Instructional Improvement and
Parental Engagement
A teacher in the Ravenswood City School District participates in a small group lesson, enriched with support from the New Teacher Center, a Hewlett grantee.
In a region with wide gaps in income and educational opportunity, many disadvantaged youth fall far behind, eventually dropping out of school to take low-paying, dead-end jobs. In 2006, Regional Grants and the Education Program worked to reverse this trend. In the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto and Hayward School Districts, we funded initiatives focused on:
- Improving classroom instruction.
- Enriching after-school programs with learning opportunities.
- Increasing parents’ engagement with their children’s education.
2006 Highlights
After-school programs offer a prime opportunity to extend learning throughout the day. However, for children in low-performing school districts, these programs are rarely aligned with classroom teaching. And program staff often lack the skills to help children—especially English-language learners—who struggle with math and literacy. In 2006, we made grants to the Ravenswood City School District, the New Teacher Center, and the Boys and Girls Club, all aimed at coaching after-school staff and piloting small-group, after-hours instruction programs in five East Palo Alto schools.
Children do better when their parents are actively engaged in their education. Yet many Bay Area parents, particularly new immigrants, are frustrated by unfamiliarity with our educational system and poor communication with predominantly English-speaking teachers. Grants to Nuestra Casa in East Palo Alto have successfully addressed these problems by supporting immigrant parent organizing and education. In 2006, 247 parents enrolled in its English as a Second Language (ESL) program, and 11 percent tested into community college–level ESL courses at the program’s end. And under the guidance of a newly hired parent organizer, 201 adults participated in a Parent Leadership Institute, with 27 percent improving their ability to communicate about their children’s educational progress.
2007 Goals
- Increase the literacy and math proficiency of 80 percent of the children participating in demonstration programs in four East Palo Alto schools
- Create a Web-based system of all student services that can be easily accessed and regularly used by teachers
- Complete the parental engagement plan in the Hayward School District
