Engage!

An Ad Extravaganza

2008-02-04T15:35:00.000-05:00

The Super Bowl is an advertising extravaganza. This year companies spent $2.6 million per advertising slot. Many of the biggest names like Coca-Cola, Doritos, and Budweiser purchased multiple slots, and spent months of creative energy and hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop their ads. What is it that they get for their investment?

Robert Passikoff, founder and president of New York-based Brand Keys says “It has nothing to do with "being watched" or awareness levels, and everything to do with viewers being emotionally engaged." A former CEO of WalMart said it best - “we are not in the business to be noticed; we’re in the business to be chosen.”

School efforts to engage families in the academic life of their child are no different. It is not enough for families to know that the school has undertaken an initiative to increase their involvement. With limited resources of time and money, schools must carefully choose both what activities they pursue, and how and where they communicate with families to get them to actually engage. So how do you do that?

Brand Keys has developed a Super Bowl Engagement Survey designed to measure just how much “bang for the buck” a company is likely to get for their investment in a Super Bowl Ad. Doritos, for example, gets a whopping 1500% return on their investment. Disney can expect a mere 200%. Brand Keys helps clients shape their message to engage their target market, and maximize the value of their investment.

In the same way, the Engage Institute 5-Step Process begins with a Family Engagement Survey to determine where a school should focus to get the greatest return on investment. Schools and districts are often tempted to skip this step and simply have a Certified Family Engagement Specialist come and speak to their leadership team or staff. Experience has shown that the return on investment for these “events” is always less than the return on a carefully crafted, data-driven 5-Step Process. The Engage Institute partners with schools in the 5-Step Process to interpret the data and coach them through the process of developing and executing their engagement goals.

The good news is that the 5-Step Process is far less expensive than $2.6 million for 30 seconds. The great news is that it works!

Check out the Super Bowl ads here!

Extreme Makeover: School Edition

2008-01-22T10:57:00.000-05:00

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has become one of my favorite television shows. The show, which airs on ABC, is dedicated to rebuilding a family’s home when the family is in need of hope. The transformation is no mere facelift. There are no new coats of paint, additions to the existing structure, or patches here and there. The old is literally torn down, and while some of the elements of the old house may be reused in new ways, what emerges is a completely new home.

Schools could learn a lot from that show. There are many students and families who have lost hope in schools all over this country. The hopeless leads to despair and disengagement, and without outside intervention, these situations can’t be rebuilt. Band-aids, newsletters, and progress reports will not create the extreme makeover for these students and their families.

On the television show, a small team of people arrives at the house of the family for whom the makeover is being done. They spend time getting to know the family, connecting with them, learning about each person’s unique interests, and any special needs or circumstances that will need to be considered in the makeover design. Community resources are then marshaled, as scores of individuals and businesses rally to replace the old structure with just what is needed for each member of that specific family to give them new hope for a brighter future.

The disillusioned and disenfranchised families in our school communities are not all that different than the families on the ABC show. The circumstances that have led to their sense of hopelessness and despair, and caused them to disengage are really not important. What is important is what WE do next.

What if we sent a small team of people to the home of that family? What if we spent time getting to know them, and learning about their unique interests, needs, and circumstances? What if we reached out and helped meet those needs and began restoring hope?

Rhonda Ulmer of Van Bokkelen Elementary School in Severn, Maryland did just that. Five years ago, Van Bokkelen was one of the worst performing schools in the entire state, and was in danger of state takeover because of failure to make AYP for more than one year. Rhonda knew that something major needed to happen. And so she started reaching out to families in the community, soliciting help to get the school turned around. It didn’t take long before it was clear to her that the reason that many families were not more engaged in the school was because all of their time and energy was going to solve more basic challenges like providing shelter for their family, getting medical care for their children, putting food on the table, and trying to keep their children safe while they worked two jobs to just keep their head above water most of the time.

So Rhonda started marshalling community resources to meet the needs. She convinced the city to buy an abandoned building in the middle of the neighborhood, just up the street from the school, and put a medical clinic there. She had local groups bring first time homebuyers programs, complete with incentives that contributed down payments to purchasers completing a financial education program to the school. She brought GED programs to the school. She brought job skills training programs. She brought after school enrichment and child care programs. She brought more and more programs that addressed more and more of the basic needs the families needed. The school became the hub of the community, meeting the needs of more than just elementary aged students. As families started coming to the school to access these basic needs through the services offered there, they began connecting with teachers, with the principal, and with each other.

Five years later, Van Bokkelen has been transformed. Seventy-eight percent of fifth graders scored proficient or advanced in state math testing this year. The school has made AYP 4 years in a row. Grades and test scores are up across the board – but even more importantly – hope is restored to families who were desperately in need of hope – and re-engaged in the educational lives of their children.

Where will the next Extreme Makeover: School Edition be?

What is a Family Friendly School?

2008-01-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

I get asked this question a lot. Unfortunately, the word “friendly” has all sorts of connotations in the minds of many that do not further the cause of systemic family engagement. Many people loosely throw the term around to mean everything from caving in to every parent’s demands to using it as a battering ram to clobber any decision, regulation, or policy that somebody, somewhere doesn’t like. I thought it was time to set the record straight. From our perspective, the following paragraphs constitute the foundational philosophical pillars of what we believe constitutes a Family Friendly School.

A family friendly school is one that is committed to establishing healthy relationships with all families to support the learning outcomes of all children through active family engagement.

Schools that support a family friendly philosophy believe in and nurture the active engagement of all parents and families and put into place systems and processes to engage those parents and families that may, for whatever reason, be disengaged. Schools that are family friendly understand that families are the first and most influential teachers of their children. Without successful relationships and engagement, the ultimate goal of all students learning may remain an elusive dream.

A family friendly school is a welcoming school that desires effective two-way communication with families and is committed to ensuring that all students and their families have successful experiences. At those junctures when conflict or problems arise, a family friendly school is committed to an open dialog about issues. A family friendly school engages families in the creation of procedures, policies, and practices and continuously reviews them to ensure applicability and clarity. Once established, policies, procedures, and practices are adhered to by all staff, students and families and are communicated diligently throughout the school and community. The key to success is constancy to purpose.

A family friendly school has at its core the fundamental principle that families must be engaged in the academic lives of their children and to that end, incorporates the philosophy into an overall continuous improvement plan. School staff reach out to all families, with an emphasis on those families that are non-traditional or whose situations may lead to disengagement from education. All staff support the important construct of home learning by designing systems and processes to build the educational culture, capital and capacity of all families so that their children, regardless of circumstances, are successful.

Most importantly, a family friendly school does not surmise successful engagement based on anecdotal information but rather, engages in a model of quality planning and evaluation that incorporates specific data to ensure the continuous improvement of efforts to engage all families and thus, improve the learning outcomes for all children.

Happy Holidays for All

2007-12-18T14:08:00.000-05:00

For every year that I was a principal, I reminded my staff that the holiday season usually characterized by celebrations, gifts, and glad tidings, was a difficult time for many families. Not every child is happy during the holidays. Not every family comes together to celebrate in a Norman Rockwell style. While the holidays are cause for positive feelings in most students, a small but significant number of students will react negatively to the festive atmosphere which surrounds them.

Some families are poor and will have no presents or celebrations at Christmas. Some families are broken or dysfunctional and the holidays only exacerbate the negative situation the family finds itself in. Some families are homeless and for them, a warm place to sleep and a meal takes priority over presents and parties. The children in these families sometimes act out negatively in school during the weeks preceding the holiday vacations. Their frustrations will manifest themselves in unusual and disapproving behaviors.

'Tis the season to understand that not every child finds happiness at this time of year. It would serve us well to pay special attention to those students whose behaviors seem unusual or uncharacteristic. Many times these uncharacteristic behaviors are caused by the contradiction between a joyful atmosphere at school and the reality of their personal circumstances. The best gift a child could receive is a teacher or principal who understands their world and appreciates them just the same. At no cost and very little time, we can provide the wonderful gift of understanding and value.

I wish you a healthy, happy, and peaceful holiday season. Thank you for the work that you do with children each and every day. We need you and I appreciate you.

Underprivileged Children and Tests

2007-12-10T09:28:00.000-05:00

The Program for International Student Assessment has released findings for students in science around the world. As is almost always the case, the United States is painted as lagging behind the world.

18% of the variance of the American student science scores was related to the students’ socio-economic status. The fact that socioeconomic factors appeared to be less of a factor in higher-scoring nations is no accident, say the authors of the report, from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which oversees PISA.

“PISA suggests that maximizing overall performance and securing similar levels of performance among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds can be achieved simultaneously,” they write. “Quality and equity need not be considered as competing policy objectives.”

Even with NCLB, our public school system continues to give low SES students a less rigorous curriculum and less educational resources. Title I funding is designed to support underprivileged children and their families.

If we could rally behind these kids and in tandem raise the academic culture and capital of their families, I believe we could be successful in closing this gap once and for all.

All or Nothing

2007-11-30T13:32:00.000-05:00

I am always both delighted and mystified by schools and districts that subscribe to various programs and trainings within the field of family engagement. I applaud the efforts of any district willing to take this step. Certainly any attention to families is delightful to me! With that said though, there still is a part of me that is baffled by the idea that incorporating one strategy will bring about the needed change of culture so that all children can learn and that family engagement is a driving force in the support of learning outcomes.

Many schools have upgraded technology so that parents can view grades and other information on line. Further, teacher websites and blogs are becoming more and more popular. I also read recently that many schools are training their teachers to make home visits. I think that is fantastic. We have known for years that outreach is the key to engaging disengaged families. Our battle cry of “before they will come to you-you must go to them” should be familiar with anyone who has hung around an FFS workshop or Institute. Two-way communication is paramount to lasting success with families.

My concern centers on the idea of systemic implementation. Web sites and home visits, like any other strategy in a comprehensive family engagement process, are beneficial if all teachers and staff participate and believe by doing so they can make an academic difference in the lives of the children who need it most. I often use the following scenario in workshops to illustrate my point.

You are a parent. Your child is placed in a classroom of a teacher who believes in the power of family engagement and as a result, works tirelessly to build strong relationships with families. This teacher makes home visits, sends weekly newsletters, keeps website information timely, and is in constant telephone communication about progress, balancing positive and negative information to parents and families. Parents and families quickly understand the passion this teacher exhibits and are extremely appreciative of the efforts. At the end of the school year, neither the child nor their family wants to leave this teacher.

The following year, your child is placed in another classroom with a teacher of equal academic skill and compassion for learning, but one who does not fully subscribe to the tenants of family engagement. Communication is sparse and the teacher chooses not to make home visits, chooses not to use the web as a communication tool, and only uses telephone communication to share negative news. Families equate this to a rug being pulled from under them. They now have negative feelings toward this teacher and soon those feelings are translated toward the school. The mere fact of the inconsistent use of strategies to engage families itself becomes a catalyst for disengagement.

In the midst of writing this article, I did a mini-study. I visited the websites of twenty school districts, randomly selected from various state departments of education websites. Within each of the districts, I visited one elementary site, one middle school site and one high school site. That means that I visited 60 individual school websites. Of the sixty websites, 36 of them featured teacher web pages. Of the 36 sites that use individual teacher website technology, none of them-not one-had all of the teachers using this technology. When parents and families visit the site, and see that their child’s teacher does not use the technology, the message they receive is that the school or the teachers don’t care enough to supply this information. The blank sites do more harm than good.

All or nothing. I have believed for years that the correct approach to family engagement is to understand that it is a process to which all must subscribe and one that has the ability to change the culture of an organization so that the efforts are sustained and produce lasting and measurable results. Strategies employed devoid of a process are sporadic and temporary at best. We have spent too many years wasting resources and the valuable time of teachers by parading endless programs of sure-fire strategies without connecting those strategies to a complete system of reform. Let’s watch and see how many schools that have employed these strategies are still doing them in a year; or two years; or five years.

A Crack in the Wall of School Choice

2007-11-19T10:14:00.000-05:00

I’m so excited, I could bust!

Finally, after years of NCLB and the Bush rhetoric about parent involvement centering on parental choice, a study has concluded that parental choice doesn’t necessarily reap academic achievement.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin has had a pioneering effort to give parents choices as to where their children would attend school. So no one thinks I am hyperbolizing or making stuff up, let me share some significant quotes from the article. You can read the entire article here.

“A new study shows that the Milwaukee, Wis., school system’s pioneering move toward parental choice isn’t reaping significant educational achievement….The option does not seem to inspire parents to choose schools based on academics.

Only 10 percent of Milwaukee public school parents exercise choice by considering at least two schools and basing their decision on academic criteria and school performance, the study says.

The Milwaukee study, however, suggests that allowing parents to choose a school does not necessarily inspire parental involvement.

Milwaukee has been the focus for some time on the parental choice/voucher option as a way to improve public education. So far the results there give little comfort to that view.”

The Federal Government, since this administration has taken control, has completely disregarded what family engagement is, that being the strong relationships that need to exist between home and school so that a child’s academic progress is positively affected. Of course, in true Republican style, the right-wing think tank that did the study indicated that parental involvement may not be the key to school success. Unfortunately, even when being beaten with their own bat, they still don’t get it.

I have said in every speech and workshop that I have ever done that parents want to know that their child’s school cares about their children and that they have some say and understanding with regard to the education of their children. Simply giving them a choice of schools, most of which shun real involvement and parental engagement, is like giving them a choice between cancer and polio. Most parents believe that it is better to stay with the “devil they know.”

Don’t get me wrong, I think parents should have a choice in where their children are educated, whether that be at home, in public, or private school. I just don’t think it is prudent to define parental involvement as “parents right to choose a school.” That definition barely makes it into the category of shortsighted and self-serving.

Hopefully, hundreds of studies will be done and everyone will start to see what we have known for a long time; parent involvement is not the only conduit to improved achievement, but without it, we most likely will never get to where we want to be with regard to all children learning.

Reformers who Reform High School Reform

2007-11-12T09:41:00.000-05:00

I realize that I have been on a reform kick of late, but the topic seems to be dominating a lot of educational thinking of late. There has been much discussion about the national efforts to reform our nation’s high schools and an equal amount of discussion about how that reform is really not taking shape at all. Much of what is being bantered about is not new. To me it seems rather redundant to shout that our high schools are failing, argue about what needs to be done, and then propose the very same solutions that have been used for as long as I can remember.

W. Norton Grubb and Jeannie Oakes, two professors from California, argue that the “push to enhance rigor and standards behind the high school diploma is seriously flawed.” (See Education Week, October 10, 2007 for the full story). Their arguments suggest that these gains come at the expense of other goals in high school reform such as equity, curricular relevance, and student interest. I guess, as do the professors, that one needs to define rigor in order to determine whether or not the pursuit of it is worthwhile. Unfortunately, the barely one-dimensional pundits quickly define rigor as test scores. The monotony of these types of arguments is deafening. Unfortunately, the two professors are taking somewhat of a flogging with regard to their thinking.

One of my favorite studies is “Answers in the Toolbox.” Written in 1999, it finds an important and perhaps the most salient point, that being this: the best predictor of a student finishing a bachelors degree in the allotted four years has more to do with the degree to which the student challenged themselves while in high school and less to do with the student’s grade point average.

As a former high school principal in charge of insuring that all children learn, I remember being constantly faced with a dilemma. We as a staff would work tirelessly to promote rigorous courses to our students, only to find them dropping back to less rigorous courses the minute the course was perceived by the student to be too difficult (loosely translated: more effort than they wanted to put forth or the point at which they needed to exert more effort than usual). Inevitably, the student would convince their parent(s) of the problem and a note would appear approving the change in course level. The essential question for us then, became this: How do we promote rigor and keep our students in the courses?

The answer, as we found out, was quite simple: Help their parents and families understand why rigor and challenge are important. I will be the first one to admit that this is a rather Herculean task, given the emphasis on grade point averages and the desires of many parents to see their children become successful professional athletes. However, when we educate parents and families as to what is truly important, they begin to understand the motives for placing their children in courses that are more rigorous. Building relationships with parents that foster good communication, will help us when the issue is critical, that being, the day a child comes home and asks for “a note” to get out of a class.

I do agree however, that we must get our colleges and Universities to understand this concept. Their reliance on test scores and grade point averages do not serve them well. I would hope at some point, universities will look to the percentage of students who actually graduate in four years, and those who never graduate. Universities don’t give degrees; students get them…or not.

I believe that those at the forefront of high school reform seem to be myopic with regard to what rigor really is. Challenging the thought processes of students in the classroom and using higher order thinking skills are a few examples of rigor. Of course, having a high expectation of students is the first step to promoting challenging classroom environments.

With all of the rhetoric being flung around from Bill Gates to Oprah Winfrey, no one is discussing the important role that parents and families must take if our high school students are to be successful. Who do you think can best influence student interest? Curricular relevance? I am somewhat astonished that after all of the attempts to reform high schools, we still swim around and around in the same shallow pool of test scores, test scores, and more test scores.

Longitudinal knowledge has never been one of education’s strong points. Did we forget that after Ronald Regan’s “A Nation at Risk” report, we ran to add graduation credits? More math! More science! That was 1983. Here we are in 2007, talking about the same issues and trying to apply the same thinking as we did almost a quarter century ago.

Promoting rigor, relevance, and relationships are key issues to high school reform. Parents and families must play a significant role in promoting high expectations and rigor in the classroom. Educators must build successful relationships with parents and families to build their educational capital. The future of education depends on it.

An Overwhelming Response to an Underwhelming Newspaper Poll

2007-11-05T10:12:00.000-05:00

Victorville California is a town on the outskirts of Los Angeles; at least that’s what Mapquest says. I’ve never been there.

The Victorville Daily Press published a story on Sunday October 28th about how much trouble schools were in. Having a thimble-full of understanding of the media industry I would guess that publishing this article on a Sunday was not an accident, but a calculated decision to get the story in front of as many people as possible. It took a nice swipe at just about everyone connected with education and used a “poll” to justify the story.

The VV Daily Press did a poll, like thousands of other newspapers in the country. We don’t know if the poll was scientific or not, nor do we know who responded. We, the reader, only know that the VV Daily Press asked this question:

Do you believe that public schools are doing a good job of preparing students for the future?

I don’t have enough space to write down all the things that are wrong with the VV Daily Press poll. It would overwhelm me. According to them, 344 people said “no” and 106 people said “yes.” The paper concluded that the responses were “overwhelming.” They might be right on that one, as long as you define overwhelming. If there are only 561 people in Victorville, then, I would agree, the response is overwhelming. Unfortunately the question is so bad that the barely 2 to 1 response rate is meaningless. Perhaps the fires are causing their judgment to be clouded.

Was the question asked on their web page? If so, then the same person could respond more than once. That, my friends, takes all the science right out of it. Was the question asked by telephone? If so, how did the Daily Press decide who to call? Perhaps it was one of those automated phone calls where you press “1 for yes” and “2 for no” provided you understood the question, or understood English. Did the people who responded to the poll actually have children in the schools or live in the community? What schools were they referring to when asking the question? I could go on and on.

And what about that question? The problem lies in the question itself. For example, the paper quotes a parent as saying: “Schools are a joke. Thugs run the campus, creating an unsafe environment, and principals cower to the pressure of parents instead of doing the right thing for the students who are there to learn,” said parent Kasey Ruiz. “No wonder drop-out rates keep climbing. Kids are saying, ‘What’s the point?’ ”

As a former principal, I take offense to that quote. I never cowered. I might have hid in the bathroom once or twice, but that was to avoid reporters, crazy people, or lunch duty.

This quote is typical of a phenomenon in society. The Gallup Poll people (they actually know how to conduct a poll) found that schools to which people assign low grades do not exist. Many people make generalizations about schools that they do not have children attending or assign low grades to schools in communities in which they do not live. Many people’s perceptions of schools are derived directly from information gleaned from the media.

I have some advice for the Victorville Daily Press. Ask the question again, only this time, re-word the question without the implied bias. Perhaps this might work:

Do you think that your child’s school is doing a good job preparing your child for the future?

Oh, that’s right. Getting the correct outcome, whatever that might be, won’t be…well…overwhelming.

Middle and High School Reform: The Role of Family Engagement

2007-10-26T08:17:00.000-04:00

Recently, I read the report that I am sure many of you read which found that math scores in the United States have improved slightly for the nation’s fourth and eighth grade students. However, progress in narrowing racial and ethnic performance gaps remains slow and in some cases has stalled, especially in our middle and high schools. Even though there is continued focus on helping our middle and high schools improve, we can’t seem to turn that elusive corner of seeing most of our secondary schools on an aggressive path of improvement.

The Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center publishes a variety of reports that delve into the issue of school reform. I am particularly interested, due to my years in secondary school, in those reforms that are dedicated to our secondary schools. In October, 2006, the CSRQ published a report on middle and high school comprehensive reform models. The 18 models provide various approaches to whole-school reforms at the secondary level. Each model was profiled and rated in five main categories, with three subcategories under Category 1 and two subcategories under Category 5. (You can connect with report to review all of these categories and reform models by clicking on the word “report” above.)

As could be expected, I was interested in Category 3, the positive effects the reform model had on parent, family, and community involvement. The CSRQ uses a rating system of “Very Strong” through to “Negative” and “No Rating.” 17 of the 18 models were rated “No Rating” in the category of “Evidence of Positive Effects on Parent, Family, and Community Involvement.” The 18^th model, that being the School Development Program, achieved a rating of “Limited.” Limited is defined as “while some evidence of effectiveness is noted, more rigorous research needs to be conducted on the model to fully support its effectiveness or quality for the category reviewed.

Here’s the kicker… Of the 18 models studied, 8 were rated with “Zero” rating, 5 were rated “Limited,” and 5 were rated as “Moderate.” No model was rated “Moderately Strong” or “Very Strong.”

I think it’s time for all of us to understand one very important fact: We as educators may be at the end of what we can do to improve our schools without taking seriously the notion of engaging families. Families are the first and best teachers of their children. Until we put systems and processes in place that engage disengage families (which are directly correlated to disengaged students and low achievement) I believe that we will continue to search for the “Holy Grail” of school reform only to have it continue to elude us.

Final Thoughts and Impressions

2007-10-15T08:36:00.001-04:00

This is a continuing series by Dr. Steve Constantino chronicling his recent trip to Australia

It was certainly a whirlwind trip to the land down under. I wish that I had had a bit more time to explore this wonderful country. As I mentioned this wish to my new Aussie friends each of the responded the very same way, “well, that means you will have to return, mate!” I do plan on making a return trip to Oz. (Oz is how Australians refer to their own country!)

Thanks to our dutiful friend and guide, John O’Meara, I did get to see some pretty amazing things. I was under strict orders not to even think about returning to the US without a picture of kangaroos. Luckily, Jan Gregory took us on a wonderful road where there were many kangaroos hopping around in the wild. Here is a picture of a pair that seemed to want to pose for us.

After the principal’s overnight in Marysville, John took me to Steavenson Falls. Here is a picture of my good friend John standing in front of Steavenson Falls. The area surrounding the falls is reminiscent of the rain forest. Here are some shots I took as we traveled through the park adjacent to the falls.

Leaving the Marysville area, we had about an hours drive back to Yea. John and his lovely wife Liz wanted to take me out to dinner in Melbourne. John asked if Little Italy sounded good. Absolutely! As we drove toward Yea, there was one of the most vivid rainbows that I had ever seen.

Upon arriving in Yea, John took us to a park where the children of Yea had just completed a pathway, in the shape of a snake, which told the story of the different historical periods of the evolution of the earth. Aborigines folklore was detailed in the shape of the snake and the artwork that adorned the path. This community project was funded with a grant. The students did a marvelous job creating the fossils and detailing the concrete path that winds its way through the park.

I learned that official National Flower of Australia is the Wattle. Check out this picture I took. If you want to learn more about Wattle and other information about plants and trees of Australia, try this site. John was very knowledgeable about plants and trees and had I taken notes, I would have remembered much of what he said. Hopefully, the accompanying website will help you.

My last full day was spent exploring Melbourne on my own! I remembered John’s advice with regard to the southern hemisphere, the sun and shadows. I had no problem navigating this city. One is first struck by the number of Trams (cable cars) in the city. Most people hop on and off the trams, much like San Francisco. As a matter of fact, Melbourne reminded me a lot of San Francisco.

Melbourne truly has a European flavor to it. The Al Fresco dining; the food shopping and the experience of the city. Each state in Australia has their own Parliament. At one point, I found myself across the street from the Victorian Parliament. The architecture was beautiful. I was especially taken with the lighting fixtures that adorned the outside of the building. Of course, I couldn’t help but take a picture of a parked car, with the steering wheel on the opposite side!

I had to return to the Victoria Market as going back without some souvenirs could cost me my life. As I approached the huge complex, I heard beautiful music coming from the street corner. I snapped this picture of these musicians. This next picture gives you an idea of the crowds that come to the market, especially on the weekends.

I was pleased to have lunch with John and Andrew Blair, the President of the Australian Principal’s Association. What a wonderful way to end a fantastic trip. Much thanks to Andrew for his knowledge of wine and the lift back to my airport hotel. I took these last two pictures from the large picture window. The first is just a shot of the countryside outside of Melbourne. The second is a view of the Melbourne skyline from about 14 miles away.

The next morning is was up and over to the airport to board the Qantas 747 for the long journey home. What a tremendous experience. I am indeed lucky. G’Day Mates!

The Workshops in Australia

2007-10-08T10:05:00.000-04:00

This is a continuing series by Dr. Steve Constantino chronicling his recent trip to Australia

During the course of the week, I presented five workshops. I will say that I did have some apprehension prior to starting my work. I wondered if the message would translate into the Australian culture. Would educators understand the premise of the work? Would Australian experiences with families mimic those of American schools? Heck, would the jokes work?

I knew within a few minutes that everything would be just fine! The experiences of parents and educators in Australia are exactly the same. When I asked the famous question, “What did you do in school today?” the room responded with a resounding NOTHING!

And I was worried! The week was a tremendous experience for me. Interacting with so many different people and schools and learning about a different culture and system was inspiring to me. I can only hope that the information I shared will be helpful to all of the wonderful people that I met.

Monday: VELC

Many thanks to Ross Dean for his invitation to speak to educators about engaging all families. The group of people represented many schools in and around the Melbourne area and was as diverse a group as I have seen. Principals, administrators, teachers, counselors, and parent specialists all came together to work on engaging all families. We had wonderful conversations and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting people from so many different schools.

This was the first workshop where the breaks were called “morning and afternoon tea.” Now here is a custom that I could get used to. For 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon, tea is served along with delicious pastries and crumpets. The social setting is a relaxed venue to carry on further professional conversation. I must say, every minute of the break was filled with good conversation about our topic of the day.

Tuesday: The Trackside Presentation

I had heard John O’Meara say on countless occasions prior to my arrival that the Tuesday evening presentation would be held at Trackside. While I thought it was an interesting name, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we would actually be…TRACKSIDE. The evening workshop for teachers in Broadford was held at a race track. This is the first time in my career that I had to compete with an actually horse race! We started our workshop at 4:30 p.m. Jim Alsop pulled me aside and said, “I think the races will be over, but there might be one last one after we begin.” A few minutes into the workshop, the bell sounded and the horses were released from their gates! They ran on a grass track and it seemed like the building shook when they galloped by the room, which looked out onto the track. I waited for just a few seconds while they announced the winner and we then were able to return to our workshop. This was a fun evening with wonderful teachers and principals.

Wednesday: Yea High School and the Yea Primary Staff

I talked about our workshops with the Yea High School staff during the previous blog entry. I would also like to thank Diane Miller who organized primary teachers to come to a two-hour workshop after our day with the high school staff. It was a great opportunity to talk to all teachers, primary through high school.

Thursday and Friday: The Seymour Principal’s Group

In Australia, schools are grouped into networks and networks are grouped into regions. I had the wonderful experience of working with the Seymour Network Principals group at their annual overnight at the Marysville Resort. I would like to thank Jan Gregory, the Network Director (similar perhaps to a superintendent in the US) and Steven Brown, Region Director for organizing this special two day event. Of course, thanks also to John O’Meara for his instigation and persistence in making this happen.

Working with these principals again allowed me to understand that the commonalities in our educational experiences are much more pronounced than our differences. The principals were very receptive to the ideas and the discussions were enlightening. I will also say that much like American Principals, these people know how to have a good time as well! The evening dinner and skit was a treat for me. As the principals did a parody of a local radio call-in program, I found myself laughing aloud with everyone else. While I was not privy to some of the local references, the issues and challenges that were presented were not unlike those that I have experienced in my own educational career. Boundaries, continuous school improvement, Jim Collins and sharpened spears and school planning processes were all roasted in good taste!

My heartfelt thanks to all of my new friends in Australia for making this week one of the best and most memorable of my life.

Dr. Constantino teaching a lesson in Social Capital (VELC).

From Wednesday’s presentation to the Yea group.

VELC participants discussing family engagement.

The view from Trawool.

Educators working at the VELC workshop.

My home for part of my visit: the Trawool Resort.

Education in Australia

2007-10-01T11:53:00.001-04:00

Second in a series chronicling Dr. Steve Constantino’s recent trip to Australia

The educational structure in Australia is similar to that of the educational structure of the United States, with some notable differences. Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. My visit was to Victoria, a state in the southern part of Australia. See the map link.

The Department of Education in Victoria oversees government (public) schools and private schools. The government funds both types of schools, however, parents pay tuition for private schools. Government monies are meant to subsidize private educations only. Victoria, like the rest of the country, delivers primary (N-6) and secondary (7-12) education. Most schools are structured as either primary or secondary schools. All of the schools that I visited were either primary or secondary.

The unique difference in education is the lack of local control over education. All funding emanates from the government and as such, localities and municipalities do not raise money through taxes or levies for education. Schools are usually autonomous, meaning, two schools in the same city or town are not a “district” as we know it. Each of the schools is a separately run entity, regardless of its geographic location.

I was very happy to visit both the Broadford Primary School and the Broadford Secondary College. Mr. Tony Melton, principal of the primary school and Mr. Jim Alsop, principal of the secondary college were both welcoming and cordial. The Broadford Secondary College was undergoing massive renovation and construction. The State is beginning to replace school buildings, which are old and falling into disrepair. I enjoyed my time at both of these schools.

Our unofficial host for the trip was Mr. John O’Meara, principal of Yea High School. Mr. O’Meara traveled to the United States last year and it was during this trip that he attended the FFS Engage All Families conference in Atlanta. This was the beginning of the journey of family engagement for Yea. Today, Yea has changed their welcoming signs, created a family engagement policy (which is featured in my new book due out this fall) and is now working on family efficacy and other issues related to helping Yea be a family friendly school. Yea is a small rural school of about 350 students (7-12) and is located about an hour and a half north of Melbourne. I visited several classrooms and got to see students “in action.” Make sure you take a look at the pictures from Yea. Also, visit the Yea website and read the September 20^th newsletter which highlights the daylong workshop I did with Yea staff and student leaders. It was a great day in a great setting working with great people…thank you!

Mr. O’Meara checks for understanding

The Family Friendly Sign at Yea High School

Principal John O’Meara and students chat in the school canteen (cafeteria)

Students beginning a science lab

Impressions of Australia, Part 1

2007-09-25T09:02:00.000-04:00

This is the first in a series blog entries chronicling Dr. Constantino’s recent trip to Australia.

Preparing for the “Down Under” Experience

Prior to leaving for Australia, I decided to ask myself an essential question: What is it that I knew about the land “down under?” I quickly realized that I knew just about what most average American’s knew: They had one opera house and it was in Sydney; they had kangaroo’s and Koala bears; and of course don’t forget Crocodile Dundee. I don’t know if eating at the Outback Steakhouse qualifies as knowledge of Australia. It didn’t take but a few moments to discern that I knew very little about this country. Time to get to work.

The land mass of the island of Australia is about the size of the United States. There are 21 million people in Australia and most of them live around the perimeter of the country. (The United States has over 10 times the number of people and we are spread out all across the country, with obvious concentrations as well.) The aboriginal culture is native to the land. The tropical portion of the country is in the north. Most of the center of the country is dry desert and almost inhabitable. Boomarangs actually work. The Didgeridoo is a native aboriginal musical instrument.

If you have never been to Australia and are planning a trip, here are a few tips that might make your first few hours a bit less complicated than mine:

1. Learn to like time on an airplane: The flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne, AU is approximately 14 hours. I read, watched movies, ate two meals, slept, read again, watched a few television shows and when all of that was done, there were still three hours left in the flight. Plan accordingly.
2. Don’t get too attached to days of the week: When you travel to Australia, you will cross the international date line as such, you will lose a day. For example, we left Los Angeles at 11:30 pm Friday evening and arrived in Melbourne Sunday morning. I am still looking for Saturday. Of course, when you return, you get to repeat an entire day, so I guess it all works out…just don’t think about it too much.
3. Find a copy of Australian rules Football: If you read the rules before you go, you won’t sit in front of the television and tilt your head to the side trying to figure out what they are doing and why they have no padding!
4. When is an entrée not an entrée? In Australia, when you order at a restaurant, the entrée is a smaller portion that is an early course in a multi-course meal. If you want our version of an entrée, order the one that says main. You will be less hungry.
5. If you are Italian, beware: In the United States, we use the term marinara to mean a plain red sauce. In Australia, if you order pasta with marinara sauce, you get a sauce that has seafood chunks in it.
6. Don’t trust your shadow: Remember, you are in the southern hemisphere so your shadow is opposite of what it is in the northern hemisphere.
7. Listen to all the words that end in a “y” sound: The Australian’s have this cute little habit of chopping off words and putting a “y” at the end of them. For example, football is “footy,” if it rains, don’t forget your “brelly,” if someone wants to give you a “presy” take it, that’s a present. “Brissy” is Brisbane, an so on. You will get the hang of it after a while.
8. Lose your worries: I think the national motto of Australia is “No Worries!” Everyone says it and they mean it. They are a wonderful, kind, laid back people. We could learn a few things from them.
9. Look left, no, right, no… no wait: Because Aussies drive on the other side of the road learn quickly to look the opposite way from what you are accustomed to when you cross the street. Failure to remember this is hazardous to your health.
10. Up is on, down is off: Light switches are the opposite of ours. A smart person would have figured this out much more quickly than I did! Also, power outlets all have switches as well. So, if you use your adapter and plug in your appliance and then find out it doesn’t work, check to see that the switch on the outlet is what? Yup, DOWN. Of course, it took me about five hours and the purchase of two more adapters to learn this simple lesson. Must be the whole southern hemisphere thing.
11. No, people are not cussing at you: Often, when Aussies want to thank you or praise you they will say “good anya.” At first, you think they are saying something quite different! Don’t be alarmed…it’s a good thing. Learn all the Australian phrases you can and you will hit the ground running. See if you can figure out what “Fair Dinkum” means!
12. Yes, they do say those things: The charm of Australia is listening to their speaking and their heartfelt good wishes toward each other. Yes, they say “G’day!” Yes, everybody is somebody’s “mate,” and of course, make sure you have “no worries!” Put it all together and you have your first lesson in Australian language: “No worries! G’day mate!”
13. Melbourne has no “R”: Pronounce Melbourne as “Melbin” and you will fit right in. The Australian accent is profoundly British, but has some interesting pronunciation that makes it, well, delightfully Aussie!
14. Do the opposite of what your instincts tell you: If you are from North America and you get lost in the city, do the opposite of whatever your instincts tell you to do. Remember the whole southern hemisphere, north is south, shadow is opposite thing and go the other way. It works! (I must thank my Australian friend John O’Meara for teaching me this very valuable lesson.)

Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure...

The Victoria Market.
The Victoria Market is a huge marketplace that sells food, vegetables, clothing, and just about everything you can think of!

St. Kilda from the boardwalk that extends into the bay.

A view of Melbourne through the boats in the bay of St. Kilda.

Melbourne at dusk.

My hotel, the Quay West, pronounced “KEY” West.

You are ready! G’Day Mate!!!

Next: Education is Australia