Starting in the 2018-2019 school year, the Office of Family and Community Engagement, with support from the William Penn Foundation and WestEd, is bringing Academic Parent-Teacher Teams to nine public elementary schools. Academic Parent-Teacher Teams are revolutionizing the way families and school staff interact and work together—find out more about this awesome program below, and stay tuned for updates throughout our first year!
What are Academic Parent-Teacher Teams?
Academic Parent-Teacher Teams, or APTT for short, are part of a family engagement framework that brings families and teachers together to collaborate and enrich the way families can support their child’s learning and education at home.
How does APTT Work?
APTT is based on 4 meetings that occur throughout the school year. There is a Fall team meeting, an individual session with the teacher, a Winter team meeting, and a Spring team meeting.
During the team meetings, teachers train classroom parents on how to support their children’s learning at home. Families learn about what their children are learning in school and ways they can reinforce this learning at home. The teacher leads the class in practicing homework skills and setting goals for their children.
Parents and family members also set “SMART” goals for their children. Together, the teacher and parent support the child in reaching this goals by the next APTT meeting, which occurs 60 days later.
During the individual session, parents meet with the teacher one-on-one to go over their child’s progress. The teacher and family then work together to create an action plan aimed at helping the child improve. Families can also use the individual session to talk to the teacher about more ways to help their child keep learning at home.
Why do we need APTT?
Believe it or not, students spend a lot more time at home than they do in school. Learning needs to keep happening outside the classroom, but oftentimes parents are unsure how to give their children the support they need. APTT can help families develop the skills they need to help students continue to learn at home.
Is APTT Actually Beneficial?
The short answer—yes!
APTT was developed by former teacher Maria Paredes, who began testing out the program in Phoenix, AZ in 2009. By 2015, the model was being used by 250 school in 16 different states, and by July 2017, the number of schools increased to 600 in 22 different states!
A recent study found that 94% of the 1,100 parents surveyed unanimously believed that APTT meetings improved the way they helped their child with schoolwork. 99% of those parents claimed that attending APTT meetings encouraged them to be more involved in their child’s education. Moreover, 92% of the 1,100 parents surveyed believed that APTT meetings made them more confident in their ability to give their child the support they needed in their education.
The same study revealed that 90% of teachers believed APTT meetings helped families become more engaged in their child’s education, and that the APTT program helped build a relationship between teachers and families. 74% of teachers believed that APTT meetings improved the way families supported grade level learning goals, and 70% of teachers claimed that they’ve seen improved achievement results reflected in student data after the implementation of APTT.
Sources:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2017/07/redesigned _parent_teacher_conference.html
http://iel.org/sites/default/files/APTT%20Chicago%20June%202015.pdf
