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Chief Academic Officer
Dr. Joni Samples is the Chief Academic Officer of Family Friendly Schools.
Developing an impressive background that combines prestigious academic credentials with practical service as a lifelong educator, Dr. Joni has served as a superintendent of schools, special education administrator, curriculum and instruction director, CEO for early childhood, coordinator of career and technical programs, and a teacher for regular and special education, as well as university teaching programs.
Dr. Joni is also a sought after and popular keynote speaker/trainer in the area of family engagement. She has authored books about parent involvement in the education of their children. Her interest in parent involvement began with her four children-twin sons James and Christopher, and daughters Jennifer and Carolyn. The kids provided her daily learning "ahas" that she translated into a weekly newspaper column. An article about learning fractions came from measuring ingredients to make muffins with Christopher. James' science fair project about rat reproduction resulted in several articles on how to develop a scientific hypothesis and test it out.The popularity of the newspaper column led to Dr. Joni's first book, Taking the Guesswork out of School Success. This book stresses the importance of parent involvement in a child's learning, and shows schools and parents how they can help each other.
The Parent Playbook series, books with home-based activities matched to state learning standards, followed. Teachers, preschool to grade eight, have been delighted with the results when parents use the materials at home. Nikki Lleneras, a Parent Playbook fan and first grade teacher from Live Oak Unified School District, was out of her classroom for six weeks. The first thing her kids asked when she returned was, "Can we have our Parent Playbook games for home now?" Evidently, the substitute did not include the home activities in her lesson plans. Engage! Press released Dr. Joni's latest book, The Parent Connection, in the fall of 2009 to rave reviews.
When Dr. Joni Samples came on board at FFS, Sam Bartlett, CEO of Family Friendly Schools, had this to say about her: "We teach that family engagement is more than getting parents to show up at a school event. Real family engagement is the degree to which a family member is involved in the academic life of a child. Dr. Samples puts research into practice and actually shows parents how to do it. Her experience as a teacher and administrator also makes her the perfect practitioner to help school districts implement our Five Step Process for creating a family engagement culture. We are thrilled to have her as a critical part of our team." |
