Pre-Thesis (session 2)

Introduction
A successful school year includes the involvement of those who have a direct connection with the school: school employees, students, and parents or guardians. A relationship between all will help to ensure that the expectations of the school are understood, and that any misinterpretations are addressed immediately. According to Jo-Ann Cipriano Pepperl and Lawrence W. Lezotte, “A welcoming attitude is the single, most critical factor in encouraging parental involvement and partnership with the school, but not every school creates such an atmosphere” (2001, p. 3). This is true for a number of schools. A relationship is not built amongst the community, leading to difficulties throughout the year. That is why a welcoming presentation at the beginning of the year is necessary.
This thesis ties into the need of a partnership between the school and families. Building this home-school relationship will be done within the first week of school through a “Welcome Back” digital presentation for all families attending the school. The development of the project will directly relate to one of the correlates of an effective school, Positive Communication – School, Home, and Community. It will also allow the staff to work as a Professional Learning Community, collaboratively working towards the same goal. Schools can only hope for a successful school year, and open communication at the beginning of the year where expectations are stated is a starting point towards this success.

Preliminary Literature Review/Outline

• Pepperl, J.C., & Lezotte, L.W. (2001) Positive Home-School Relations. Michigan: Effective Schools Products, Ltd.
  

This book shares a number of researchers who discuss the topic of positive home-school relations. A common statement among these researchers was that parent involvement, in almost any form, improves student achievement. This activity improves children’s attitudes toward the school, achievement is increased, and children have a higher self-esteem (Pepperl & Lezotte, 2001).

• Patrikakou, E., & Weissberg, R. (1999, February 3). The Seven P's of School-Family Partnerships. Education Week, 18(21), 34. Retrieved April 18, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
  

This article focuses on the involvement of parents in their children’s education, and there are seven P’s for this partnership building: partnership as a priority, planned, proactive and persistent, positive, personalized, practical, and involves program monitoring. Addressing the different topics and building this relationship is “integral to the process of learning and successful of schooling” (Patrikakou & Weissberg, 1999. P. 4)

• Bowen, N. (1999, January). A role for school social workers in promoting student success through school-family partnerships. Social Work in Education, 21(1), 34-47. Retrieved April 18, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

The section in this article that relates directly to the project is the importance of parent-teacher communications. There is a need for better communication to improve student achievement. This leads to further discussion about expectations of the school and for the classroom.

• Laverick, D. (2008, February). Starting School: Welcoming Young Children and Families intoEarly School Experiences. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(4), 321-326. Retrieved April 18, 2009, doi:10.1007/s10643-007-0201-8
  

This article begins at the earlier years of education, including kindergarten. It states that families anticipate the start of the school years with expectations that may differ from those of the school they are attending. There is a need to welcome the children and their families into a formal school experience (Laverick, 2007). The article continues to discuss the transitions the children go through and what schools can do make the situation more comfortable.


Analysis Plan/Outline
1. Needs Assessment
a. Survey the need of the presentation and the format that is wanted by parents and students (surveymonkey.com, survey will need to be done in both English and Spanish)
i. Students: during computer lab time, have teachers guide students to taking the survey (upper grade individually, primary grades whole class)
ii. Parents: send note home for parents with information for the survey, those who have the Internet available to them at home or keep a computer in the office for parents to take the survey. Allow parents to go to computer lab also to take the survey.
b. Interview with administrator, what information is key for students and parents to know at the beginning of the year
c. E-mail teachers about other ideas and issues that might need to be discussed in the presentation
d. Do a focus group with teachers as to what information is key for students and parents to know at the beginning of the year

2. Analyze data collection
a. After collecting the data, analyze the need for the presentation
b. Make decision to final scenes that are going to be on the presentation

Design Plan/Outline
1. Storyboard the scenes for the presentation

2. Meet with Mr. Arseneau (school site technology support)
a. Issues to discuss
i. Equipment
ii. DVD information
iii. Ideas for an effective presentation

3. Conference Call with subject-matter experts about editing
a. Lloyd Callomay
b. A.J. Callomay
c. Cal State Long Beach professor (name?)

4. Plan with teachers/students for taping
a. Find teacher to do Spanish component of taping
b. Use before, during, and after school for taping times
c. Tape all the different issues to be included for presentation

5. Use iMovie for presentation
a. Use iMovie tutorials for extra support
b. Sort all editing issues (English and Spanish voices)
c. If using audio (songs) give credit
d. Check all the legal issues before burning the DVD

Testing Plan/Outline
1. Alpha Testing
a. Ms. King (administrators)
b. 3-4 Teachers

2. Beta Testing
a. Current Parents
b. One incoming parent

Implementation Plan/Outline
1. Implementation to occur the first week of school
a. Send notices home to parents about viewing the presentation at school
b. Each grade level will have a different viewing time during the week
c. Separate viewing for first-time families

2. Evaluation
a. Parents will fill out a survey about effectiveness of presentation
b. Personally interview teachers and the effectiveness of the building the relationship
between families and school
c. Interview principal about the effectiveness of presentation and overall feel from
parents