Engaging Students and Parents with Technology Shelby Simmons, MAT August 14, 2013 Colleton County High School

Goals/Objectives: Increase quality and quantity of: Information distributed to parents Session Content Parent Attendance by 15% Provide activities and interventions to measurably improve student achievement Build capacity in the parent community Note Program Constraints and challenges (slide has been removed) Funding Title I Legislation Community Apathy Poor Attendance Negative Perceptions Limited Time and Small Staff

Review of Initiatives Student Achievement Class Size Reduction – Teacher Salaries = at least 85% Interventionists Student Supplies/Software (MAP) Teacher Quality –Professional Development Parent Involvement Involving parents in school activities Improving parenting skills Supporting Student Achievement Salaries = 86% of general fund 81% of all revenue All activities must be supplemental; T1 cannot supplant.

Input from stakeholders Parent Survey results 2009 surveys returned #1 – Motivating children #2 – Teaching reading and math (common core, increasing rigor) #3 – Bullying All numbers taken from District-wide survey Staff Survey identified needs – 250 responses #1 Teaching at-risk students and closing the achievement gaps #2 Increasing higher order thinking strategies (common core. Increasing rigor) #3 Increasing student engagement #4 RtI Follow @Edutopia 60% parents felt that mobile devices enhance education

Input from Stakeholders Parent Survey 92% support more spending on Interventionists in Reading, Math, and Science 85% support After-School (Day Care) and Summer School Programs 81% support class size reduction 91% say their child is taught by a highly qualified Teacher 87% say they are satisfied with the learning environment

Title I Parent Involvement Program What we do:

Do It Online! Remind 101 – Text Message Notices Please text: “@titleip” to 424-888-7851 Have participants with cell phones join the group, mention the ability to schedule text messages – this is a free service

Do It Online! Tweet deck – Social Networking http://youtube.com/ccsdtitle1 http://twitter.com/ccsdtitle1 http://facebook.com/ccsdtitle1 Text “Follow @ccsdtitle1” to 40404 Ask participants to follow us! Discuss Permissions for facebook and twitter and personal accounts for Twitter/Facebook

Do It Online! PebbleGo – Content Area Literacy Support Online Access for UPLIFT Parents Uses UDL Principles June: 2425 July: 842 August: 313

Online Activities: Abcmouse.com – free 30 day trial for 2-6 year olds  http://www.varsitytutors.com/practice-tests Apps and games for parents and teachers to encourage vocabulary: Ruzzle http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/appsfor1-1

Do It Online! New hardware to support student achievement Study buddy – Self-Paced Tutoring Replacing Laptops Give opportunity to work in groups to assess study buddy for parents with low to moderate abilities, point out portability, single-purpose, no street value, inexpensive, bring sample

Programmatic Interventions Combined Parent Sessions with school wide events like Literacy Nights, PTO, SIC Teachers can use DVDs, Books, and Games to engage entire families and find new ways to find educational aspects of existing activities: HayDay Reading Rainbow ABCMouse Video of annual meeting, preparing a Spanish language version

Programmatic Interventions District-wide support for family literacy program and Common Core integration Using discounted books from FirstBook.org and TheReadingWarehouse.com as Parent Incentives and Literacy Session materials CorePlanner.com will track common core standards taught to parents in Literacy Sessions Time for prizes (books and lesson plans)

Individual Interventions Take control of Professional Development http://home.Edweb.net @edutopia @techtia Develop Online Professional Persona LinkedIN Class website www.Remind101.com Edmodo QR Codes – www.goqr.me

Use Tech in the Classroom Research, Review, Assess: www.Quizlet.com http://varsitytutors.com/practice-tests http://agoogleaday.com www.Text2MindMap.com www.gutenberg.org http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

Use Tech in the Classroom Projects and Alternative Assessments: www.superteachertools.com/jeopardy www.Kizoa.com www.techsmith.com/jing http://screencast.com www.wordle.net Bubbl.us http://youtu.be/hFdDRf6q5rg http://youtu.be/hFdDRf6q5rg = stem game

Use Tech with Parents Communication is a two-way street Regularly share contact information Check email and voice mail Use meaningful phone calls, postcards, stickers and certificates Vistaprint.com 4imprint.com Remind 101 – have a class for parents, use new website features and encourage parents to sign up, attend after-school activities

Results: Increased Content Increased Attendance Increased Excitement Increased Opportunity Study Buddies are checked out 2.5x faster than laptops with 96% favorable parent response Websites average 60+ unique hits a day with average of 5 minutes on the site Over 1000 parents and students attended our Back-2-School Bash – up 300% District Parent Center visits up 100% Laptop loans up 100% Met initial goal for Facebook Likes Only looking for 100 Plan to increase yearly by 15-25% 50% of goal for Twitter Followers Library Participation in District Calendar Online Sessions moving to local cable

Discussion/Questions? Ask Me Now! Ready for our drawing?

Contact Me: Shelby Simmons sesimmons@colletonsd.org 782-4522 x 3 40253