Around the Schools
Readiness to Learn Parent Leaders connect families to schools
Readiness to Learn Parent Leaders from Hawthorne and Highland Park elementary schools presented an interactive workshop for their peers from Bailey Gatzert, Madrona, Van Asselt, Wing Luke, West Seattle Elementary, Dearborn Park, Emerson, Roxhill and Concord International School Jan. 9 and Feb. 1 at the John Stanford Center.
The presenters were able to take advantage of training they had received over the summer that was provided by Community & Parents for Public Schools, Seattle. The presenters have been using what they learned in order to engage our schools’ families to support their Family Engagement Action Teams (FEAT) and the C-SIP goals.
Parent Leaders have learned about the best ways to reach out and create productive relationships between parents and schools.
The goals of both presentations were three-fold:
• help Parent Leaders understand their schools’ Continuing School Improvement Plans (C-SIP),
• understand the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) Goals, and
• have an appreciation of Individual Learning Styles.
The group also learned about differences in how their families perceive school environments—which often result in barriers that hinder collaboration, engagement, and relationships between staff and parents.
At the workshops, the Parent Leaders that attended were able to learn about the characteristics of high performing schools, and the best ways to share what they had learned with their peers in their own schools.
The workshops’ contents will prove invaluable for parents as they become involved with their own children’s education and also as they help to support every student in their school.
Each attendee was also provided with a draft of the Parent’s Bill of Rights, which was developed by CPPS and parents, and will be finalized this coming spring.