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Friday, November 22, 2013

‘True Grit’ in LA: Five ways teachers, parents, schools come together | Hechinger Report

‘True Grit’ in LA: Five ways teachers, parents, schools come together | Hechinger Report:

‘True Grit’ in LA: Five ways teachers, parents, schools come together

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When it comes to meeting our students’ needs, it’s no secret among teachers that partnerships with parents are crucial. We may get to know students well during a seven-hour school day, but as teachers, we can never hope to know as much about our students as parents know about their children.
Angie Trae-Greenbarg
Angie Trae-Greenbarg
While parent engagement may seem like a no-brainer, getting it right takes dedicated and continued effort. Parents, teachers, and students alike are frequently frustrated by a number of roadblocks, such as scheduling conflicts, language barriers, lack of technology, and a by-the-numbers approach that doesn’t account for individual circumstances.
But when partnerships are done right, everyone thrives. By working to close the communication gap, Valor Academy, the school where I teach,  has created a collaborative culture and a support system for all of us. Now, with a feedback loop between students, parents, and teachers, we have a  robust picture of how students are doing – not just for the hours the child is in school, but all the hours at home that impact growth and development.
I recently participated in a series of focus groups with over 400 classroom teachers and administrators from some of Los Angeles’s most-improved schools. The work of these focus groups culminated in the report: “True Grit: The Game-Changing Factors and People Lifting School Performance in LAUSD.”
No school, including mine, said parent engagement was easy. But by evaluating a number of best practices, the survey identified actionable steps every school can take. Here are five simple, concrete 

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