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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 PRO Regional Grant Application 2015-2016 DRAFTParents Reaching Out (PRO) Grant Proposal 2015-2016 Submitted by the Parent Involvement Committee 1. Can you please provide a brief description of your organization, its history, mandate and mission/vision? The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s (OCDSB) Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) is the body that works to support engagement of parents at the district level to improve educational outcomes for our students. The mandate of the OCDSB’s PIC is to encourage, enhance and support parent engagement. Our vision is to support student achievement and well-being through initiatives that empower parents to play active roles in their child’s educational success. 2. What are the goals and objectives of your project? The goal of this year’s project is to enhance parent engagement in a way that positively impacts student achievement and well -being. Building on the success of our previous PRO Grant projects and lessons-learned, the PIC is proposing a three-prong parent engagement project. The three components of our project are:  Collaboration – PIC recognizes the importance of collaboration and over the next year would like to increase opportunities for collaboration with other district advisory committees and Ottawa-Carleton Association of School Councils (OCASC). This will create opportunities for dialogue and will assist the committee's in understanding their respective mandates and how to align their workplans to ensure optimal representation of parent interests. In this, PIC will be able to participate in collaborative efforts on behalf of parents and will be able to relay more relevant information to parents throughout the year. As well, parents will be updated on District news and on efforts which will impact them and their children. PIC and other District committees will be able to learn from one another and develop strategies together on how to best engage parents in their child’s learning.  Providing Parent Resources - Parents have expressed an interest in being provided with more resource documents and tools to support their child’s academic success. Building on the success of our 'school council training day', PIC would like to create a 'parent conference' which is more broadly focused in terms of providing p arents with access to resources and information about issues that support student learning and well-being; developing resilience, strategies for self- regulation, parenting in the age of technology, understanding program pathways, supporting transitions, success in mathematics and much more. This one day conference will give parents tools and ideas about how to support their child’s learning.  Sharing Knowledge through Speaker Series- Providing parent education within the community is a key to encouraging more parents to become engaged in their student’s education. Parents can get involved at home and at school. Our aim is for parents to become further educated on the topic of their child’s education, using our knowledge and the knowledge of experts. The Speaker Series engages parents by offering expert practitioners on topics of interest to parents. For the past number of years the Speaker Series, only made available because of the PRO grants we have secured, have been extremely successful in engaging our broad parent community 3. Why is this project important? Who will benefit from this project and how? Parents are integral to student achievement and well-being. Our projects aim to provide all parents with access to information that enhances their ability to parent and to support student learning (speaker series); to provide resources to parents that break down the barriers to education (resources); and to provide support and encouragement to parents who are engaged or inclined to be engaged in the school council (collaboration). 4. How will this initiative enhance parent engagement in support of improved student achievement and well-being? This project will benefit parents as it seeks to welcome and empower parents with information and provide them with the tools, language, and resources to communicate more effectively with educators. The collaboration between parents and educators benefits students directly in many ways. Parent involvement has a distinct impact on student achievement and well-being, and for this reason we would like to extend the reach of our project this coming year. There will be an added focus this year on New Canadian families, and reaching out to parents who, for any reason, are traditionally less engaged in their child’s learning. This project’s focus will engage more parents, and our upcoming initiatives will hopefully attract a more parents than before. 5. What are the regional and/or provincial implications of your project? How can your project be adapted for use in other regions? Our project’s main aim is to distribute valuable and helpful information to all our parents. Our interaction with parents at the speaker series sessions and at the school council day provide important forums for us to discuss issues and connect current issues, pedagogy and public discourse to Ministry curriculum and vision documents, and to key district priorities. As well, the development of online and print resources in conjunction with the collaboration with other committees further extends the reach of the project. Parents from outside our District would have the opportunity to access our resources and our collaboration with various other committees regionally, and provincially would aid further broaden our understanding of what parents across the region and across the province need. This is a model that is built on a relationship of trust and collaboration with our parent community and which recognizes the differentiated needs of parents. We would be happy to share our work and doing so would increase the consistency of information across the province such that parents province wide feel part of the same system. Also, through this project we seek to secure resources and experts that understand the needs of parents in our region and that align to the directives and programs offered by the Ministry of Education. 6. How does your project relate to one of the four project categories? Our three-pillar approach in this project covers all 4 categories — Parents as Partners, Welcoming School Board and School Environment for all Parents, Skill - Building Opportunities for Parents, Enhances Communication between School and Parents. Collaboration and the Sharing Knowledge address working with Parents as Partners as we are providing a direct link between parents, committees and community experts. This collaborative effort will also enhance communication between schools and parents. Each main pillar of our project seeks to enhance communication between parents and schools. The videos, brochures, Speakers Series, School Council Training day and the committee conference all offer parents with structured and varied skills, which will better help them and their child navigate through the education system. Finally, this year’s focus on New Canadian families and parents, as well as the inclusive environment which our events are part of contribute greatly to making the school board and the school environment welcoming to all parents and students. The idea is to enhance parent involvement in education with school councils so that schools are welcoming for both parents and students. 7. How are you going to meet your goals and objectives? Please describe what you will do, when you will do it, who will do it, and what results you expect. If you are planning an event, please provide a draft agenda as an appendix. Part A: Collaboration Collaboration with other OCASC and other District advisory committees (the Advisory Committee on the Arts, Special Education Advisory Committee, Advisory Committee on Extended Day and Child Care Programs) is an integral part of next year’s focus. SEAC has expressed an interest in submitting speaker series topics, and this is something that other committees could do as well. We would like to see further work done to enforce the relationships that PIC has with other groups within the education framework in order to provide parents with the most important and accurate information possible. PIC would be ideal to host a meeting or conference on collaboration. Parents have a major role in student success and well-being and this makes PIC a natural fit into the efforts of many other committees across the District. Part B: Providing Parent Resources through a Parent Conference Parents have expressed continued interest in being provided with more access to information and resources to support their child’s academic success and their well-being. In this pillar, we seek to host a one day parent workshop with print and electronic materials from the sessions that can be shared with other parents. Part C: Sharing Knowledge The Speaker Series engages parents by offering expert practitioners on topics of interest to parents. For the past number of years the Speaker Series, only made available because of the PRO grants we have secured, have been extremely successful in engaging our broad parent community. Although the Speaker Series is very well attended, we wish to make the event more accessible parents so hosting events at times other than weeknights is being considered. As well, reserve funds could be put towards an additional speaker series presentation for topics that may arise throughout the year. Some examples of topics that were not covered this year and will be considered for next year are:  Understanding assessment and evaluation (Curriculum Services)  Developing resilience in kids (Stuart Shanker)  Understanding early years (Karen Carruthers - check name she just spoke last Saturday @ Susan's event)  Head injury prevention and concussion management  Supporting Homework  Mental health initiatives in the District (Learning Support Services)  Supporting Students with special needs  Navigating the school system  Creativity  Understanding the teenage brain Working in partnership with OCASC, we will provide resources and supports to school councils, including a comprehensive School Council Training Day and workshop sessions on topics that support outreach activities. Training day provides breakout sessions for attendees to participate in a discussion facilitated by various District staff members. School Council Training Day- DRAFT Date: TBD Location: TBD Time Activity 8:30-9:00 a.m. Registration 9:00-9:10 a.m. Welcome 9:10-10:15 a.m. Keynote Address: What’s Ahead in Public Education Speaker: Director of Education 10:15-10:30 a.m. **Nutrition Break** 10:30-11:25 a.m. Workshops (choose one): 1.Presenters: TBD 2. Presenters: TBD 3. Presenters: TBD 4. Presenters: TBD 5. Presenters: TBD 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Workshops (choose one): 1. Presenters: TBD 2. Presenters: TBD 3. Presenters: TBD Time Activity 4. Presenters: TBD 5. Presenters: TBD 12:15- 1:15 p.m. **Lunch** 1:15- 2:00 p.m. Workshops (choose one): 1.Presenters: TBD 2. Presenters: TBD 3. Presenters: TBD 4. Presenters: TBD 5. Presenters: TBD 2:05- 2:50 p.m. Workshops (choose one): 1.Presenters: TBD 2. Presenters: TBD 3. Presenters: TBD 4. Presenters: TBD 5. Presenters: TBD 2:50- 3:10 p.m. Wrap up 8. How will you know if you meet your goal? Please describe how you will evaluate the success of your project. Please list some of the success/performance indicators you will be using. We hope to evaluate the success of our project in the following ways: Attendance at the Speakers Series is readily measurable and will provide metrics on which topics were of higher interest. The feedback to the resources we provide and the uptake on some of the suggestions will also be an indicator of success. Attendance and feedback from school council training day and committee conference will be an indicator of success in delivering helpful resources and information for councils. Numbers of views on videos is easily measurable and will provide metrics on which topics were of higher interest. 9. Who has worked with you to identify the need for this project and write the proposal? The PIC has worked in close collaboration with district staff to develop this proposal. PIC has discussed ideas and opportunities for the coming school year at their April meeting and has tried to develop a grant proposal which is aligned with feedback from the parent community as well as, topics of interest raised during outreach activities and Speaker Series events. The PIC also worked to align this project proposal with the strategic priorities of the school district. Our School Councils have identified areas in which PIC could be supportive. Paula Hall, the Board’s Policy Analyst and liaison to Ottawa -Carleton Assembly of School Councils and PIC and Susan Fullerton, PIC Chair have written the application jointly. 10. Could you please describe your experience in successfully im plementing and completing projects aimed at engaging parents to support their children's learning? Under the leadership of Chair Fullerton’s and with the support of District staff and OCASC, PIC has successfully designed, developed and produced an informa tion brochure intended to help parents understand ways in which to engage in their child’s education. This publication was developed by the parents of PIC and will be disseminated to over 130,000 parents in September 2014. The Committee has also hosted 8 Speaker Series events to give parents the information they need to have the confidence to help support their children in areas that are challenging. Additionally the PIC has worked together to improve the mutual gain for parents and staff from Board consultation plans, policy draft and program developments such as Child Care and the Extended Day program. 11. Please upload the following information if available: a list of Board of Directors an organizational chart a copy of your organization's by-laws or constitution a recent annual report This grant application is a partnership between the Ottawa -Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and the OCDSB PIC. All of our information is publicly available on the OCDSB website. PIC membership (Board of Directors) http://www.ocdsb.ca/par/pi/pic/Pages/Membership.aspx PIC mandate http://www.ocdsb.ca/par/pi/pic/Pages/WhatisPIC.aspx PIC bylaws http://www.ocdsb.ca/par/pi/pic/Docs/PIC%20ByLaws.pdf PIC Annual Report to be delivered to the Board of Trustees in June and will be publicly available after that.