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» Types of community conversations Formal and Informal Resources The Formal Track » Begin at the District Office: Examine Your Community Faculty/Community Discussion: The Design of School Faculty Discussion: What is the Problem? Group Discussion: Trends in Education: Develop a Message and Script: Mapping the Community: Conduct a Communications Audit: Construct Community Meeting in 7 Steps Begin at the District Office: Faculty/Community Discussion: The Design of School Faculty Discussion: What is the Problem? Group Discussion: Trends in Education: Develop a Message and Script: Mapping the Community: Conduct a Communications Audit: Construct Community Meeting in 7 Steps AHS

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Types of community conversations Formal and Informal Resources The Formal Track » Begin at the District Office: Examine Your Community Faculty/Community Discussion: The Design of School Faculty Discussion: What is the Problem? Group Discussion: Trends in Education: Develop a Message and Script: Mapping the Community Conduct a Communications Audit: Construct Community Meeting in 7 Steps Begin at the District Office: Examine Your Community Faculty/Community Discussion: The Design of School Faculty Discussion: What is the Problem? Group Discussion: Trends in Education: Develop a Message and Script: Mapping the Community Conduct a Communications Audit: AHS

A Constructive Community Meeting in 7 Steps: » 1.Welcome the audience and introduce the team. Emphasize that the purpose of this community- wide meeting is to increase student success, leading to tangible benefits for the entire community. » 2.Communicate that education in America has changed drastically. To help your communities understand what is demanded of today’s schools, use the Resources in this guide and recite excerpts from Vollmer’s poster “The Ever-Increasing Burden on America’s Public Schools.” » 3.Emphasize that schools and communities must partner to ensure that every student receives an education that will enable each of them to become a productive citizen. » 4.Provide concrete examples of school successes: student / faculty progress, achievements, awards, grants, etc. » 5.Ask community members what they think today’s and tomorrow’s children need to know and be able to do upon graduation from high school. » 6.Finish with an extraordinary fact. Examples include the number of extracurricular activities that take place in a year; the number of students who transfer in and out of the district in a year or an actual test that students are administered. » 7.Q & A. It’s very important to listen as well as talk. AHS

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Your Community: By the Numbers » Coverage in PAGE ONE magazine Coverage in PAGE ONE magazine » Georgia Budget & Policy Institute Reports: GBPI Report: The Schoolhouse Squeeze. gbpi.org/the-schoolhouse-squeeze-2 Georgia Budget & Policy Institute Reports: gbpi.org/the-schoolhouse-squeeze-2 » GBPI Report: Cutting Class to Make Ends Meet. gbpi.org/cutting-class-to-make-ends-meet gbpi.org/cutting-class-to-make-ends-meet » GBPI: “Georgia Budget Primer Primer-Online VersionPrimer-Online Version…….. AHS

» The state’s 2015 budget adds $314 million more for K-12 education over the prior year. Still, the $314 million falls more than $747 million short of the state’s own education funding formula. » The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute’s Georgia Budget Primer 2015 is a clear explanation of the state’s revenue collections and its spending plan. It includes basics to help a novice understand the budget’s complexities. P.1 AHS

Your Community: By the Numbers » Coverage in PAGE ONE magazine Coverage in PAGE ONE magazine » Georgia Budget & Policy Institute Reports: GBPI Report: The Schoolhouse Squeeze. gbpi.org/the-schoolhouse-squeeze-2 Georgia Budget & Policy Institute Reports: gbpi.org/the-schoolhouse-squeeze-2 » GBPI Report: Cutting Class to Make Ends Meet. gbpi.org/cutting-class-to-make-ends-meet gbpi.org/cutting-class-to-make-ends-meet » GBPI Report: Georgia Budget Primer. (A condensed look at Georgia’s FY 2014 Budget). gbpi.org/georgia-budget-primer-2014gbpi.org/georgia-budget-primer-2014 AHS

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» More than one million children from low-income families are enrolled in Georgia’s public schools this fall. » school year, 60% of Georgia’s students qualified for free and reduced-price school lunches. These students also are more likely to require additional help with reading, math and other subjects than their peers from higher income families. » Since the school year, the proportion of Georgia students participating in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program climbed from 45% to 60%. 70 districts saw increases of 15% or more and of these, 11 saw leaps of at least 25%. » In 59 of the state’s 180 school districts, more than 3 in 4 of the students are economically disadvantaged. AHS

Where Georgia Ranks Among the States When it’s good to rank first, Georgia is… » 50th* – in Medicaid spending per patient » 40th – in eighth grade math scores When it’s good to rank fiftieth, Georgia is… » 6th – in the number of residents living in poverty » 6th – in the number of children living in poverty AHS

» EmpowerED Georgia Cuts Calculator: View the FY14 reduction in state funding by school system. This site has been replaced by “How Squeezed is Your School District?” district-2 district-2 AHS

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» How much longer can schools continue to operate within these parameters and yield success? » What do you do to educate the community and learn to talk about poverty in your community? » Which data points were most surprising or compelling to you? Why? AHS

» What is the story you can tell about your schools/your districts with these data? (What’s the “big picture” message from these data for your district?) » Who are the stakeholders in your community who should be aware of these data? » What are their interests in and/or concerns about public education? AHS

» Which data would be particularly interesting to different stakeholder groups (e.g. parents, business leaders, religious leaders, teachers, etc.)? Why? » What’s the best setting/format to convey critical data to selected stakeholders? » What criticisms might stakeholders have of the data or the message you’re conveying using them? How could you respond those criticisms? AHS

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Thank You! 29 AHS 2014