Thursday, October 15, 2015

                     Every one is Different. Every one is Spectacular!                           Dilworth Middle School Rocks Home Visits


   "They know Zuly's family and I feel comfortable that they're coming in to see us," said Elsa Valles, Zuly's mother. 
For seventh grader Esmeralda Velez and her single-mom, Maria, these visits only make her education that much better.
"It means my daughter will do something big," said Maria. "She will have success in her education."
"My goal is to graduate college," said Esmeralda. "I want to be an engineer in science and technology."
Even though the teachers and parents met as strangers at the beginning of the visit, they always leave as family. 
"They shared something with us today," said Mitchell. "They shared their home life, their past, and secrets of their families. It just strengthens everything."

  KTVN TV 2 shows what this Parent Teacher was like. For more info see their story here:

http://www.ktvn.com/story/30269129/dilworth-teachers-visit-homes


Friday, October 9, 2015

New Study Shows Parent Teacher Home Visit Success
Reading and Attendance Improvements
   Students whose teachers visited them at home to build relationships with their families were less likely to miss school, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins University.
   Researchers also found that students who took part in a home visiting program were more likely to read on grade level and that their teachers received higher marks on some parts of their teacher evaluations.
   Link to an article that explores this research more fully here: http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/10/home-visiting-linked-to-lower-school.html


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Bias-Busting Home Visits


     Carrie Rose, Director of Parent Teacher Home Visits Speaks Out


     Kudos to Education Week and Education Week Teacher for the latest thinking on how teacher bias impacts learning ("Four Principles for Bias-Busting in the Classroom," Education Week Teacher; "Under Pressure, Colo. Schools Forge New Path; and "'Racial Mismatch' Changes Teacher Expectations for Students, Study Finds," Inside School Research blog).
     Teachers need tools to help them connect with the cultures of their students in ways that affect the bottom line: student learning. Our organization, the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project, offers professional development training to public school teachers in how to create meaningful relationships with the families of their students, starting with a voluntary home visit. Building cultural competency and connection is a vital part of this process.
     Bias-busting requires genuine engagement, I would argue. In order to build trust, our visits are scheduled in advance, in a setting where teachers do not have the institutional advantage.
    A relationship-building approach such as this will lead to communication, trust, and accountability. Using what they learn from this relationship, both teachers and parents can become better educators and advocates for young people.
     This approach helps teachers question their own biases. And that can only makes their classrooms more relevant to all of their students.
Carrie Rose
Executive Director
Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project
Sacramento, Calif.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/10/07/build-teachers-cultural-competency-through-bias-busting-home.html

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Parent Teacher Home Visits are Growing Around the U.S.

   We were graced today to read about Parent Teacher Home Visits across the county. 

   Check out this short story of the amazing changes happening as a result of Parent Teacher Home Visits:

“I don’t have a car. I can’t drive because my back got broken in two places,” she tells a trio of teachers standing in her doorway. “I’m a mom. I can’t be there with all of them all the time, - See more at: http://www.educationnews.org/parenting/teacher-home-visits-help-build-school-family-relationships/#sthash.jRfPaBAA.dpuf

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Principal Champion for Parent Teacher Home Visits
Primm Walters, Sun Valley Elementary School



   The Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project  has helped us grow our school into a community center, where both students and parents alike, feel welcomed and safe. 

   As a result of the Parent Teacher Home Visits, each morning as I greet the students I see the children enter with  an eagerness to learn because not only do they feel safe, but now they see themselves as partners with the teachers in their class and school.

    We did the home visit for a family who has three girls at Sun Valley Elementary School at a local McDonald's.  By the time the visit was over the three girls, who had been very shy initially, were eager to talk to me about their interests in many areas both in and out of school.. 

   Their parents felt comfortable and appreciated the time we took to get to know them as a family.  By the end of the visit, the girls' younger brother was sitting in my lap sharing my french fries. We all felt connected. 

   As we continue with the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project our perception of the community grows deeper with new understanding.  We are less fearful in going out into the community. Our confidence has grown and we are successful in building bridges from the school to homes and from the homes back to school. 

  The changes I see as a result are why I am a strong champion for Parent Teacher Home Visits! 

Friday, June 19, 2015


Super Star for Home Visits


Regina Valencia, Site Coordinator and Teacher, Sparks High School
    Unlike a lot of her peers, Regina Valencia didn’t need to do Parent Teacher Home Visits to understand Latino culture. She has lived in Spanish speaking countries and speaks Spanish. But those factors have benefited her greatly as she began to build relationships with her students’ families in a school with a mostly Latino student population.
During the 2014- 2015 school year, Regina Valencia has done 70 Parent Teacher Home Visits!  She reports that Parent Teacher Home Visits have increased her awareness of the students’ family lives and home situations one by one.
    She sees the improvement in her communication both with the student and with the family. “It’s fun in class being able to talk to the student about Barbie the dog who jumped all over us on a visit and sat in our laps. I can talk to that particular student and say ‘hey how’s Barbie doing?’ Breaking down those barriers helps in the long run to improve the academics as well because students will come to me about more difficult things. I think that is the most important benefit of the Parent Teacher Home Visits.”
    “I had a Visit that impacted me. A Parent has three daughters that attends our school and she was going to have surgery the following week. It was close to Christmas time. I was impressed that the mother was so involved in her daughter’s education. Being a single mom getting ready to go into surgery in the next couple days, she was still willing to have the Parent Teacher Home Visit and welcomed us into her house. That was incredible.”

    Regina says that her openness to visiting families at their homes has also generated more parents’ interest in learning English as a second language as they feel more comfortable now that they have a personal relationship with me and want to be more involved in their children’s education.
   For more information about How Parent Teacher Home Visits Can Lead to School Transformaton, check out this short article from the National Education Association. 

Friday, June 12, 2015

Strong Supporter of Parent Teacher Home Visits
Melanie Reeves, Sparks High School Teacher




   When I get to know my students and their families I am better able to help them through the understanding I gain.
   Let me tell you about one of my Parent Teacher Home Visits. At this particular visit I learned that the parents had a third grade education. This helped me understand how I could be helpful to both the family and the child in different ways. For instance I will focus on more of the basics in reading and math.
   Since doing home visits parents have begun to contact me much more often. They are comfortable in reaching out to me.  
   From the Parent Teacher Home Visits I have gotten to know who my students really are. It has been an invaluable tool for getting to know the “real” person for both the students and their families.  It has helped me form a better relationship with my students because they know that I am accepting of their home, family and situations.  I have  been accepted into their home and that makes a more genuine bond between me, the student and family.  
   My biggest goal  in doing Parent Teacher Home Visits is to let the parents know that I am accessible.  I also seek to help the child become more comfortable with me and as a result more comfortable in the classroom and ready to learn from me.

   The bonding I feel with and by my students has improved tremendously since the Parent Teacher Home Visits.  They know that they are important to me. 

   Read a short good article featuring Washoe County Schools' Parent Teacher Home Visits in Education Weekly here

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Direct Results from Parent Teacher Home Visits
Stacie Perez, Graduating Senior at Innovations High School

     Stacie is at the brink of graduating from high school.  She is also a teen mother. She says she loves her teachers and that the Parent Teacher Home Visits showed her even more that her teachers care about her.  
     She likes the visits because she feels that parents should be informed about what’s going on with their child and what the parent can do to help their child in school. Stacie says since the Parent Teacher Home Visit her mom has become more involved with her schooling. She says her mom encourages her to attend school no matter what, unless she is very sick. 
     Her mom monitors her more closely now and wants her to graduate. Stacie says that she likes the fact that her mom is more involved about school and pushing her to do her best. She says that is what she needs sometimes in order to get things done.

     Now her mom has a phone app called the infinite campus  that lets her know exactly what is going on daily.  She says she hope that when her child grows up she will have Parent Teacher Home Visits as a way to inspire her and her child to succeed in school and build a relationship with the teacher. 
    For more information on the National Parent Teacher Home Visit Project click on this website.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Change for the Better

CJ Waddell Assistant Principle at Sparks High
CJWaddell says that since she has been doing Parent Teacher Home Visits that she has “changed for the better.” She has learned to not jump to form opinions about kids as quick as she might have in the past.

Since she has a role as an assistant principal who deals with discipline,  she finds it helpful to build a relationship with the youth by doing Parent Teacher Home Visits so that the  kids see her as a person and not just someone they see if they are in trouble. It makes a big difference in her relationships with the students and parents. If she has to call a student’s parents somewhere down the road it makes it a lot easier.

“My passion for working with students has always been really big. Parent Teacher Home Visits has made the kids easier to know and recognize. Knowing something about the kids makes it easier to talk to them. It gives us something to connect with each other to discuss.
My goals for each Parent Teacher Home Visit is for us to grow comfortable with each other, and for everyone to get to know each other.  As a result, I hope that the parents and students feel comfortable coming to the school if they need help.

Parent Teacher Home Visits have helped improve students’ behavior in the class room, attendance, academics, and helps to make the whole parent teacher family relationship stronger.

After the Parent Teacher Home Visits, I see the parents feeling that the school is there to help their child get to graduation and beyond to a successful life.”  

   For more information about Parent Teacher Home Visits, check out this report. from the National Teachers Association Federation.



Monday, May 11, 2015

Building Relationships Key to Success


Michelle Hammond, Teacher at Innovations High School




This year alone, Michelle has done over 40 Parent Teacher Home Visits. She has been doing them for 5 years now, even before she was paid to do them. She believes that the first step in effectively teaching a child is building a relationship with them. She says the better the relationship is with the child the more likely the child will graduate, and for the student to be fully engaged in learning.    
Going on Parent Teacher Home Visits have been a constant reminder to Michelle of how important it is to treat every student and family differently. Last Fall Michelle did a Parent Teacher Home Visit with a student who is a teen mother. The young lady was not living with her parents and moving around a lot. She was struggling with school attendance.  At the time of the Parent Teacher Home visit she was living with her older sister. There was tension and frustration between the student and her sister because of the student’s poor attendance and grades dropping.
Michelle helped the student tell her sister about her upcoming class presentation for the following week. The following week at the time of the presentation, in walked the student’s whole family to be there to show support.  The student burst out in tears of joy to see the support.  The student knew that the sister cared about her after that, and that she wasn’t just being hard on her.

Michelle says that she is continuing to work with the family and she is seeing the student make real progress as a result.  “I’ve always believed that you cannot teach a child anything, if you don’t first have a relationship with them.”

Monday, May 4, 2015

Stephanie Platner, Champion for Successful Students
Through Parent Teacher Home Visits


    Parent Teacher Home Visits have increased my cultural sensitivity. There are so many culturalnorms and expectations that you don’t think about until you enter a home and experience them.
     During one of the Parent Teacher Home Visits to a family of Mexican origin, we were greeted by the parents of the student with a large meal. They were excited to meet us. They told us about their food and where they get it during the meal.  When we went to eat the food with our forks and they laughed at us. They said we don’t use forks for that, we just pick them up with our hands and eat them.  I appreciated their humor and enjoyed learning more about the Mexican culture.
     Through Parent Teacher Home Visits I have increased my cultural sensitivity and awareness. Understanding that when our kids come to school, what we may be expecting them to know might be different in their culture,  especially for young children. Increasing my awareness of where the child comes from, what goes on in their home, and what’s going on with their family helps me to help the child in the better ways.

     How to use the strengths from a family’s culture to encourage learning and academic growth is an area where I am growing and see improvements.  Parent Teacher Home Visits has opened up new avenues for me to connect with parents and children that would have been much more difficult otherwise. 

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Celeste Willis Teacher at Alice Maxwell Elementary
Seeing Results in the Classroom




      First grade teacher at Alice Maxwell Elementary, Celeste Willis, shares how the Parent Teacher Home Visits she is doing every week are changing her, as well as her relationships with the students and families.

     “I had the older sister in my class and now I have the younger one. They live with a single father and the two girls are the exact opposite of each other. When I saw them at home I realized that how the girls acted at school was the same as they do at school, but I could tell they felt freer.

     The family lives a distance from school in a low income area in an apartment complex. During the visit the girls wanted ice cream, so we walked down a side street and a trailer park separated them from the ice cream truck. I was wondering how we were going to get there because there was a fence blocking us from the ice-cream truck. The next thing I knew, the older sister goes up to a chain link fence that looks just fine, peels it open and crawls through it. 

     She was so bold, although it was dangerous, of course. It was one of those moments that showed how me how these kids know how to survive, how they have street smarts.

     I see that Parent Teacher Home Visits are bridging a gap and that my relationships with the families and students are so much deeper now.  I can see that this is creating a better learning environment in the classroom.  



Monday, April 27, 2015

Cheri Osborn, Special Education Teacher
 Giving Hope Through Parent Teacher Home Visits



 When a student is struggling it can be hard to figure out why or the best ways to help her or him to succeed. But I am finding that through the Parent Teacher Home Visits, it opens up lots of new insights for both me and the families.
 Let me tell you about Annie (name changed to protect privacy). She was not completing her homework and I naturally thought she wasn’t interested. Then I did the Parent Teacher Home Visit and was warmly greeted by the family with cookies and juice. We all sat down on the couch in the living room. The family was from Mexico and English is their second language.
We talked about the daughter having trouble completing her homework and turning it in. We discovered that she had questions about her homework but was not asking for help. One of the things that we did to help fix the problem was that I shared some books with the family that are written in both English and Spanish. Now the mother could read the same book as the daughter and discuss it together in Spanish.
This is helping the family to have a conversation about the books and the characters. It is making learning fun for the child and the family. The family is participating in the child’s learning and it now seems natural to them to read together.
The family engagement of the families I have visited has really improved tremendously since doing Parent Teacher Home Visits. There is a connection that I am making in the Parent Teacher Home Visit that helps the parents and me connect on a new level with trust and ease.       When the family sees how much I care about their child, and I see how much they care too, our bond builds.

We are all in this together for one common goal. We are giving hope to the child to succeed at whatever her or his dreams are. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2015


Getting on the Same Page
Alex Maxwell Elementary School, Father, Lum Coleman

   Once we had the Parent Teacher Home Visit, the teacher, my children and I all got on the same page. Home is where everything starts.
   During the visits we talked about what I can do as a father to help my girls do better in school. From the Parent Teacher Home Visit I feel like me and the teachers were able to connect on another level. Now, the teachers reach out to me whenever something is going on at school so we can fix it as a group. The support is great. It truly is.  
   They tell me how the girls are doing and how I can help to make sure that they can get the most from school.  The teacher told me that my daughter was getting the value of nickels and dimes confused. I understood because she saw that the nickels are bigger than the dimes. So I made my own little change collection at home and practice with both girls.
   Communication is really the key because if you don’t know what’s going on and if you don’t ask those questions then your kids can be messed up.
   Since the Parent Teacher Home Visits, my daughters have improved their grades. They are both now getting (S+) Satisfactory Plus in school. I think the Parent Teacher Home Visit really influenced that. Now they want to do better. They want to strive more. And they see that this matters to me too.
   From the Parent Teacher Home Visit, I learned firsthand that the teachers really cared. 


Amanda French at Alice Maxwell Elementary School
True Believer in Parent Teacher Home Visits

   Seeing the conditions that our children live in continues to be an eye opener for me. I went to visit a family where all the chairs were broken, so we stood for the visit. That was ok with me, but the child was really embarrassed at their living conditions.
      It is helpful for me to see students in their homes. Working with low income children is different from my reality. So when I visit the home and see the poverty first hand, it is an eye opener.  It’s one thing to think I understand the conditions the children live in and another thing to see it.
    I visited a family who live in a one bedroom apartment with five people who sleep in one bedroom and a few others who sleep in the living room.  Our school expectations for the student to have a quiet place to complete home work isn’t realistic.  I wonder how the student can have a full night’s sleep to have energy to learn in class.
    I know that  Parent Teacher Home Visits have changed me. The visits have made me more aware, more open, more competent because I have seen the families first hand.

   I recommend Parent Teacher Home Visits to build our relationships between parents and teachers. A lot of parents feel intimidated to come into the school and the visits remove that barrier.   I think the relationship is the key to everything – trust, motivation, achievement.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Making a Big Difference ~ Koni Fujiwara, Teacher


    6th year teacher at Greenbrae Elementary School, Koni Fujiwara, describes a touching story where Parent Teacher Home Visits have made a tipping point big difference in connecting to her students.

   “I have a student whose behavior and attention was inconsistent in the classroom and even at recess. There were some days when she would have obvious difficulties that seemed unrelated to what was going on at school. She would have days when she was ‘off’ from beginning to end.  I could guess that something was up at home but she never told me about it. She just wouldn’t focus on the lesson or get into a little trouble at recess. I knew her family and I knew some of their circumstances.

   Then I did a Parent Teacher Home Visit and discovered that she has a sibling with serious health problems. My student’s inconsistent behavior was directly connected to her sibling’s situation. From the visit, the student felt, in a way she hadn’t previously, that I really care about her. She doesn’t feel like she has to hide her challenges anymore. Now she tells me exactly what is going on and it gives her a way to gather support. She never did that before the home visit. And her motivation to work harder in the classroom has grown as a result.

   For every single student whose family I have visited it has made a big difference. It is so apparent that they know that I really care about them. They come every day and see me in the classroom but taking that one little step to visit their home and family, that makes a big difference to a little kid.”





Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Supporter of Parent Teacher Home Visits:Greenbrae Elementary Teacher, Heide Kerr

 “Many of my students live in the same apartment complex near the school. I’ve visited several families there with Parent Teacher Home Visits.
At the beginning of the year we were studying world cultures and holidays in class. Students kept saying, ‘We celebrate Las Posadas at our apartment complex.’
The next time I did a Parent Teacher Home Visit, I heard more about Las Posadas and was invited to the event. We met in an apartment and first they said the rosary in Spanish. We sang Las Posadas songs and had a party where they invited me to eat with them.  I learned a lot about their culture and the holiday. At first I didn't realize that the event  went on for nine nights! I wish I could have gone to more of the nights, but I couldn't fit it into my schedule.

About a month later, a student whose family I visited with a Parent Teacher Home Visit had an incident on the playground. In the past when this type of thing happened, the parents would call me and yell, ‘How could you let this happen?' in an angry manner. This time the parents said, ‘We know how busy you are and I just want to let you know what happened on the playground.’ I was able to have an actual conversation with the parents. What a difference!"


Monday, March 2, 2015

Bridging Gaps: Celeste Willis, Teacher 

   First grade teacher at Alice Smith Elementary, Celeste Willis, shares how the Parent Teacher Home Visits she is doing every week are changing her, as well as her relationships with the students and families.

   “I had the older sister in my class and now I have the younger one. They live with a single father and the two girls are the exact opposite of each other. When I saw them at home I realized that how the girls acted at school was the same as they do at school, but I could tell they felt freer.

   The family lives a distance from school in a low socioeconomic area in an apartment complex. During the visit the girls wanted ice cream, so we walked down a side street and a trailer park separated them from the ice cream truck. I was wondering how we were going to get there because there was a fence blocking us from the ice-cream truck. The next thing I knew, the older sister goes up to a chain link fence that looks just fine, peels it open and crawls through it. It was so bold, although it was dangerous, of course. It was one of those moments that showed how me how they survive, how they have street smarts. 

   I see that Parent Teacher Home Visits are bridging a gap and that my relationships with the families and students are so much deeper now.  I can see that this is creating a better learning environment in the classroom."  



Friday, February 13, 2015

“Come Back During Our Garden Harvest”
Changing Lives: Mary Lamont Alice Smith Elementary Teacher
  
   When asked about Parent Teacher Home Visits, 4th grade teacher Mary Lamont responded, “The first family I visited was so welcoming that I feel like I gained a Friend. It was a great introduction to Parent Teacher Home Visits and helped my anxiety about these dissipate.”
   Mary Lamont began doing Parent Teacher Home Visits for the first time in the fall of 2014. She was scared at first to meet parents in their own environment.  But after doing a few, she says it changed her.
    Mary tells a story of a young girl who is a second language learner student. When she had a Parent Teacher Home Visit, she was greeted by the student’s parents and shown around their house. She was amazed at how welcoming the family was to her.
The father proudly showed her their garden and the daughter showed off her room. The whole family was excited about the experience.
   The father told Mary that when the garden produces she is welcome to share the crop with them.  “Getting to know the family closed the gap. I feel like a part of their extended family.Since the Parent Teacher Home Visit, these parents have become more involved with their child's education." 
   Mary reports, “From the Parent Teacher Home Visits, I see direct results in creating a more comfortable and productive learning and teaching environment in my classroom.”

   The parents also feel that they gained a friend in Mary. They warmly greet her in the school hallways now. They even invited her back to visit the garden for harvest season!

Friday, February 6, 2015

Strong Advocate for Parent Teacher Home VisitsArch Ruth, Principal at Alice Smith Elementary School

   “Parent Teacher Home Visits have breathed new life into my school. I am intrigued about how this is changing me, changing our teachers and building relationships with the families of our children,” reports Principal Arch Ruth.

   “Parent Teacher Home Visits allow us to reach out and build human connections with our students and families and build trust with each other. When you’re able to build this kind of special relationship, amazing results happen. I am a believer that it takes a community to raise a child.”

   He shared a story of a young boy who was having behavior issues and was struggling academically. The teacher and he did a Parent Teacher Home Visit to the student’s home. They  got to know the dad and the student better. They asked about their hopes and dreams.  "From that meeting we were able to understand where both the the father and the student were coming from and it was that Human Understanding that helped our school work more effectively with the student and support not only his learning, but the student as a growing, young man." 
   “ I have become a big fan of Parent Teacher Home Visits.”



Tuesday, January 20, 2015