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Category: Family News & Resources

Nominations Open for 2017-2018 Lindback Awards for Distinguished Teaching

Nominations are now open for the 2017-18 Lindback Award for Distinguishing Teaching. This award provides a wonderful opportunity for outstanding teachers to be recognized for their contributions to their school communities while also receiving a $3,500 award. In accordance with the guidelines designated in the links below, a school leadership team in each school will...

Parent Guides to K-8 Report Cards

Confused by your child's report card? We can help with that! The District has created Parent Report Card Guides for Kindergarten through grade 8. Click below to download! Kindergarten Report Card Guide Grades 1-3 Report Card Guide Grades 4-8 Report Card Guide

DonorsChoose Alert for Teachers: Get a 2x Match on Family Engagement Event Projects!

Update: To ensure that we're able to support as many family engagement events as possible with gift cards for parents who attend, we're now offering gift cards to the first 10 parents to complete the survey at the family engagement event, while funds last. If funding remains later this spring, we'll make sure to award...

Integrating Restorative Practices into Family Engagement Programming

Usually in Focus on FACE, we try to discuss the positive things in our schools and in family engagement. But the reality is, for many people, school is not always positive and relationships between students, families, teachers, and administrators can be strained due to issues of school climate, safety, and culture. Many schools around the...

How to Have Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences

Research shows that student achievement increases when parents, students, and teachers work as a team. A parent-teacher conference is an opportunity for you and your child's teachers to engage in conversations about student learning at home and at school. Follow these 6 Steps for a GREAT Parent-Teacher Conference to get you started: Start...

Hill Harper Visits the School District of Philadelphia

On Friday, October 13, actor and author Hill Harper spoke to families, staff, students, and community members at 440 N. Broad Street in honor of the District's celebration of Family Engagement Month. Mr. Harper spoke about the importance of taking ownership over one’s neighborhood school and refusing to settle for sub-par educational standards. He encouraged...

Barry Elementary: Crafting a Meaningful Volunteer Experience

Very often when people are eager to volunteer in a School District of Philadelphia school they feel overwhelmed and confused. They ask, where do I start? Who do I talk to? What paperwork do I need? Will I make a difference? Jessica Freeman, School Improvement Support Liaison (SISL) at Commodore John Barry Elementary School in...

What do Philadelphia "Back to School Nights" Look Like to an Out-of-Towner?

This article was written by Jessica Maharaj, an AmeriCorps VISTA in the Office of Family and Community Engagement. Jessica is from outside of Savannah, Georgia and graduated from the University of Michigan in May 2017. In the following article, Jessica shares her thoughts and impressions of the time-honored Philadelphia tradition of "Back to School Night."...

It’s School Selection Season!

THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA OFFICE OF STUDENT ENROLLMENT AND PLACEMENT 2017-2018 School Selection Process Overview The School District of Philadelphia will be accepting online applications for the School Selection Process from September 29th to November 13th at 5:00 PM. The School Selection Process is for students and families who wish to apply to a school...

How Do We "Listen" to Families? Try a Human-Centered Design Approach

The following article is taken from the Harvard Family Research Project. Although years of research confirm the important role of families in student achievement, we continue to struggle with HOW to engage families in meaningful and effective ways. Human-centered design (also called design thinking) opens new possibilities for closing the gap between research and practice....

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