1. Leadership Project
Name: Brittany Hackney Smith Date: October 16, 2013
Title of the Project: 5th grade Curriculum Night!
Purpose and Goals of the Project:
The purpose of this project is to invite parents to an open and welcome atmosphere and
be able to educate them on the curriculum that is being taught to their children. Overall,
the parents are not aware of the curriculum and topics that need to be taught throughout
the school year, so they feel that they cannot help. The goal of this project is that
parents leave feeling that they have the knowledge and capabilities to work with their
children and help them to succeed in the school system and also effective
communication strategies between teacher, parent, and student in order to fully meet
the needs of all students in this ever changing 21st century technology based society.
Rationale/Need for the Project:
We have 120 fifth grade students and only 4 teachers to help them grow and reach their
goals. Our students came to us at only a 50% passing rate in reading and a 77%
passing rate in math. I hear constantly from my students’ parents that they want to help
their child so badly, they just do not know how. Surprisingly, a lot of parents don’t even
realize that the teachers have a curriculum and are designated what we need to teach to
their children yearly. It has only been 15 years since I was in elementary school and I
know that it has been a lot longer than that for most of my students’ parents. Since I
was in school, things have changed drastically in the educational system and parents
just can’t seem to keep up. During PLC’s I hear teachers ask, “Why don’t the kids
succeed in the classroom?” The typical answer is because the parents don’t help them
to succeed. My purpose was to give parents the opportunity to help their students and
to be able to understand the material that is presented. The curriculum night was
delivered one night throughout the year, however, the parents will be going home with a
lot of resources that they can use for the rest of the school year in order to stay up-to-
date with all that needs to be done and taught. We believe that curriculum night went so
successfully, we may have another in the spring to see how parents are coping and how
things are coming along. My goal is to help increase our passing rates by at least 30%
in reading and 10% in math due to parents being able to effectively help them more at
home.
Description of the Project:
The fifth grade teachers and I collaborated and determined what the most effective route
was to help inform parents of the curriculum that is being taught to their children, which I
took the lead and was head of the program. We discussed that a Curriculum Night was
the best way to go. I established different presentations, using different technology
methods. I used a Prezi to present the information for the different subjects; this
information was presented to the parents while at the meeting. I set up a school-wide

2. Edmodo account, which is set up exactly like Facebook except it was made specifically
for education. I gave all of the parents an access code in order for them to join our
school network and be a part of our group. Once this was established, all teachers are
now able to effectively interact with the parents as needed. Parents now have a board
to collaborate with other parents and with teachers in order for them to better
understand things that may still be confusing them. Students have an access code to
be a part of this as well. Once all of the information was presented, we had time for
questions and a tutoring session for parents, if it was requested. I gave the parents a
survey to complete at the end of the Curriculum Night so that I could see how I could
grow from the experience and how I will be better able to help them. I will also create a
survey to send home a few weeks post-Curriculum Night and ask what resources the
parents have used and what helps them the best. I will also post a survey to Edmodo as
an option for parents to complete there as well; this will also give me an idea of which
parents are using it effectively and regularly.
Since our school is 75% Hispanic, the Hispanic parents were given the option to wear
headsets throughout the Curriculum Night. The headsets I reserved from the ESL
department and one of the ESL teachers volunteered to translate to the parents through
the headsets throughout the presentations. The ESL teacher wore the headset with a
microphone attached and spoke through it. He translated through that to the parents so
that they were better able to understand what we were saying.
Responsibility for the Curriculum Night was delegated throughout the 5th grade team
and monitored by the assistant principals. I met with one of our Assistant Principals to
propose the idea and request that the building stay open a little while longer on the
selected date. She approved and gave instructions on how to close the building once
we were finished. Before Curriculum Night, we sent home brochures and letters through
every student to give to their parents. There were English and Spanish copies
available. All of the 5th grade teachers advertised the nights on their class web pages
and I asked the librarian to update it on the school web page for parents to see there as
well. Each teacher was given a subject and had to make a presentation based on what
they believed parents needed to know about our curriculum and also ways to help them
to understand. Teachers sent their presentations to me once they had them completed
so that I could edit and revise them. I made a survey for parents to complete once the
presentation was over. Parents were to respond and answer what they think will be
most effective, how this helped, if they would like to see a Curriculum Night more, how
often, when, what they would like to see differently and more of, etc. The ESL teacher
translated the survey for me so that the Hispanic parents would be able to respond as
well. All Hispanic surveys that had comments written were given back to the ESL
teacher and he is sending them to me as he translates them all in order for me to use
them as feedback. Between the 5th grade teachers and I, we established a Quick
Reference guide for parents to refer to at home. These were laminated and magnets
were put on the back so that they could hang them on their refrigerators. I will
eventually meet with my team teachers again in order to discuss what they would like to
see in another survey that will be sent home to parents. We will send home a survey for
parents to complete a few months post-curriculum night.

3. Resources Needed:
 Brochures and letters inviting the parents out (English and Spanish versions)
 Web page advertising
 All 5th grade teachers’ input and presentations
 Technology (SmartBoard, Projector, PowerPoint, Prezi)
 ESL teacher collaboration
 Library for conference and meeting area
 Quick Reference guide for parents to take home (laminated and magnets)
 Surveys that parents can complete (one at the presentation and another a few
months later)
 Translating headsets
 AlertNow system
Projected Timeline for Completion of the Project:
Date Person(s)
Responsible
Action Required
August 29,
2013
September
4, 2013
September
11, 2013
September
16, 2013
September
18, 2013
Assistant Principal
and myself
5th grade teachers
(including myself),
ESL teachers
5th grade teachers
(including myself)
5th grade teachers
(including myself),
ESL teacher
5th grade teachers
(including myself),
Literacy Coach, and
AP
Meet with AP and discuss ideas for Curriculum
Night; if approved, begin to request 5th grade
teachers’ approval.
Request all 5th grade team approval; establish idea
for curriculum night; ask all ESL teachers if they
would be interested in translating all documents;
also ask if we can use the translating headsets
Meet to delegate responsibilities; all teachers will
head their own subject; using PowerPoint or Prezi;
be sure to remember resources that all parents can
use at home; make everything user friendly; Begin
advertising, send brochures, surveys, and letters to
ESL teacher; get all translated and send home
Translations were received back; send home copies
of Brochures today; begin advertisement on web
pages – request Librarian update school webpage to
advertise there as well
Date for Curriculum Night is finalized as October 16,
2013; Literacy Coach meets with us to help out with
ideas to present to parents in order to promote
literacy, ideas for literacy field trips that the parents
can take the children on; it’s decided that Literacy
Coach will attend Curriculum Night so that she can
help discuss things with parents as well;

4. Presentations from each teacher will be due to me
by October 8th.
September
25, 2013
5th grade teachers
(including myself)
Check up with everyone; if any help is needed to let
me know and I can send helpful resources;
collaborate on all ideas, Two heads are better than
one!
October 8,
2013
5th grade teachers
(including myself),
ESL teachers
Go over feedback on presentations that need things
to be added, revisions, editing, etc. so that teachers
will have enough time to fix for presentations. Other
5th grade teachers reviewed my presentation and
edited. Letters will be sent home tomorrow to
remind parents.
October
15, 2013
October
16, 2013
October
20, 2013
October
30, 2013
December
16, 2013
Myself and ESL
teacher
5th grade teachers
(led by me)
Myself and ESL
teacher (email)
5th grade teachers
(including myself)
5th grade teachers
(including myself)
Use the AlertNow system to do an all-call to all
parents in order to remind them about Curriculum
Night tomorrow night and message will be followed
in Spanish by the ESL teacher
Curriculum Night is hosted
All Hispanic surveys with comments are received
back and translated
Meet with teachers to discuss all surveys and
feedback provided by the parents; discuss what
they would like to see on the follow-up surveys and
when they should be sent home; discuss if we
would like to do this again in the spring and if we
want it continued every year
Tentative Date to send home follow-up surveys;
also post to Edmodo

5. Reflection
The Curriculum Night was a major success and I was elated to see how many
people actually came to the seminar and were truly invested in their child’s learning.
There have been a lot of changes in the education world lately, and I know that parents
would like to be in the know as well. Parents need to know what it is that their child is
learning and be able to understand so that they can better help their children at home.
I plan to continue the Curriculum Night every year, at least twice a year, to bring
parents up to date on what their child is learning at school. Parents will change every
year due to getting new students and the parents will need to know what is being taught
in the current grade level that their child is in.
According to the surveys that the parents completed, their favorite part was the
quick reference guide that was made for them to take home and to keep on their
refrigerators for easy access. Surprisingly, all parents also made comments on the
headsets that were available for the Hispanic parents. The parents were all happy to
see that we found a way to involve them in their child’s learning experience by bringing
a way for them to truly understand what it is that we were saying. The parents did
reference wishing that there was a way that we could help them one-on-one or offer an
afternoon where we could work with the parents and explain some of the curriculum to
them. When I continue to do this Curriculum Night, I plan to extend the night by offering
a date where I can help to tutor the parents every so often so that they will be able to
understand the material. I will elect other teachers who are willing to help to tutor some
of the parents as well. I believe this is essential for a student’s success; keeping
parents involved and having that extra help for the students at home.

6. I felt that I did a great job becoming a leader around my school. The teachers
that I worked with throughout this project said that they felt that they were aware
throughout the entire process and felt that the night went very smooth. They were
surprised as well to see so many parents show up because they didn’t have many high
expectations due to low parent involvement. They also mentioned that making the
parents aware of everything that was going on and using multiple forms to alert parents
about the night deemed successful and what they believe is the reason that so many
parents were able to come.
Some of the other grade levels have even come up to me and asked what all I did
and how it was used in order to do a Curriculum Night for their grade levels as well. I
was ecstatic to offer them a copy of my Leadership Project and copies of everything that
I used for the night to be a success. I gave them all permission to change what I did on
the surveys to suit their grade levels the best.
My students have made plenty of comments that their parents help them a lot at
home now and they couldn’t be happier about it. This makes me swell with pride
because a lot of parents would come to me frustrated because they didn’t understand
what was needed to be done for their child in the 5th grade. I am thrilled to know that
this night was a success and so many parents were able to come and be a part of our
Curriculum Night.

7. Resources
(n.d.). 100 Ways to Help Your Child and School Succeed. Retrieved from
http://www.pta.org/files/100Ways_brochure-en.pdf
Colorado, Colorin. (2008) 20 Ways You Can Help Your Children Succeed in School.
Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/families/school/helpyourkids/.
Colorado, Colorin. (n.d.) Ten Things Parents Should Know About the Common Core
Standards. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/common-
core/parents/faq/
McShane, Michael. (2013, July 15) 5 Things Every Parent Should Know About the
Common Core. Retrieved from http://www.american.com/archive/2013/july/5-
things-every-parent-needs-to-know-about-the-common-core.