Parent Seminar (Thursday October 21st)

Based on the results of our Parent Survey, many of you found value in having a seminar dedicated to how to work more effectively and collaboratively with Higher Achievement in supporting your scholars at home. I am very much looking forward to the seminar, and hope that you can make it out for this very informative session. The session will focus primarily on routine things you can do to check-in with scholars and promote ownership of executive functions. We will also discuss resources for supporting scholars in need of academic challenges and remediation. The session will take place on Thursday, October 21st from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Celebration of October birthdays will immediately follow. I hope to see you all there.

Ward 6 Parent Advisory Group

Ward 6 is in the process of forming a Parent Advisory Group. The goals of this group are to communicate with and on behalf of the families in identifying and meeting their needs. Moreover, this group will meet with center leadership to assist with upcoming activities and to ensure the needs of the scholars are met. This is a great opportunity for parents who would like to be more engaged in our Ward 6 community. For those of you who are interested in being a part of the Parent Advisory Group, please e-mail me at sdodsoniv@higherachievement.org.

Reminder: Parent Meeting

Parent Meeting -As a part of this year’s Parent Engagement Initiative, all Higher Achievement Centers will be holding parent and family meetings in March. These meetings will provide families andCenter staff with the opportunity to discuss school choices, academic course selection, and strategies for creating supportive academic environments at home. The meetings will be divided into two portions, a general discussion session followed by grade-specific break out sessions: 5th and 6th grade parents will discuss how to effectively collaborate between the school and Higher Achievement in supporting scholars; we’ll discuss the roles we all play in supporting scholars in their first year of Higher Achievement and middle school. Seventh grade parents will discuss High School Placement, and 8th grade parents will strategize for their scholar’s transition into the 9th grade.

The Ward 6 Parent Meeting will be held on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at our center in the Cafeteria. I look forward to seeing you all there and continuing to work to support you.

Parent Meeting

Parent Meeting -As a part of this year’s Parent Engagement Initiative, all Higher Achievement Centers will be holding parent and family meetings in March. These meetings will provide families and Center staff with the opportunity to discuss school choices, academic course selection, and strategies for creating supportive academic environments at home. The meetings will be divided into twoPortions, a general discussion session followed by grade-specific break out sessions: 5th and 6th grade parents will discuss how to effectively collaborate between the school and Higher Achievement in supporting scholars; we’ll discuss the roles we all play in supporting scholars in their 1st year of higher Achievement and Middle School. 7th grade parents will discuss high school placement, and 8th grade parents will strategize for their scholar’s transition into the 9th grade.

The Ward 6 Parent Meeting will be held on Thursday March 11, 2010 at our Center in the Cafeteria. I look forward to seeing you all there and continuing to work to support you.

Parent Engagement Opportunities

Chat and Chew- We are in the final planning stages for our Ward 6 Parent Chat and Chew. It has been great working with all of you this year and I want to continue to collaborate with you in finding the best ways to meet your needs and those of our scholars. This is one of many ways to engage with Higher Achievement and I hope we are able to better serve you through this event. When the date and topics are solidified, I’ll pass that information along.

Events at Center- In an effort to encourage great engagement among families, I want to encourage parents to volunteer to assist with upcoming Center events. Our next event is the Literary Love Poem Competition. Scholars will be creating “love” poems throughout this month culminating in a wonderful night of great poetry on Tuesday, February 16th. If you are interested in assisting with this event, please let me know. Anything from helping scholars memorize their poems, to participating in our editing day, to helping with decorations, food, planning, etc… any assistance you want to offer would be greatly appreciated.

Recruitment- This month marks the beginning of scholar recruitment for the upcoming summer term. Inevitably, there are parents that are not reached through classroom presentations, and subsequently families that are never made aware of our recruitment efforts. Parents, please reach out to your neighbors, friends and PTA members to help spread the word. I want everyone to at the very least have the opportunity to apply to be a part of our program. Lastly, if you could let me know of any upcoming parent events such as PTA meetings in your respective schools, I would like to coordinate an effort to inform those parents about our program. Thank you in advance.

Parent Institutes

This year, there is a big focus on bringing parents together to engage you around the topics you find most beneficial and valuable through a series of Parent Institutes. It is my goal to have one stand alone Parent Institute per Academy. This series of parent institutes are designed to bring parents together in an effort to collaborate and share your best practices with each other. On occasion, facilitators will be brought in as experts to contribute to the meeting as well. The 1st parent institute will be incorporated into our Back to Higher Achievement Night on September 30th and will focus on Academic Discipline and Goal Planning. I am very excited about the new changes and improvements to Back to Higher Achievement Night and look forward to collaborating with all of you throughout the year.