Program
Profile: Woodley Hills Elementary School Makes the Most of All
Resources
October 2004 issue of Educators' Notebook on Family
Involvement® newsletter
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https://www.bridges4kids.org.
Parents and
community members are an important part of the mix at Woodley
Hills Elementary School. Located in Alexandria, Virginia,
Woodley Hills is a culturally diverse school where more than 50
percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price
lunches.
Woodley Hills also is a school that succeeds, and it has more
than its share of accolades to prove it. In 2001, for example,
the Character Education Partnership selected Woodley Hills as
one of eight National Schools of Character. (The Character
Education Partnership is a Washington, DC-based coalition of
organizations and individuals committed to fostering effective
character education in the nation’s K–12 schools.)
A big part of Woodley Hills’ success, in addition to a talented
and dedicated staff, is the active involvement of parents and
community members. The Parent Resource Center is a hub of parent
activity. One popular feature is the computer bank that parents
can use to look for jobs, create resumes, and more. The center
also provides a place where parents can come to meet with
teachers in a more relaxed atmosphere and where they can come to
meet with other parents—an increasingly popular use.
The Parent Resource Center partners with the Communities in
Schools Program to provide classes for Hispanic parents who do
not speak English. The classes, which are taught in Spanish, are
designed to show parents what they can do at home to get their
preschoolers ready to read. Spanish-language books that parents
can read to their children are available, and parents are
encouraged to pick up books in English as well so they can
improve their own language abilities.
The school also enjoys strong support from the surrounding
community. One of the units from Fort Belvoir, a nearby military
base, provides mentors for Woodley Hills students. “They come in
during the day and spend time reading and talking with the
students—just checking in on them to see if they are doing their
work, if they need some support or just to talk,” assistant
principal Sharon Aldredge explains.
Woodley Hills makes the most of grant funding and corporate
partnerships, too. One very effective program is known as Family
and Student Technology (FAST). With start-up funding from a U.S.
Department of Education grant and ongoing support from a leading
supplier of classroom technology, the school is able to supply
each fifth-grader with a laptop computer and printer for use
during the school year. In conjunction with the FAST program,
fifth-grade parents are given training in how to use the
computers, as well.
“We are always looking for funding to continue and expand this
program,” Aldredge explains, adding that keeping the program
going is a priority. “As long as we have a computer that works,
we will send it home with a student,” she says.
“We also have a very strong PTA,” Aldredge notes. “They are
involved in so many aspects of our school and are the catalyst
for so much of what happens here at Woodley Hills. Last year,
for example, they organized a trip for our fourth-graders to go
to Richmond [Virginia], where they actually presented a bill to
the General Assembly.”
Aldredge met recently with a group of parents who are interested
in providing healthier, more nutritious lunches in the school
cafeteria—a response to the rising concern about childhood
obesity. “Our PTA really gets involved,” she says. “When they
see an issue, they are willing to step in and work to address
it. What we do here really is a collaborative partnership with
our parents and our community as a whole.”
Aldredge’s sentiments are echoed by PTA vice president Gwendolyn
Loftus, the mother of a fifth-grader. “You really can’t tell
where the PTA stops and the school begins. It’s such a
collaborative relationship.” And, she continues, it’s easy to
get involved. “This is a school that makes you feel welcome. You
feel wanted when you are here.”
Contact: Sharon Aldredge, Assistant Principal, Woodley Hills
Elementary School, 8718 Old Mt. Vernon Road, Alexandria, VA
22309, 703/799-2000.
(Reprinted with permission from the October 2004 issue of
Educators' Notebook on Family Involvement® newsletter. Copyright
© 2004 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. May not be
reprinted or distributed.)
Understanding Families: Weekly Time Focusing on Family
Brings Hard-to-Reach Parents to School
October 2004 issue of Educators'
Notebook on Family Involvement® newsletter
Today’s busy lifestyles can make
getting even some of the most highly educated parents involved
with their children’s education a challenge. The problems are
compounded when parents lack formal education and confidence
that they have the knowledge and skills to help their child.
The staff at one Portland, Oregon, school used a family history
project to bring such parents to the school and engage them in
activities designed to help build reading and writing skills and
boost self-confidence. The school is located in one of the
historically poorest sections of the city. Standard approaches,
such as sending home newsletters and asking parents to read with
their children, simply didn’t work in this environment.
Instead, parents were invited to come in for a two-hour session
once each week. They used the time to work on oral and written
histories of their families with their child. Parents would also
use the time to work on their own stories or poems about their
families, write in the journal they were asked to keep, or check
out library books to read with their children. In addition, they
worked with their children on specially designed language
development activities. For example, parents would make up a
story with their children—the parent would write the story and
the child would illustrate it.
The fact that the program worked gives testimony to the fact
that most parents want to help their children—regardless of
their life situation or socioeconomic status.
Source: “Family Involvement in Children’s Education: Bridging
School-Family Differences,” U.S. Department of Education,
www.ed.gov/pubs/FamInvolve/local5.html.
(Reprinted with permission from the October 2004 issue of
Educators' Notebook on Family Involvement® newsletter. Copyright
© 2004 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. May not be
copied or reproduced.)
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