Parent Involvement Evening
Overview
There was a twofold purpose for this evening. First, we wanted to create a learning environment, a space, for marginalized students to stand up and address an audience from behind a microphone, some for the first time in their academic lives. These students would present research on individuals of color who took a stand against an injustice they perceived. 
Second, we wanted to introduce parents to the idea of the Common Core State Standards and a possible way of addressing the needs of our students when accessing what these new standards were asking them to do. We wanted to introduce parents to Project Based Learning. We opted to do this through an evening of student public presentations. These public presentations were the culminating products of the Project Based Learning going on in our classrooms.
Responsibilities
- I worked with my 5th grade colleague to organize an evening for the parents of our community, focused on a standards-based education, specifically the CCSS, and it focused on taking a stand for our children’s education by making ourselves present in their accomplishments.
- I worked with our school staff to collect donations of snacks and drinks to be given out that evening to the parents. This is in keeping with the philosophy that if we are asking parents to come directly from work to a school function, the least we can do is provide them snacks to carry them over until their evening dinner.
Reflection
We had a great parent turn out to experience the powerful learning that took place in our classrooms as a result of these projects. This powerful learning was apparent in the final group presentations students shared with parents during this evening function. The learning centered on people of color taking a stand for something they believed in and it’s connection to us, students at Hillside Elementary School, but it went beyond that.
It was great to see how parents reacted to this evening of presentations. There were parents there that had been told year after year how academically low their child was, or how little progress their child was making. These same parents got to see their kids successfully present research in front of a packed auditorium. The pride they felt was readily apparent on their faces, it made all the hard work worth it.
The fact that we got to introduce to the parents Project Based Learning in this way, went a long way throughout the year. We felt their support when we would send work home that required the use of technology and library visits. Parents found a way to provide resources for their kids. They found a way to drive them to and from the library to meet up with their project groups to get work done outside the school setting. As a school leader, I will continue to seek out parent involvement and participation as I have seen the benefits firsthand of having them involved in their child's education.
Connection to CPSELs
- CPSEL #2 – In putting together this evening we made sure we kept high expectations for our students and they certainly met them. By inviting the parents in we made sure this evening also promoted equity, fairness, and respect among all members of our school community.
- CPSEL #4 – As part of this standard my colleague and I realized there was a small, and certainly marginalized, African-American and a Caribbean-American population at our school whose needs were not being met. We addressed this issue first, with a morning presentation where various Latin-American cultures were featured. We made sure our Caribbean-American countries were well represented. Second, when selecting famous historical figures we made sure we had a wide representation of cultures amongst those individuals selected.
