cause of language or reading barriers. The Google translate feature at the bottom of the home page translates the entire website into a wide range of home languages. Parents who have difficulty seeing or reading the webpage can select larger or different color fonts to make the text accessible. The parents’ ability to communicate
with the school is as important as our abil- ity to communicate with parents. All teacher emails are hyper-linked to their teacher pages and all information pages include live links to the staff member responsible for coordinating the activity or program. For example, a visit to the debate team’s page in- cludes a link to the debate coach’s email ad- dress to ease communication. A banner feature includes up-to-the-
minute announcements, and the news feed shows upcoming events.
3.
Volunteering: Recruit and organize parent help and support.
Volunteers are anyone who “supports
school goals and children’s learning or de- velopment in any way, at any place, and at any time – not just during the school day and at the school building,” according to Epstein. A dedicated parent volunteer page is in-
cluded in the website. On this page, parents view participation opportunities and sign up to help at school. For upcoming events, the supervising staff member generates a list of parent volunteers to ensure they are wel- comed at the door and given visitor’s passes identifying their duties on campus. Parent volunteer opportunities include
everything from chaperoning dances and helping with lunchtime supervision to help- ing out in the library or classroom. The digi- tal media class creates a parent volunteer of the month feature for the website to high- light the activities of the parents who make a contribution to the success of students or the school. Some parents do not volunteer at the
school, but support students in other ways. Our staff trains local community service organizations, including the public library, the Boys and Girls Club and local sports groups, to provide information on the web- site to parents and community members. A
parent survey, offered one week per month, asks parents about their volunteer availabil- ity and feedback.
how to help students at home with home- work and other curriculum-related activi- ties, decisions and planning. Each teacher displays his or her course
4.
Learning at home: Provide infor- mation and ideas to families about
Students establish an account at school. The school provides training so that parents can open their own account and improve their reading skills. Using the program, parents and stu-
dents hone their reading and writing skills through reading selections tailored to the reader’s lexile level. The program provides guiding questions to help parents discuss homework reading selections with students.
guidelines and expectations on a teacher page. The hosting service supports docu- ment and video attachments. Each teacher uploads class documents, such as syllabi and class expectations, assignments and vid- eos to support their students’ achievement. These pages honor the needs of working par- ents and parents with a lower level of edu- cation by providing them tools to help their children with homework. School-wide instructional initiatives are
highlighted on the webpage on a monthly basis. To support increased rigor in the classroom, the district-wide Thinking Maps implementation is highlighted through a Thinking Map of the month item in the principal’s letter. The digital technology class videotapes the principal modeling Thinking Maps to help parents support their students at home. The school subscribes to a number of
web-based curricular programs. Among them is Achieve3000. The Achieve3000 link is among the first seen on the home page.
Again, the cookies feature allows parents
to set up a login username and password and the website will automatically populate these fields when the parent signs on from the same computer or device. Placement tests drive accelerated math
class placement, and the website provides links to study materials and extra practice for placement tests. Two math teachers are piloting “f lipped instruction” curricula by posting video lectures on their teacher pages on the website. With this method of instruction, students can go back and re- view a lecture multiple times until they un- derstand the material, while spending class time working on problems and projects with teacher support.
parent leaders and representatives. All school parent committees, includ-
5.
ing the School Site Council, English Learn- ers Advisory Committee, and the Parent
November/December 2012 37
Decision making: Include parents in school decisions, developing
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