Collaborations for High School Students
The Kids’ Breakfast Club is a nonprofit organization run completely by volunteers. They recruit community mem- bers with expertise in a variety of topics to work with fami- lies. Every third and fourth Saturday of the month, the club hosts a breakfast and education gathering at a local school. Often, the volunteers are high school students. After a healthy breakfast, programs such as Family Science, FAM- ILY MATH, or Family Engineering are presented. Class leaders can be college or high school students,
retired educators, or community members with special skills to share. Often they are working alongside classroom teachers. Classes often include visits by people with careers in math, engineering, or science.
Grandparents and Parents As Leaders
In Berkeley, California, Lynne Alper volunteers at Rosa Parks School, where her granddaughter attends. Last spring, she brought together a group of parents and grandparents to lead a FAM- ILY MATH evening. A group of about twenty parents and caregivers met for an afternoon and evening to become familiar with the FM goals, activities, and games. After a quick break to eat a supper provided for them, they resumed with the training. Before the evening was over they had created stations, assigned themselves tasks and roles, and chose which station they would staff on the evening of the class. On the evening of their FAMILY MATH Night, over a hundred parents and children attended an evening of mathematics, pizza, and fun.
Unexpected Outcomes
Program evaluators report some unexpected benefits for families who participate in ongoing learning experiences together. For example: in FAMILY MATH, parents report more open communication with their children about school and other areas of their social lives. Families who have not previously participated in school events become more involved after attending FM classes (Ramage, Shields, 1999). In Family Literacy classes, parents and children agree that they listen more closely to one another’s ideas, and connect stories to their own lives or experiences. FM program evaluators also found that some FM parents also return to school to complete their degrees, GEDs, take ESL classes, or enroll in other learning programs.
Working Together
As classroom teachers and education leaders, we often have our days and evenings filled with activity. Collaborating with organizations, universities, museums, community-based groups, and like-minded others makes the work less daunting and more rewarding. Including family voices makes the work more culturally relevant and meaningful. Sharing the vision of a more creative, more informed, and more connected community can only lead to interesting and committed collaborative partners. !
RESOURCES
Henderson, K., and K. Mapp. “A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Con- nections on Student Achievement.” Annual Synthesis 2002. National Center for Family and Community Con- nections with Schools. SEDL. Austin, Texas. 2002.
Shields, P., and C. Ramage. FAMILY MATH Program Evaluation Report for the US Department of Education. Not published. 1996.
©SYNERGY LEARNING • 800-769-6199 • MARCH/APRIL 2012
Grace Dávila Coates directed FAMILY MATH at the University of Califor- nia at Berkeley from 1999 to 2011. She is the co- author of FAMILY MATH for Young Children, FAMILY MATH II, and the bestseller, English Language Learners in the Mathematics Class- room (Corwin Press). Ms. Coates currently works with New York City Schools providing profes- sional development for effective implementation of the New York State Common Core Learning Standards in Mathematics, and in Haverhill, Massa- chusetts, addressing issues of equity and access in mathematics for English Language Learners.
gcoates@berkeley.edu
Connect • PAGE 21
Parent with wall graph: a Rosa Parks School dad leads a probability and graphing station.
grace dàvila coates
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