Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g09Hwd018164; Wed, 9 Jan 2002 12:58:39 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 12:58:39 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <BF6236623E01D511B48A00508B48566DFC332C@EXCHANGE_SERVER> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Thomas, Catherine" <CThomas@uws.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:580] Re: Opening remarks for this week's X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Status: O Content-Length: 10991 Lines: 256 Cleveland Reads has received many grants to research and develop tutoring programs for the K - 4 school children. We'd be glad to share our results. Catherine Thomas cthomas@uws.org (216) 436-2223 -----Original Message----- From: nifl-family@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-family@nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Laura Bercovitz Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 11:02 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:579] Re: Opening remarks for this week's This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0034_01C198F3.7D216520 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I think Sylvan brings up some very serious issues facing many who are trying to get their foot in the door of a school. It's something that would be interesting to get other's opinions and stories about. Who is the most effective contact in a school? Who should you build your relationship with in order to promote and then provide the support needed in running a school-based family literacy program? In my experience, given the hierarchy of schools, principals hold many of the cards. I've been in situations when the teachers didn't want to participate or didn't want their room used at night, but the principal supported the program and it happened. I've also shared the same experiences as Sylvan. However, oftentimes our contacts are in the coordinator, lead teacher or teacher positions. How and when do we start trying to contact and win over administrators. Let's share some stories! -----Original Message----- From: nifl-family@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-family@nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Sylvan Rainwater Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 3:54 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:571] Re: Opening remarks for this week's At 10:27 AM 01/07/2002 -0500, you wrote: > (Questions to start this week's discussion <SNIP> I welcome this discussion, as it is an issue for our program, on a couple of different fronts. >1. If your program is not currently serving school-aged* children and their >parents, why was this decision made? What barriers did your program >encounter or did you just decide not to try? Well, we don't exactly *don't* serve school-age children (K-12). In fact, we home visit families twice a month, and the kids in those families get services often there, primarily in the areas of parent education, assisting parents in volunteering in the child's classroom, helping with homework, etc. But it doesn't make sense to us to provide classroom instruction to those kids, since they are getting that in the public schools. I think this is a more complicated question, though. It has a lot to do with the divide in this country between pre-K and K-12 worlds. We had a Transition conference in Portland last spring, and it was an eye-opener to me. My field is adult ed, not ECE, so I didn't realize the extent of that divide. We even use different language to describe what we do, and what kids are doing. In Preschools we talk about Areas of Child Development (social/emotional, fine and large motor, cognitive, etc.). But K-12 focuses on content areas (Math, Reading, etc.). To use some broad generalizations, K-12 folks look down on preschool folks as glorified babysitters. Preschool teachers see K-12 people as too structured and demanding, inflexible and snooty. We've tried to find ways to integrate school-age children into our program (which has 0-3 and 3-5 y/o classrooms as well as an adult ed classroom), and have found home visits to be our best bet. We also do occasional parent night/family night parties so that fathers and siblings can come to the school and participate in activities together. Last spring we applied to the local school district for funding to replace at least some of the Even Start grant that was ending. The Title I coordinator was enthusiastic and encouraging, even more or less promising us the money. As spring went on, the amount of money promised was reduced, and finally it was cut to nothing altogether. It seems the Superintendent and the principals in the district felt that Pre-K was a luxury and there were more important things to address in a time of budget cuts. I'm not sure how we could infiltrate the district to change their minds about the importance of Pre-K family literacy to school readiness and parent involvement. So, we would like to serve school-age children more, but it seems more difficult than we had thought. I'd be very interested in hearing other perspectives on this issue. ------------------------------ Sylvan Rainwater . sylvan@cccchs.org Adult Education Teacher and Family Literacy Program Manager Clackamas County Children's Commission . Oregon City, OR USA ------=_NextPart_000_0034_01C198F3.7D216520 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3DWindows-1252"> <TITLE>[NIFL-FAMILY:571] Re: Opening remarks for this week's</TITLE> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.50.4616.200" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><SPAN class=3D700074815-09012002><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff = size=3D2>I=20 think Sylvan brings up some very serious issues facing many who are = trying to=20 get their foot in the door of a school. It's something that would = be=20 interesting to get other's opinions and stories about. =20 </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D700074815-09012002><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff = size=3D2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D700074815-09012002><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff = size=3D2>Who is=20 the most effective contact in a school? Who should you build your=20 relationship with in order to promote and then provide the support = needed in=20 running a school-based family literacy program?</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D700074815-09012002><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff = size=3D2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D700074815-09012002><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff = size=3D2>In my=20 experience, given the hierarchy of schools, principals hold many of the=20 cards. I've been in situations when the teachers didn't want to=20 participate or didn't want their room used at night, but the = principal=20 supported the program and it happened. I've also shared the same=20 experiences as Sylvan. However, oftentimes our contacts are in the = coordinator, lead teacher or teacher positions. How and when do we = start=20 trying to contact and win over administrators.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D700074815-09012002><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff = size=3D2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D700074815-09012002><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff = size=3D2>Let's=20 share some stories!</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=3Dltr style=3D"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV class=3DOutlookMessageHeader dir=3Dltr align=3Dleft><FONT = face=3DTahoma=20 size=3D2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> = nifl-family@nifl.gov=20 [mailto:nifl-family@nifl.gov]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Sylvan=20 Rainwater<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, January 08, 2002 3:54 = PM<BR><B>To:</B>=20 Multiple recipients of list<BR><B>Subject:</B> [NIFL-FAMILY:571] Re: = Opening=20 remarks for this week's<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><!-- Converted from = text/plain format --> <P><FONT size=3D2>At 10:27 AM 01/07/2002 -0500, you = wrote:<BR>> =20 (Questions to start this week's discussion <SNIP><BR><BR>I = welcome this=20 discussion, as it is an issue for our program, on a couple<BR>of = different=20 fronts.<BR><BR><BR>>1. If your program is not currently serving=20 school-aged* children and their<BR>>parents, why was this decision=20 made? What barriers did your program<BR>>encounter or did you = just=20 decide not to try?<BR><BR><BR>Well, we don't exactly *don't* serve = school-age=20 children (K-12). In fact,<BR>we home visit families twice a month, and = the=20 kids in those families get<BR>services often there, primarily in the = areas of=20 parent education, assisting<BR>parents in volunteering in the child's=20 classroom, helping with homework,<BR>etc. But it doesn't make sense to = us to=20 provide classroom instruction to<BR>those kids, since they are getting = that in=20 the public schools.<BR><BR>I think this is a more complicated = question,=20 though. It has a lot to do<BR>with the divide in this country between = pre-K=20 and K-12 worlds. We had a<BR>Transition conference in Portland last = spring,=20 and it was an eye-opener to<BR>me. My field is adult ed, not ECE, so I = didn't=20 realize the extent of that<BR>divide. We even use different language = to=20 describe what we do, and what<BR>kids are doing. In Preschools we talk = about=20 Areas of Child Development<BR>(social/emotional, fine and large motor, = cognitive, etc.). But K-12 focuses<BR>on content areas (Math, Reading, = etc.).=20 To use some broad generalizations,<BR>K-12 folks look down on = preschool folks=20 as glorified babysitters. Preschool<BR>teachers see K-12 people as too = structured and demanding, inflexible and<BR>snooty.<BR><BR>We've tried = to find=20 ways to integrate school-age children into our program<BR>(which has = 0-3 and=20 3-5 y/o classrooms as well as an adult ed classroom),<BR>and have = found home=20 visits to be our best bet. We also do occasional = parent<BR>night/family night=20 parties so that fathers and siblings can come to the<BR>school and = participate=20 in activities together.<BR><BR>Last spring we applied to the local = school=20 district for funding to replace<BR>at least some of the Even Start = grant that=20 was ending. The Title I<BR>coordinator was enthusiastic and = encouraging, even=20 more or less promising<BR>us the money. As spring went on, the amount = of money=20 promised was reduced,<BR>and finally it was cut to nothing altogether. = It=20 seems the Superintendent<BR>and the principals in the district felt = that Pre-K=20 was a luxury and there<BR>were more important things to address in a = time of=20 budget cuts. I'm not<BR>sure how we could infiltrate the district to = change=20 their minds about the<BR>importance of Pre-K family literacy<BR>to = school=20 readiness and parent involvement.<BR><BR>So, we would like to serve = school-age=20 children more, but it seems more<BR>difficult than we had = thought.<BR><BR>I'd=20 be very interested in hearing other perspectives on this=20 issue.<BR><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR>Sylvan = Rainwater =20 . sylvan@cccchs.org<BR>Adult Education Teacher and Family = Literacy=20 Program Manager<BR>Clackamas County Children's Commission = . Oregon=20 City, OR USA<BR></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_0034_01C198F3.7D216520--
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