A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.
Case Study: Together We Can Achieve More
Key Questions
In such a busy world, how do schools keep parents, students and community members informed and involved?
How does a successful mentoring program help?
The Situation
This educator’s school is faced with a problem which is good but also bad. The school has a student population of 758. With this many parents, one would think that parent participation is abundant. However, that is not the case. Most of the parents in this educator’s school are working parents who are often not available during the school day to attend lunches, special functions, conferences or fieldtrips with their children.
Answers to Questions
In such a busy world, how do schools keep parents, students and community members informed and involved?
This educator’s school is working very hard to inform and include all stakeholders of the school as much as possible. The School Council has a representative from the community along with a parent representative. The School Council helps to guide the school in the correct direction. The teachers at the school are working hard to create opportunities for parents to attend functions after work hours. The school has held curriculum nights, family movie nights and conference nights. The school maintains a website that is available 24 hours a day for parental and community access. The website features pictures of events held during the school day as well as a calendar of upcoming events. The pictures allow parents who work to “see” what is happening at their child’s school. Many teachers also have personal class web pages available for parents to communicate with teachers. A monthly calendar of school-wide events is also sent home for parents to have advanced notice of up-coming activities.
How does a successful mentoring program help?
The school recently implemented a mentoring program. Each teacher in the school selects a student who has been identified as “at-risk for failure”. The teacher develops a relationship with the student and assists the student when possible. Teachers will often attend class functions when the parent is unable to attend. The school has a total of 68 employees. Therefore, there are 68 students who have a mentor. The program has been very successful. The school also encourages community members to mentor students as well.
Evaluation
At this time, I would rate the school as proficient in promoting collaboration of all stakeholders. The school is meeting the needs of most parents and students. However, I believe there is room for improvement. The school needs to work on community involvement within the school setting. Hopefully, through the mentoring program, more community members will become involved.
