Common Core State Standards Parent Evening
Overview
We met with parents to share with them what we were doing as a school staff to help our students to be 
successful when accessing the Common Core State Standards. We wanted parents to see how expectations as well as classroom instruction would change in response to the new standards. Finally, we wanted to share some games parents could play at home that would reinforce classroom instruction based on the Common Core Standards. We wanted to do this while respecting the knowledge and expertise parents bring to the table.
Responsibilities
- Familiarize parents with the CCSS and help them understand why and how our district is shifting to these new standards.
- Present to them the benefits of these new standards and the challenges our school’s minority population will face when attempting to access these standards.
Reflection
The 4th and 5th grade parent meeting took place January 29th, 2014, immediately after school. While we had the highest attendance of all grade levels at our school, including the usually strong, kinder parent 
group, we still only managed to bring in 8 parents between two 5th grade classes, two 4th grade classes, and the Special Day Class. They were nevertheless 8 parents who we welcomed onto our school campus, and according to the evaluations, greatly appreciated this workshop we put on for them.
We had a lofty goal for this evening. We hoped to put in parents' minds the idea that teachers and parents are partners in a child’s education. We wanted both parties to see that teachers are not superior to the parents when it comes to the individual child. In fact, the course readings have helped me understand that parents are in fact the experts when it comes to their own son or daughter.
We sought to do this through a video, data, and a Powerpoint presentation. I feel we were able to articulate the urgency within our minority community that something different had to be done in our classrooms to help our EL learners and other marginalized groups access the new standards. I also feel we helped parents understand what we were doing as a school to address the needs of all learners, including Project Based Learning and lots of group work.
I’m not sure if the idea of parents being equal partners was as clearly articulated as we envisioned. Evaluations the parents filled out show that they appreciated this workshop. The Evaluations also show that they want more opportunities to come on campus to learn and be a part of their child's education. Overall, I consider this event a big success.
Connection to CPSELs
- CPSEL #1 – We identified barriers to accomplishing our vision and we made public, ways that we would address barriers to accomplishing the vision.
- CPSEL #3 – We had to align fiscal, human, and material resources to allow this evening to happen. This parent night would help support the learning of all subgroups of students by inviting the parents to be partners in their child’s education.
- CPSEL #4 – We wanted to recognize and respect the goals and aspirations of diverse families, we wanted to treat our parents with fairness and respect, and we wanted to communicate to them what we were doing as a school community to help their son or daughter access a high quality education.
- CPSEL #6 – We wanted to open the school to the public and welcome and facilitate constructive conversations about how to improve student learning and achievement.
