized intervention
strategies. Secondary Prevention is designed for use in schools
where there are more students needing behavior support than
can be supported via intensive and individual tertiary support,
and for students who are at risk of chronic problem behavior,

6. but for whom high intensity interventions are not essential.
Secondary prevention often involves targeted group
interventions with ten or more students participating. Targeted
interventions are an important part of the continuum of behavior
support needed in schools, and there is a growing literature
documenting that targeted interventions can be implemented by
typical school personnel, with positive effects on up to 67% of
referred students. Targeted interventions also are recommended
as an approach for identifying students in need of more
intensive, individualized interventions. Specific Secondary
Prevention interventions include practices such as “social skills
club,” “check in/check out” and the Behavior Education Plan.
Individual PBS plans at the Secondary Prevention level involve
a simple assessment to identify the function a problem behavior
serves (Functional Behavioral Assessment or FBA) and a
support plan comprised of individualized, assessment-based
intervention strategies that include a range of options such as:
(1) teaching the student to use new skills as a replacement for
problem behaviors, (2) rearranging the environment so that
problems can be prevented and desirable behaviors can be
encouraged, and (3) monitoring, evaluating, and reassessing this
simple plan over time.
A. SECONDARY PREVENTION -
What differentiates Secondary Prevention from other
systems of positive behavior
support?
The main difference between secondary and other levels of
positive behavior support is the focus on supporting students at
risk for more serious problem behavior. Secondary Prevention
addresses the needs of students who require more support than
is available for all students (i.e., Primary Prevention) and less
support than is available for individual students who need
flexible, focused, personalized interventions (tertiary

7. prevention). This means that Secondary Prevention allows teams
to select features of the process (e.g., types of programs or
interventions, data collection tools used, information gathered,
and degree of monitoring) to provide more focused behavior
support to students with behavior needs that do not require
intensive, individualized plans.
B. SECONDARY PREVENTION -
When should a program of Secondary Prevention be
implemented and who should be involved?
Decisions to implement Secondary Prevention interventions are
usually grounded in records of student behavior compiled by
classroom teachers or other professionals. In some schools,
students with two or more office referrals are considered
eligible for secondary, targeted behavior support. The decision
to use Secondary Prevention is typically made by the school’s
planning team and behavior support team. Secondary Prevention
is most effective when approached as a collaborative (rather
than expert-driven) process. With individual plans, support
teams including the student’s family, educators, and/or other
direct service providers should be involved in assessment and
intervention. It is also helpful to include people who have
specific expertise in intervention programs being considered. In
general, support teams should include people who know the
student best, have a vested interest in positive outcomes,
represent the range of environments in which the student
participates, and have access to resources needed for support.
C. SECONDARY PREVENTION -
How can we effectively address the needs of individuals within
group environments?
Individual systems and other levels of positive behavior support
are complementary in that well-structured group applications
(e.g., classroom management systems) provide a foundation for

8. effective individualized support. Often, the need for individual
systems is minimized by these broader systems; however, some
students require a greater degree of individualization and
support. It may be necessary to adapt features of group
applications (e.g., physical arrangement, routines, types of
rewards) to meet the needs of individual students within certain
settings.
D. SECONDARY PREVENTION -
How are targeted group interventions implemented?
Targeted group interventions are implemented through a
flexible, but systematic, process. Key features of Secondary
Prevention interventions include:
1. Continuous availability.
2. Rapid access (72 hr).
3. Very low effort by teachers.
4. Consistent with school-wide expectations.
5. Implemented by all staff/faculty in a school.
6. Flexible intervention based on assessment.
7. Functional assessment.
8. Adequate resources (admin, team), weekly meeting, plus 10
hours a week.
9. Student chooses to participate.
10. Continuous monitoring of student behavior for decision-
making.

9. E. SECONDARY PREVENTION -
How do we know when a secondary intervention plan is
effective?
Effective secondary interventions produce measurable changes
in behavior and improvements in a student’s quality of life
(e.g., participation in integrated activities, improved social
relationships, independence and self-sufficiency). Direct
observations and frequent monitoring of progress are widely-
used methods for evaluating these outcomes, and determining
adjustments that might be warranted when progress does not
occur within a reasonable time frame
3. TERTIARY PREVENTION - What is Tertiary Prevention?
Tertiary Prevention was originally designed to focus on the
needs of individuals who exhibited patterns of problem
behavior. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of PBS
in addressing the challenges of behaviors that are dangerous,
highly disruptive, and/or impede learning and result in social or
educational exclusion. PBS has been used to support the
behavioral adaptation of students (and other individuals) with a
wide range of characteristics, including developmental
disabilities, autism, emotional and behavioral disorders, and
even students with no diagnostic label.
Tertiary Prevention is most effective when there are positive
primary (school-wide) and secondary (classroom) systems in
place. In addition, the design and implementation of
individualized supports are best executed when they are
conducted in a comprehensive and collaborative manner. The
process should include the individual with behavioral
challenges and people who know him/her best all working
together to promote positive change all working as a behavioral
support team (BST). Support should be tailored to people's
specific needs and circumstances. It should involve a
comprehensive approach to understanding and intervening with

10. the behavior, and should use multi-element interventions. The
goal of Tertiary Prevention is to diminish problem behavior
and, also, to increase the student's adaptive skills and
opportunities for an enhanced quality of life.
Tertiary Prevention involves a process of functional behavioral
assessment (FBA) and a support plan comprised of
individualized, assessment-based intervention strategies,
including a wide range of options such as: (1) guidance or
instruction for the student to use new skills as a replacement for
problem behaviors, (2) some rearrangement of the antecedent
environment so that problems can be prevented and desirable
behaviors can be encouraged, and (3) procedures for
monitoring, evaluating, and reassessing of the plan as
necessary. In some cases, the plan may also include emergency
procedures to ensure safety and rapid de-escalation of severe
episodes (this is required when the target behavior is dangerous
to the student or others), or major ecological changes, such as
changes in school placements, in cases where more substantive
environmental changes are needed.
A. TERTIARY PREVENTION - What differentiates tertiary
(individual) intervention from
other systems of positive behavior support?
The main difference between tertiary and other levels of
positive behavior support is the focus of the interventions. The
defining features of Tertiary Prevention (i.e., identification of
goals, data collection and analysis, summary statements, multi-
element plans, and a monitoring system) address the needs of
individual children. It is support that is focused on meeting
individual needs; and the characteristics of individual students
and specific circumstances related to them (e.g., differences in
the severity of behavior, complexity of environment) dictate a
flexible, focused, personalized approach. This means that
Tertiary Prevention allows teams to vary features of the process

11. (e.g., data collection tools used, breadth of information
gathered, specificity and number of hypotheses generated,
extent of the behavioral support plan, and degree of monitoring)
to provide the most individualized behavior support possible.
B. TERTIARY PREVENTION - When should a program of
Tertiary Prevention be implemented and who should be
involved?
Mandates provided by educational and human services agencies
define conditions in which individual systems should be used to
address concerns related to behavior. For example, IDEA
requires that a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) be
completed and a behavioral intervention plan (BIP) be
implemented when disciplinary sanctions result in extended
periods (i.e., the first removal beyond 10 cumulative days and
every change in placement) in which a student is removed from
an environment or suspended (34 C.F.R. 300.520 (b) (c)).
Individual systems of support are warranted in other
circumstances as well (e.g., when problem behavior is
interfering with educational progress).
C. TERTIARY PREVENTION - Who should be involved in
functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention
planning?
Tertiary Prevention is most effective when approached as a
collaborative (rather than expert-driven) process. Support teams
including the student’s family, educators, and/or other direct
service providers should be involved in assessment and
intervention. It is also helpful to include people who have
specific expertise in applied behavior analysis and intervention
design. In general, support teams should include people who
know the student best, have a vested interest in positive
outcomes, represent the range of environments in which the
student participates, and have access to resources needed for
support.

12. D. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How can we address the needs
of individuals within group environments?
Individual systems and other levels of positive behavior support
are complementary in that well-structured group applications
(e.g., classroom management systems) provide a foundation for
effective individualized support. Often, the need for individual
systems is minimized by these broader systems; however, some
people require a greater degree of individualization and support.
It may be necessary to adapt features of group applications
(e.g., physical arrangement, routines, types of rewards) to meet
the needs of individuals within certain settings
E. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How is Tertiary Prevention
implemented?
Tertiary Prevention interventions are implemented through a
flexible, but systematic, process of functional behavioral
assessment and behavioral intervention planning. The following
outline illustrates the general steps of the process.
I. Identify goals of intervention.
Based on the available information, the team identifies the
specific concerns and goals:
a. what the student is doing that is problematic (observable
behaviors).
b. to what extent (e.g., frequency) these behaviors are
occurring.
c. what broad goals the team hopes to achieve through
intervention.
II. Gather relevant information.
Members of the behavioral support team gather information
through a variety of sources:

13. a. review of existing records.
b. interviews of support providers.
c. direct observation of patterns, antecedents, contexts, and
consequences.
III. Develop summary statements.
The team uses the information to create statements that describe
relationships between the student's behaviors of concern and
aspects of the environments. These statements include:
a. when, where, and with whom the behavior is most/least likely
to occur.
b. what happens following the behavior (what they get or
avoid).
c. other variables that appear to be affecting the person's
behavior.
IV. Generate behavioral support plan.
A plan is developed, based on the summary statements, to
address the behavioral concerns and fit within the environments
in which it will be used. The behavioral support plan (for
students who have IEPs this may also serve as the Behavior
Intervention Plan (BIP) includes:
a. adjustments to the environment that reduce the likelihood of
problem.
b. teaching replacement skills and building general
competencies.
c. consequences to promote positive behaviors and deter
problems.

14. d. a crisis management plan (if needed).
V. Implement and monitor outcomes.
The team works together to ensure that the plan is implemented
with consistency and is effective in achieving the identified
goals. The team identifies the training and resources needed,
determines who is responsible for monitoring implementation,
evaluates outcomes (via continued data collection), and
communicates periodically, making adjustments in the plan, as
needed.
F. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How should goals for Tertiary
Prevention be determined?
Individualized positive behavior support focuses not only on
decreasing specific behaviors of concern, but also building
adaptive (and replacement) skills, and improving the
individual’s overall quality of life. Goals should be based on a
positive, long-term vision for the student developed with input
from the student, the student’s family, and the support team. An
excellent mechanism for determining broad goals for behavioral
intervention is person-centered planning.
Person-centered planning (PCP) is a process for learning about
an student’s preferred lifestyle. It involves creating goals that
will assist students in achieving their preferred lifestyle within
a collaborative team context. Most PCP plans are created with
the goal of:
· increasing participation and presence in the school and
community;
· gaining and maintaining significant relationships;
· expressing and making choices;
· experiencing respect and living a dignified life; and

15. · developing personal skills and areas of expertise.
G. TERTIARY PREVENTION - How do we know when an
individual plan is effective?
Effective tertiary interventions produce measurable changes in
behavior and improvements in a student’s quality of life (e.g.,
participation in integrated activities, improved social
relationships, independence and self-sufficiency). Individual
BIPs include objective methods for evaluating these outcomes,
and determining adjustments that might be warranted when
progress does not occur within a reasonable time frame.
H. TERTIARY PREVENTION - What should be done when
there is a crisis situation?
Tertiary Prevention is a process that takes time to be effective.
When severe episodes of problem behavior occur, it is important
to provide a rapid response to ensure the safety of all involved
and produce a rapid de-escalation of the behavior. To support
Tertiary Prevention, therefore, safe crisis management
procedures are needed and should be planned thoroughly in
advance. It is important to remember that the goals of crisis
management procedures are to ensure the safety of the student
and all others, and to de-escalate the problem as rapidly as
possible.
SOURCE: www.pbis.org
Group 3 6
Group 3
GOVT_2305
Prof. Baker
04 November 2017
H.J.Res.64 — 106th Congress (1999-2000)
The constitutional amendment grants each individual who has
been a victim of a crime right to see its defendant to be

16. imprisoned for a period of longer than one year; the defendant
might be imprisoned for more than one year. The individual can
be a victim of any other crime such as violence; following
rights:
· To the reasonable notice, not be excluded from, any public
records or proceedings linking to crime,
· Submit the statement of all public proceedings to find out the
conditional release from the custody, acceptance of negotiated
plea, non-public release on parole proceedings, these rights are
given to convicted offender,
· To equitable notice of, an opportunity to acquiesce the
statement concerning, and a proposed pardon and commutation
of the sentence,
· To reasonable notification of escape or release from the
custody relating to any crime,
· To consideration of a victim that trial can be free from an
unreasonable delay
· Order of the restitution from convicted offender,
· To consideration for victim’s safety in determining a
conditional release from the custody connected to crime,
· To reasonable notification of rights established by this
specific amendment,
(Sec.2)
Grants victim/ lawful representative of victim to avow such
rights: this amendment shall provide;
1. The grounds to continue any trial or to stay, invalidate any
ruling, to reopen any proceeding, to except restitution and to
provide the right guaranteed through this amendment for the
future proceedings without continuing any trial or staying
2. To authorize or to give rise any claim’s creation for damages
contrary to the U.S. a political subdivision, a state, or employee
or public officer
(Sec .3)
For enforcing this amendment through an appropriate legislation
authorize the Congress. By this amendment permits the
exceptions to establish the rights when necessary for the

17. achievement of compelling interest (loc.gov).
(Sec. 4)
In section makes:
1. This amendment established the right to restitution order,
inapplicable to committed crimes before the effective date
2. Also the immunities and rights established through this
amendment are made applicable in the State and in Federal
proceedings. It includes the military proceedings that Congress
may be provided by its law. Proceedings in Columbia’s District,
juvenile justice proceedings, any commonwealth, possession,
and territory of the U.S (congress.gov).
The good and the bad of the proposed amendment
The Pros:
· Ensures that the story of victim has been taken into
consideration and they are suitably compensated for crime
· It makes sure that the victim has idea about current status of
offender, if a threat is posed by offender to them than post-
release
The Cons:
· This amendment gives the undue rights to victims at expense
of a fair trial such as they this amendment allows them to be
heard at any proceedings that related to the offence, whether
their inputs are appropriate, relevant or not.
· Where the victim has legal right to get compensation, they
have the option to get it by civil lawsuit
· It is based on criminal procedures or a crime’s naive view, it
assumes that every victim is innocent and or attacked by the
dangerous criminals (loc.gov)
Ratified Amendment
When there is two-thirds of each “House of Congress” the
process of the constitution amendment starts. This majority
form each congress house adopts the constitutions amendment,
this amendment again approved by three-fourths the minimum
number of the States. With time, there were many bills that
presented in the Congress for a constitutional amendment;
however, only 33 bills were ratified by Congress. Of thirty-

18. three bills only twenty-seven were ratified by the States and
Those twenty-seven are called “27 amendments or ratified
amendments”. Amending is an alteration or change in the
constitution while ratification is to approve the alteration or
implementing the proposed change. (loc.gov)
Amendment 8 including fines, excessive bail, and punishment
forbidden; excessive bail, excessive imposed fines shall not be
required; not unusual and cruel punishments inflicted. The
Supreme Court of United State has lined or ruled that this cruel
and unusual punishment amendment should be applied to all
States. In this amendment, the phrases are originated in the
“English Bill of Rights of 19689” (online-resources).
Pros and cons of the proposed Amendment 8
The Pros:
· Permanently gets rid of murders
· Helps the community, world, and country to be a bit safer
· Those people who commit any crime incredibly horrible
should pay
· If they committed a horrible crime then they may get the death
penalty
· It prevents further crime form the person committing the crime
The Cons:
· Unfair and cruel
· Not painful and harsh
· No matter the crime it is not good to kill the people
· Many people learn from their mistakes so death penalty would
be unscrupulous (loc.gov)
Challenges that confronted amending the constitution
The main challenge to amend this constitution is the death
penalty. The death penalty in 32 states, and the military is legal,
in 18 states the death penalty is illegal. The history of America
showed that 17,277 people have been executed legally till 2015.
The people or states that did accept this argued that the
amendment has belittled the human dignity, that it is arbitrary
and unnecessary. It stated that it must be rejected throughout
the society (criminaljusticedegreehub.com).

19. Works Cited
congress.gov. H.J.Res.64 - Proposing an amendment to the
Constitution of the United States to protect the rights of crime
victims. 106th Congress (1999-2000). n.d. 28 October 2017
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/house-joint-
resolution/64>.
criminaljusticedegreehub.com. Criminal Justice Degree Hub.
2015. 28 October 2017
<https://www.criminaljusticedegreehub.com/death-penalty-v-
the-eighth-amendment/>.
loc.gov.LibraryofCongress.n.d.28October2017
<https://www.loc.gov/search/?in=&q=amendment+8+&new=true
>.
—. Primary Documents in American History. 25 April 2017. 28
October 2017
<http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/billofrights.html>.
online-resources. Amendment 8. 2016. 28 October 2017
<http://nccs.net/online-resources/us-constitution/amendments-
to-the-us-constitution/the-bill-of-rights-amendments-1-
10/amendment-8-excessive-bail-fines-and-punishments-
forbidden>.

20. Surround Care for New Kindergarten Students
May 2nd 2016
FCS 3180-090 Family, School and Community
Outline

21. I. Brief
Summary………………………………………………………………
…………... 3
II.
Introduction…………………………………………………………
……………………. 3
III.
Rationale………………………………………………………………
……………………. 4
IV. Types of Parent
Involvement……………………………………………………… 5
V. Identifying
Partners………………………………………………………………
…… 6
VI. Front End
Assessment……………………………………………………………
…… 7
VII. Goals and
Objectives……………………………………………………………
……… 8
VIII. Identifying Potential
Barriers…………………………………………………….. 9
IX.
Timeline………………………………………………………………
…………………….. 10
X. Evaluation of

22. Partnership…………………………………………………………..
11
XI. Works
Cited….………………………………………………………………
……………. 13
I - Brief Summary
Modern science and methods have brought us to a sensitivity in
our teaching that makes us aware of the complexity and
importance of child development. In this blossoming field,
researchers are still learning about the fragile processes and
developments of our children. Simple attitudinal perspectives,
like the subtle differences between a fixed and growth mindset,
can affect the child forever. We as parents and educators are

23. often very willing to supplement and support our students; “it is
a parent’s lack of knowledge, not lack of interest in supporting
their children’s education that prevent them from participating”
(Olsen and Fuller 2013). We live in a time where parent are
more than willing to help their child, we just need to champion
the programs that can provide that support.
It is important to acknowledge all aspect of involvement:
school, community, and family. Our goal is to cultivate an
attitude of resiliency. Resiliency is the use of the resources of
ordinary people such as those in the community, school, and
family, often “in the face of great odds” (Van Langeveld 2016).
Involvement in all three areas can add protective factors that
will offset risk factors that are inherent to each child’s life.
II - Introduction
This program will provide students being introduced into the
school system a protective factor by placing them on a strong
trajectory championed by all three systems of support: family,
school, and community. This program focus on the
microsystem of interaction and aims to improve the initial
experience and relationships of incoming students (Berk 2000).
The kindergarten age children come into the school system with
a variety of expectations and concerns. This program starts
with a specific week-long plan to incorporate kindergarteners
more readily into their new environment with the direct us of an
otherwise untapped partner/resource group, older students. By
planning for the first week of school and using the older student
body of resources to accommodate the kindergartners, we can be
more confident of a smooth transition into the commonly held
full day kindergarten. This program proposes to use sixth grade
students from the same school as surround care agents. Each
kindergartener will be given one sixth grade buddy that will be
trained to help introduce the new students to their surroundings
and act as a resource during the first week. This will be
beneficial to the entering students, the older students, and the

24. kindergarten teacher too.
Since the adoption of full day kindergartens across the state
(Wood 2016), the need is great to have a plan for this more
intense transition. We will propose the change to a single
school district so that the sample size data is large enough to
analyze, but small enough to manage with care and scrutiny.
The program will be presented top down and take much
cooperation from staff, but the plan should be attractive to
teachers as it will more smoothly make the first week more
effective.
III - Rationale
The rationale for the creation of this program exists with the
inconsistent experiences of students in the perceptibly same
environment. Two students of similar skill and attitude may
attend the same class with the same teacher and get different
results with regard to their experience. The trajectory set by a
bad day of school may handicap that child through the year
because of a set inhibition. Often times, the reason for a child
with poor performance can be traced back to detrimental
attitudes or social behaviors of the child. If a child falls behind
in learning during the first week in school, they are more likely
to be behind by the end of the year. If that same child is behind
at the end of the year, they are likely to still be behind in
subsequent years. The goal of this program is to alleviate many
of the social barriers that may accompany a new kindergarten
student so that the teacher will more readily be able to
differentiate and effectively teach that student (Ricci 2013).
Evidence shows that engagement is an important part of school.
Recent studies show that engagement of students are declining,
especially among boys. These disengaged students are at a risk
for dropping out of school, sexual activity, substance abuse, and
poor academic achievement. A pattern of engagement is vital to
each student (Lippman and Rivers 2008).

25. Engagement can be described in three areas: behavioral,
emotional and cognitive. Cognitive skill and processing skill
are not addressed directly in this program. This main goal of
the current school system is exactly this, the addition of
knowledge and cultivation of intelligence. This program is
interested in addressing behavioral (social) and emotional skills
and needs of the kindergarten student. By using older students
as a resource, we aim to provide a catalyzing environment in
which kindergarten students will be less inhibited by social
stigmas and negative expectations; this is the layer of
intelligence that we can address to that teachers can focus on
the knowledge side of their intelligence sooner.
Why do we focus on only kindergarten age children and
not any child or person entering a new and scary environment?
The reason is because five and six year olds are in a unique
position where they have not yet learned to store information
and recall is back to apply towards effective action. E.g. a
kindergartener who has a bad experience at school may be able
to relay that to his or her parents when they get home, but many
children won’t be able to place the exact reason for their
troubles. Even if they are advanced enough to effectively
communicate the problems they have at school, they might not
be willing to or have the recall to remember. Teachers have an
important role of differentiating students to more effectively
teach, but with large local class sizes and high teacher turnover,
they could benefit from the added use of the program proposed.
IV - Type of Involvement
School involvement is the pivot point of the project. The
program will be spearheaded by the faculty; teachers will be the
officiators and overseers of the program. Specifically
kindergarten and 6th grade teachers will observe the
partnerships of individual buddy systems for the first week.
The 5th grade teachers will also have a role in providing an
analysis on the personality and temperament of their recently

26. graduated students to provide the administrating faculty so that
a good match can be made. This aspect includes dimensions of
communication and decision-making (Epstein 2002).
Family involvement is important as well so that additional
information can be given. The parents of both incoming and
mentoring students will need to be aware of the program so that
they can understand what their child will be prepared. The 6th
graders’ parents will be given an opportunity to talk to their
child about the upcoming responsibility that they will have to
treat their kindergarten buddy kindly. This aspect includes
Epstein’s aspect of parenting and learning at home because
parents will have an opportunity to be prepared and instructed
on how to be a mentor their kindergarten counterparts (Epstein
2002).
The community role of involvement comes into play when
matching the younger and older students together. After
gender, geographic location will play a large part in deciding
who buddies with who. The proximity of their housing will
afford opportunities to walk to and from school with one
another. The pairs may also have the added benefit from
already knowing of each other through other community or
religious groups. The geographical matching of pairs will
reinforce any community interaction held outside school hours.
This involvement will use communication as well as
collaborating with the community (Epstein 2002).
V - Identifying Partners
Potential Partner
Role/Anticipated Role
Time Commitment
Incoming Students
These are the subject of our focus; we aim to ease their
transition and key findings try to see if this program is actually
meeting that goal. We hope to improve their experience.
First Week of School

27. Mentor Students
While added benefit will come to these students by giving them
mentorship experience, they will be primarily a resource for the
incoming students.
First Week of School
School Faculty
They will be required to officiate the program by gathering
information from previous teachers (for 6th graders) or parents
(for kindergartners). Then they will wisely match pairs bases
upon gender, geographic location, demeanor, and special needs.
The staff is also responsible for giving meaningful feedback as
to the progress of the program.
Entire School Year
Parents
Both groups of parents are responsible for relaying any
information to the school that would help the school match their
student with an appropriate buddy.
Leading up to and during 1st week
Education Specialists
These are the decision makers that will have experience from
the initial test group to pass on to further groups. They will
help faculty match students and tell teachers what to look for in
their evaluations. Their expertise can help match particularly
high risk kindergartners such as those with disabilities or other
special needs.
Leading up to and during 1st week
Previous Participants
At the end of the year, we will gather any criticism or
suggestions that parents of previous children may have.
End of 1st week and year
Other Schools or Programs within Community
With the success and improvement of our program, we will
surely pass on what we have seen and how the advanced
integration of kindergartners has helped. This position will be
important in the beginning while traveling inter-district while
schools sort the bugs out. One the program is proven, these

28. same individuals will be able to relay information and teach
other districts about the program.
Throughout the length of the program
Front End Assessment
Front-end assessment is a way to look at the program before it
is implemented and analyze the strength or weakness of the
partners involved. A front-end assessment is a way to help find
barriers and specific goals as they relate to the purpose of the
program. With a healthy front end assessment, we will be able
to see obstacles before they get there and make changes that we
think will make our program successful.
For our front end assessment, we will have two
approaches, one for each group of students. As the soon to be
6th graders graduate from 5th grade, we will send a notice home
to parents signing of on their children being a mentor for the
next year. This will be part of the 6th grade curriculum, so
permission is not needed, rather, this is giving the parents an
option to ask questions.
The next front end assessment will be directed at parents
who have an applying kindergartner. The process of signing up
from school already has survey and questionnaires associated
with enrollment, so one more will be added informing the parent
of the resource their child will be benefited with during their
first week. This will also give parents an option to request a
buddy if they already know an upcoming 6th grader. The parent
will also be able to list any special needs that the faculty can
take into consideration when matching. This information will
be extremely beneficial to the matching team.
Goals and Objectives
Program: Using surround care in integrate kindergarteners to
begin learning quickly and alleviate inhibition and discomfort.

29. Long-term Goals/Outcomes
1. Prove incoming kindergartners with a smoother and reduced-
stress transition into full time school as compared to a student
without a 6th grade mentor
2. Establish a growth mindset (Ricci 2013 ) in which participant
and partners believe that student trajectories can change due to
the perception and effort of everyone involved
3. Give beneficial experience to 6th graders as they take a
younger peer under their wings
4. Increased social and academic performance throughout the
year by kindergartners
Short Term Goals/Objectives
1. Receive information from previous teachers about each 6th
grade student to improve matching capabilities of staff
2. Receive information from parents about each kindergartner to
improve matching capabilities of staff
3. Each incoming kindergartner will have some mentor/buddy
assigned before the school year starts
4. Hold two end of year staff meetings orienting next year’s
teachers
5. Gather end of week evaluation from teachers
Identifying Potential Barriers
Barrier 1: Matching students
With a variable amount of student each year, we will likely not
have an ever amount of students. Additionally, there will likely
not be a perfect partner for each student. We will be working
with imperfect data since much of the information and
evaluation of incoming students will likely be incomplete or
possibly unclear. To overcome the matching problem, the
approach of ‘best match’ should be used. Children will be
matched first be considering requests. Geographic proximity
and gender should be considered next. Any reported attitudinal
qualities should be used concurrently with geographic location
if there is an unclear consensus. If a surplus of kindergartners

30. exist compared to 6th graders, advanced 5th graders can be
recruited. If a surplus of 6th graders exist, teacher should
decide what children would be able to work together to co-
mentor a student. This consideration is important so that older
students don’t let the younger child feel alienated from the
other two.
Barrier 2: Evaluation of success
The next barrier exists with the challenge of evaluation. A
qualitative measurement is needed to analyze the effectiveness
of the pairs. It will also be difficult to measure the effect of the
program if no control groups exist. Even if the socializing
partnerships remove barriers and improve learning, teachers
may not know how the incoming kindergartner would have
performed otherwise. The solution here is to survey the parents
who have already had a kindergartner go through the process
without the program and have them give feedback. If the
mentorship is prepared carefully and the older kids show
compassion, the students will benefit, but it is hard to say by
how much. Tenured teachers will also have a better outlook to
compare the program to previous years. A slower but possibly
more effective experiment would be to have some teachers be a
control group without using the program while others use the
buddy system.
Barrier 3: Special cases
In matching the students, there will be occasional students with
special needs. It will be more time consuming and difficult to
find an appropriate match. A school specialist will need to be
notified of each case. Some cases may require parental contact
to help confirm proposed partnerships before they are set.
Barrier 4: Small sample/Slow evaluation
This program utilizes the first week of the school year to orient
the kindergartners to unfamiliar situations but does not re-occur
until the next year for the next class. For this reason, we can

31. gather only one week’s worth of data for the entire year. This
will be a slow process. We suggest monitoring the
kindergartners’ progress through the year to see if the 6th grade
mentorship connection still exists. We can take time to analyze
test scores, if any, of kindergartners as compared to control
groups not participating in the program to see if any academic
benefit was gained by easing the transition.
Timeline
Time Period
Events and Activities
Prior Year End
Send out survey to 5th grade teachers to detail attitudinal
qualities and personality focus points for their students
During School Enrollment
Faculty will gather attitudinal focus points of incoming students
by their parent and gather any special needs information. The
faculty would also gather any information if the parent already
knows of a connection between their new student and an
incoming 6th grader.
First Week
This is the first week of school for grades 1-6. This will give
the 6th graders to get oriented with their own new environment.
The teacher will also have an opportunity to prepare the
students to their upcoming responsibility and assign each
student a buddy.
Second Week (First Week for Kindergarteners)
The kindergarten program starts the second week of the school
week. The teachers will introduce the parents and the
kindergartner to their school buddy. This buddy will stay with
them for the first half day of school until after lunch. The 6th
grade mentors will only spend the first hour of school with their
buddies for the rest of the week. Teachers will monitor the
interaction and benefit to the connection.

32. Individual Events Throughout the School Year
Because of the interconnected nature of the school, 6th graders
will have an opportunity to maintain their connection with their
buddies throughout the school year. These opportunities will
come in the form of assemblies, recess, and after school
activities. 6th graders can continue to be a mentor or resource
if the younger student is in need and both parents are aware of
the beneficial relationship. Faculty should continue to monitor
any unseen consequences and benefits that are made visible
after the initial week.
End of Year
A formal assessment will be made about the partnerships.
Teachers, parents and students will be asked for their
evaluation. Information will also be gathered on graduating
5th graders to match with the next year’s class of
kindergartners.
Evaluation of the Partnership
There are two levels of evaluation. An initial evaluation after
the first week and a final year end evaluation. The initial
evaluation will let us see the initial benefits or detriments of the
program, if any. Evaluation will be created by the teachers for
each pair of children. A qualitative measurement of any benefit
created will be required for each pair. This will not only
provide meaningful information regarding the effectiveness of
the program, but will consequently cause the teacher to
differentiate their new students, thus improving their teaching
effectiveness.
Parental feedback will be sent home to their parents to gain any
information from their perspective. Parent teacher conferences
can also be utilized to gather information and suggestions.
The second evaluation of the partnerships will be made at the
end of year. Both teachers and parents will be asked to give
feedback on the program. This can be in the form of survey,
supplemented with any faculty conversation. The students will

33. be giving feedback all year, upon its request, and the adults who
have listed and gather that information will have an opportunity
to pass that information along to the officiating staff.
As stated before, surround care benefits may be qualitative and
reared by observation or they may be quantitative and supported
by test scores. If improvement to the transition of
kindergartners into a new school is being reported and benefit
was added to both sets of students, successes should be
duplicated to further classes while being refined with each new
generation of fresh students.
Works Cited
Berk, L.E. (2000). Child Development (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn

34. and Bacon. 23-38
Epstein, J., et al (2002). School, Family and Community
Partnerships, Your Handbook for Action, 2nd edition, Corwin
Press.
Lippman, L., & Rivers, A. (2008). Assessing School
Engagement: A guide for out of school time program
practitioners. Child Trends: Reserch to Results, 2008-39.
Retrieved April 4, 2016. Course Provided Material
Olsen, G., & Fuller, M. (2012). Parent Involvement in
EDUCATION. In Home and School Relations:
Teachers and Parents Working Together (4th ed.). Merrill.
Ricci, M. C. (2015). Mindsets in the classroom: Building a
culture of success and student achievement in school. S.l.:
Hawker Brownlow Education.
Van Langeveld, A. (2016). Resilience Overview. FCS 3180
Course Readings.
Wood, B. (2016, February 11). Utah House approves $10M
boost to full-day kindergarten. Retrieved May 01, 2016,
from http://www.sltrib.com/home/3528692-155/utah- house-
approves-10m-boost-to
13
Westlund
Kindergarten Literacy Action Plan2016

35. Action Plan – Kindergarten Literacy
University of Utah
Content
Page
Brief Summary 3
Introduction and Rationale
4
Types of Involvement
5
Identifying Partners

36. 6
Front-end Assessment
7
Goals and Objectives
8
Identifying Potential Barriers
8
Timeline for Implementation
9
Evaluation of the Partnership
10
References
11
Brief Summary
In the Salt Lake School District, Mountain View Elementary
School has an exceptionally diverse student body. Their
students include individuals speaking over 31 different
languages and less than 10% are Caucasian. Many are refugees
from various countries and 100% of the school’s students
qualify for the free school lunch program. After personally
spending an entire day observing some of their unique
challenges, I was surprised to learn that the majority of them
are Somali Bantu (African) and many of these children had not
had an opportunity to receive any type of formal education
before and neither had their parents. These children do not
know how to read or write and the majorities come from
communities with predominantly oral language traditions.
(Roxas & Roy, 2011) Their transition to a school context that is

37. based on the written word is very challenging, especially for the
students without any type of previous education. To make
matters worse, many of these students are viewed negatively by
their peers because of their educational inadequacies compared
to other children of the same age. These youth refugees are
typically placed in a U.S. public school classroom based on age,
not on the educational level of their background or experience
and the Somali Bantu people do not feel it important to keep
track of age or birthdates, thus making things more challenging.
According to the staff at Mountain View Elementary, refugee
children rarely receive academic support from their parents
because of their own inadequate levels of formal education and
lack of cultural understanding and knowledge of how to support
their children. Most of the time, these children are left on their
own to navigate the American School System. Because of this,
the school staff initially believes the student’s parents are the
greatest obstacle to their children’s education; however they
eventually come to know that mothers and fathers show interest
in their children’s education and communicate their desires for
their children to do well in school. One of the greatest
obstacles to their full adaptation to their new environment is the
huge communication barrier, which prevents them from learning
how best to support their children’s education.
These children are most definitely on a negative trajectory as
far as their cognitive, social and emotional abilities are
concerned. In order to build resiliency in these children, they
need intervention and support from their parents, teachers, and
caregivers to model specific values which will help them
experience success in their young lives. In order for this to
happen, it is absolutely essential to promote and build programs
to increase their personal resiliency, to uplift and carry them
from childhood to adulthood and teach them how to become
upstanding citizens who contribute to the communities in which
they live. There are 3 basic strategies for intervention
suggested by resilience research, they are;

38. 1. Risk Focused Strategies – These reduce the exposure of
children to hazardous experiences.
2. Asset Focused Strategies – These increase the amount of,
access to, or quality of resources children need for the
development of competence.
3. Process Focused Strategies – These try to mobilize the
fundamental protective systems for each child’s development
(programs which ensure that every child has effective and
caring adults in their lives. (Masten, A., 2000)
Introduction and Rationale
The program I purpose is one where we empower the parents to
become their children’s best teacher by increasing their own
literacy level while helping their children increase theirs. The
Mountain View Community Center is located on the school
grounds of the Elementary school and parents of the children
attend ESL and parenting classes here two evenings per week
while community outreach volunteers supervise the children. In
order to make the necessary connections more directly, I
propose that we have the community center educators emphasize
ways to support their children’s education by giving tips and
demonstrations as part of the ESL and parenting lessons. The
parents will be given experience in interacting in English with
their child’s teachers, and they will also learn to reinforce
literacy concepts at home (modeled to them by teachers of the
parenting class in collaboration with classroom teachers of the
children.) This will help refugee parents be more active in their
children’s education, and give them greater access to resources
to better feed and care for their families. Access to appropriate
children’s books is a problem because of the cost factor, so we
add an additional component of this plan by providing each
Kindergarten classroom with a supply of take home literacy
bags for the children to take home each week, which will
include an engaging picture book on a certain theme, a
supporting book, and family activities that will help both

39. parents and children get the practice they need and increase
access to books and meaningful educational activities the entire
family will enjoy. (Because I study Early Childhood Education,
it makes sense for me to begin with the Kindergarten classes;
therefore this program will also begin there. It will be
reevaluated to include additional grades depending on the
effectiveness with this group.) Research shows that low income
parents who are given a children’s book are 4 times more likely
to report looking at the book and talking about it with their
children. (Needleman, R., 2009) The last several years there
has also been a great amount of research in addressing the
academic gap these children have throughout their school years.
Engaging families and providing them with tools to take home
and enjoy with their children remains one of the very best ways
to close this gap. (Horn & Jones, 2005)
Types of Involvement
The first type of involvement to implement in this program is
the basic responsibility of the family to establish a home
environment conducive to supporting their children in their
education. This must be taught to the parents through
demonstrations and a tip each week in their Community ESL &
Parenting Classes. The second type of involvement is
communication. All materials will most likely require
translation to accommodate the specific home languages of each
of the children. The PTA and community volunteers can help
with this. The third type of involvement is volunteering itself.
We will seek local High School Child Development Classes to
plan and make the literacy bags under the direction of their
instructors, and volunteers will be asked to sew the actual
canvas bags to hold the books and educational materials.
Learning at home is the entire focus of this project, but the
involvement here means that the children’s teachers must be
proactive in collaborating with the families and the Community
Center Educators to be certain the material parents get at their
classes are in line with the children’s needs. Shared Decision
Making will be a must as the teachers work with Community

40. Education Instructors to write outlines of strategies the children
need and ways to incorporate them into the parent’s learning.
The final type of involvement is Community Collaborations. It
may be necessary to apply for a grant to provide quality books
for this project. The Kindergarten teachers would be
responsible for this undertaking. The local High Schools,
especially the Child Development Classes and their teachers
will develop, design, make and assemble the literacy activities
to coordinate with the books for the children. The teachers of
these courses will guide the students in making a simple
question card with 7 or 8 simple open ended questions the
parents can use to help them further extend the learning with
each literacy bag. Also, local businesses will be asked if they
would like to contribute monetary funds or paper and other
supplies so the children will have the resources needed such as
paper crayons, pencils, glue, scissors, etc. at home to
complement their learning.
Identifying Partners
Potential
Partner
Anticipated
Role
Time
Commitment
High School Child Development Students/Teachers
Under teacher’s direction, each High School Child Development
Student will design and create 2 literacy bags. Their teacher’s
will see that the bags contain at least 2 books, and 3 or 4 related
family activities, a response journal and an open ended question

41. card to help parents extend learning.
1 year prior to implementation year.
Kindergarten Teachers
Apply for educational grants for project. Collaborate with
Community Ed team to make list of possible tips and demos for
parents. Write up a contract for parents to help care for literacy
bags and use them as intended. To facilitate and encourage
responsibility in children and devise way to check out and
return bags each week. Reach out to other colleagues who may
be able to assist with programs.
1 year prior to implementation and continued involvement
during project year.
Community Education Teachers
Collaborate with Kindergarten teachers to plan and prepare tips,
teach and demonstrations of how to teach parents to support
their children in educational project.
Implementation year
PTA Board
Provide assistance to staff and families for smooth
implementation. Help with communication and translation as
needed. Be involved in soliciting parent volunteers for
demonstrations and lessons as well as getting parents to
eventually help implement program such as taking care of bag
check out and in, etc.
One year
prior to implementation year and support throughout project.
Community Education Specialists
Help communicate purpose of program and enlist parents in
attending classes and meetings, share knowledge and
experiences and reach out to other colleagues who may be able
to assist. Collaborate with Kindergarten teachers to devise
plans to teach parents skills the children need.
Implementation year and all of project year.
Parents
Sign contract, commit to learn to support children in literacy
efforts each week, attend parent classes and involve families in

42. literacy bag activities. Eventually take over maintenance of
plan.
Implementation year all of the project year.
Local non-profit groups and businesses.
Funding for books and supplies and bag contents, help locate
potential speakers for motivation.
Initial funding for preparatory year.
Community Volunteers
Sew bags and take to High School Teachers. Help train refugee
parents in volunteering and checking in and out bags on a
weekly basis.
One year prior implementation year and next.
Front-end Assessment
A front end assessment is an assessment that can help you
determine the state of and the history of the partnership at the
present time. In an existing partnership it can help identify
needs, and barriers. The purpose of this action plan is to educate
and train parents to take an active role in their children’s
education, specifically their literacy education. An initial
survey will be sent home with each kindergartner to find out
how frequently each family utilizes the public library, who has
library cards and the frequency they are used, whether or not
families have paper and writing materials at home, the number
of books children have access to in their homes, whether or not
magazines and catalogues are in the home and if they are being
used for educational purposes or not. We also aim to find out
whether or not the families have any print material from their
native countries of any kind such as newspapers, books, photos,
handwritten letters, etc. and possible learning experiences we
can incorporate these into. For some of this information, we
have a good idea what the figures are, considering the families
we are working with, and some of this will help us figure out
how to best help the children. This survey will help us gage
whether or not these factors improve at all as we work to
educate the parents and get their families involved in literacy
education. Statistics will also be gathered from past

43. achievement tests, socioeconomic status, and demographics of
the population living within the school boundaries. Surveys
will also be given at the end of the project, as well as feedback
from the families, children and educators involved and what
each of them felt were the most helpful and enjoyable resources
for their families and/or students. The classroom teachers will
also make and document observations regarding the pupils in
their class for the purpose of identifying specific support
strategies needed. We know that the socio/economic status,
home language, the home literary environment and family
awareness all play a great role in each child’s literacy
development and school achievement. These surveys and
specific identified strategies are critical in helping to identify
where the most pressing needs are and identify ways to help
families understand how important their role is in relation to the
academic success of their children. These directly relate to
“asset focused resilience strategies” which means we are
increasing access to quality resources, providing extra tutoring,
making parents more effective teachers thus increasing
parenting skills, and the language practice will also help parents
with individual job programs. They also relate to the “process-
focused resiliency strategies” which put into place additional
protective systems such as fostering attachment relationships
within the family, activating a natural motivation system with
the benefit being fun family activities, mentoring with caring
adults, and provide extra opportunities to develop talents within
the children’s and the parent’s literacy proficiency. This type of
intervention is nearly certain to change the children’s trajectory
positively and could be a major factor in the equifinality.
Goals and Objectives
The main goal of this project is to provide meaningful
tools, activities and resources to help families learn how to
support their children in their education-particularly as it relates
to literacy. Parents will be taught specific ways to engage with
their children in meaningful learning activities and provide step

44. by step ways to make learning productive and a positive
experience for all. Relationships between children (students)
and their families will become more secure, stable, and
communicative. These will be measured by short term
objectives:
· To increase the access to quality children’s literature.
· To increase each families use of the public library system to
secure books and other resources for their children’s enjoyment
and learning.
· Foster the motivation to read in children by engaging them in
related family activities which will strengthen family bonds and
learning.
· Move towards improving state reading standards school wide.
· Support parents as they learn how to become involved directly
with their children’s education.
· Communicate to parents exactly what to do when reading to
their children so they’ll be more likely to read with them
consistently. (Open ended questions from literacy bags.)
It is important to note that the “host” environment for the
parents will be the Community Education Center where
modeling, teaching and some implementation will occur. The
“host” environment for the children will be their school teacher
and classroom where they will be taught responsibility for the
bags and contents and procedures for taking them home and
returning them.
Identifying Potential Barriers
The most prevalent barrier to this program is funding. The
high school students will monetary assistance to purchase the
items and books for the literacy bags. The kindergarten teacher
will apply for an educational grant to facilitate this project the
year prior to implementation to give the high school students
the time needed to plan and purchase bag contents. The teacher
will also meet with the community educators as well as the
Kindergarten teachers to be certain all expectations are met.
The literacy bags will remain the property of the teacher’s
kindergarten classroom. The second barrier will obviously be

45. that the school has 31 different home languages to
accommodate. This is an ongoing problem with the school in
this location. Translators will be needed to address the
language barriers for the children and their families and to
communicate their needs to the English speaking teachers. All
written communication must also be translated in order to be
useful to the parents. Using the internet for translation
purposes is not appropriate as less than 8% of the families have
access to these types of devices. Cultural issues must also be
respected, so consulting one or more specialists who have
experience with this would also be helpful.
Timeline for Implementation
January 2017
1. Contact and propose program to principle of local high
school and involve teachers of Child Development Classes.
2. Kindergarten teacher applies for educational grant for
project.
3. Collaborate with Community Education Center, Kindergarten
Teachers, PTA board, and High School Child Development
Teachers, to plan needed program outlines and responsibilities.
4. Contact local business partners to find out what they can
fund.
April 2017
1. Recruit volunteers to sew bags. Recruit translators to work
on project.
2. Have a meeting to include all participating partners and make
assignments for various responsibilities.
3. High School students prepare 2 bags each for their final
grade.
September 2017
1. Collect and organize existing data. Kindergarten teachers
assess children to determine types of interventions needed.
2. Distribute parent and family surveys.
3. Kick-off PTA meeting introducing program basics to all
families, children, and partners.

46. October 2017
1. Action Plan Begins with Parent meeting at Community
Center. Schedule for additional Parent meetings given and
outline of mini lessons distributed. Parent meetings held each
week.
2. Teacher teaches children responsibility for bags, check in and
out procedures. Each child takes home one bag each week and
returns them the following week on a designated day.
3. Field trips planned for the kindergarten classes to go to visit
the public library. A field trip for the parents as part of their
community education will also be planned for them to be
educated as to the types of materials they can access for no cost.
March-April 2018
1. Surveys distributed to parents, children, teachers and project
facilitators. Results are recorded, compared to earlier survey
and evaluated.
May 2018
1. Project ends. Families completing at least 75% of all
training meetings and at least 25 literacy bags with their
children will be awarded certificates at the annual awards
assembly at school.
Evaluation of Partnership
This partnership will be evaluated by the use of resources
parents use to facilitate greater literacy proficiency in their
children. Parents also fill out a response page with each
literacy bag completed at home before returning the bag to
school. This response will give the teacher a clue as to what
activities were helpful and enjoyable for the families, and were
easy for them to implement. Because communication is so vital,
the response can be a sketch or a drawing of the family
participating in the activity, or the children can draw what they
liked best, or it can be a simple note. The last survey will be
given towards the end of the 9 months from when the project
was implemented and hopefully will show some of the benefits

47. and describe some of the experiences of individual families and
what they enjoyed or disliked about the project as well as any
suggestions for improvement. If this project increases the
children’s reading scores (from the achievement test taken
towards the end of April), it will likely be expanded to include
more classrooms and grade appropriate materials and activities.
Teachers, business partners, administrators, PTA board, and any
volunteers will also be given a final survey. The Kindergarten
teacher and the Community Education Teachers will submit a
project report which will describe the social and cognitive
benefits of the project, things that worked well, and things that
needed to be improved upon. These professionals will also
include their thoughts and feelings on the project and whether
either party found positive supportive behavior as far as the
parent’s reactions to the children’s education are concerned.
References
Horn, E. M., & Jones, H. (2005). "Supporting Early Literacy
Development in Young Children" (monograph). Young
Exceptional Children, 7th ser.
Masten, A. (2012). "Children who Overcome Adversity to
Succeed in Life" University of Minnesota Extension.
Needleman, R., Freid, L. E., & Morley, D. S. (1991). "Clinic

48. Based Interventions to Promote Literacy" A Pilot Study.
American Journal Disabled Child,145(8), 881-884.
Roxas, K., & Roy, L. (2011). "Where to Start: Learning from
Somali Bantu Students and their Families" Teacher Education
and Practice,25(1), 100-118.
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