Student of Tomorrow

Introduction

The schools of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are currently engaged in the successful implementation of parent involvement with their own child's high academic achievement.

In support of this self-renewing effort, the district is encouraging decentralized, empowered, transformational, leadership-oriented decision making.

This student-focused achievement program is results oriented rather than process driven.

To support this high-student achievement program the district will support

Professional Teacher Development in academic subject matter, and parental involvement in high achievement, and

Parental Training in student academic activities that enhance student achievement, and

Local School self-management of the "STUDENTS OF TOMORROW", Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership, and

Publishing and Distribution of the "STUDENTS OF TOMORROW" plan to parents and community groups, and

Holding two parent/staff school meetings each year: Fall--inspirational; Spring--academic awards

Our goal is raise Newport-Mesa schools to number one in academic achievement through a partnership with our best resource--PARENTS.

What is Students of Tomorrow?

An action-oriented, results-driven program that involves parents and their children working together to achieve each child's highest academic level of excellence.

A MEANS to wed the highest possible motivations of a parent to help his or her child to achieve, with the student's clear-cut goals to achieve their future profession or vocation.

A successful PLAN to get parents, teachers and administrators all organized and fused into the one basic goal of education--student learning for a brighter future.

A TOOL that makes possible individual high achievement for every student, through mastery of each level of academic content, which is the first building block in the cognitive (factual) training process necessary for all successful students.

Success is not just the job they get upon leaving school; but rather an attitude toward life-long learning to bring continuing success that will last a lifetime.

The Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership

- Mission -

The staff and parents of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are committed to raising the academic achievement of every student to a new level of excellence, through our rigorous curriculum for all students, in a safe nurturing environment, which includes the students home and parents. Our graduates will have the ability to think and reason, speak, read and write effectively, ready to take their place in an ever-changing work place as productive citizens and life-long learners.

The Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership

- Vision -

Goals:

To motivate every child to become all he/she can be. High Achievement is the best evidence of preparation for college or career success.

To motivate a child to think of his/her future occupation goals as being established by good learning habits and measurable achievements right now.

To write a formal contract between the parent and the student that clearly outlines the duties of each in the disciplined learning process in school and at home.

to master the materials in every subject and to be able to demonstrate, objectively, his/her knowledge learned, at high levels of achievement. Grades will reflect, most often, the effort of learning. Subjective teacher evaluations often reflect bias. Only objective testing is truly valid, as subjective (opinion) grading not only varies widely, teacher to teacher, but a natural teacher bias could happen and has been well documented.

To receive the school's annual "award of excellence," for both parent and child.

To enter college or the career ladder fully prepared to take college level courses and to succeed in any chosen field with honors. That should be every student's goal.

The Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership

The Plan

OBJECTIVE: The "PARENT/STUDENT HIGH ACHIEVEMENT PARTNERSHIP" is organized for raising the level of achievement of every student; and the overall resultant gains in assessment scores will lift the entire school and the district.

A SUCCESS PROGRAM

The school will notify all parents about the new district program--STUDENTS OF TOMORROW--parent/student partnership; its mission, goals, meeting times and rewards. The principal and the vice principal should make this a priority in their planning, to establish leadership for school staff.

A teacher from each schools' academic subject area should serve on the school planning committee.

Local business and corporation support should be sought for financial sponsorship.

Two major school events with all parents and students should be held. One in early September and one in May. These should, ideally, be banquets. The Fall meeting is inspirational--the Spring meeting is for the awards.

The Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership

Levels of Achievement

STUDENT AWARDS

anyone raising their grade point average (G.P.A.) one full point--from 2.0 G.P.A. one year to 3.0 G.P.A. the following year, for example:

anyone getting at least two (2) "A"'s.

anyone making the Dean's academic list for a 3.0 G.P.A. (B) average in all subjects, including physical education (P.E.).

anyone achieving a 3.5 G.P.A. average in all subjects, including P.E., receives the Principal's Award.

anyone achieving a 3.75 G.P.A. or higher in all subjects, including P.E., receives the Superintendent's Award.

All 4.0 (or higher) G.P.A. students receive the Mayor's Award.

Note:
The inclusion of physical education (P.E.) in the G.P.A.
(grade point average) calculations is to emphasize the
critical importance of exercise and athletics, for good
health and students self-esteem in a highly competitive
work world. The latest brain research on learning
emphasizes the importance of the physical fitness
relationship to student learning achievement.

PARENTS' AWARDS

All parents who have fulfilled their contracts with their child, will receive the Parental Achievement Award.

All parents who have served as tutors in specific subject areas for students other than their own should receive the Parent Achievement Award and the PARENTS COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE Award.

SCHOOLS' AWARDS

Three levels of school awards are available: elementary, middle and high school. An award for each school level is made at the spring banquet, for the following:

The school with the most parents (by percentage of total enrollment of students in the school) participating in the STUDENTS OF TOMORROW Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership (PSHAP). This is determined by the number of Parent/Student contracts received by the school.

THE U.S. ACADEMIC DECATHLON COMPETITION

On the national scene, all students are eligible to be a member, with or without their parents' participation, in the U.S. Academic Decathlon competition. More than forty-five states conduct the academic trials that cover knowledge in all subject areas: economics, science, mathematics, fine arts, social science, language and literature, speech, geography, woodworking, etc.

All high schools are urged to participate in this state/national competition. The six best students, selected by faculty, after considering G.P.A., an oral presentation and written essay evaluation could make up a school team for regional and national competition. It's fun and exciting for the entire school! It's similar to a school athletic team making it to a regional or national play-off--a lot of fun.

The national U.S. Academic Decathlon program is ONLY for juniors and seniors in high school. However, it ties in perfectly with the "PARENT/STUDENT HIGH ACHIEVEMENT PARTNERSHIP," which includes all grades, K-12.

It takes a student's best effort, at each grade level, to be their very best. Each student learns the value and commitment and discipline it takes to achieve excellence that will assure future success.

Healthy Competition

A healthy form of academic competition can be developed, producing academic greatness for those who desire. Maturity and self-fulfillment are the main rewards for all students. Academic achievement can become as rewarding as the athletic self-esteem that sports participants acquire. For many this could help them to reach the apogee of their school life. For all students, this parent/student partnership will improve learning in a dramatic way. The competition for each student is with him/herself.

The Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership

Organizational Reminders

To succeed, the STUDENTS OF TOMORROW Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership (PSHAP) school level program must be well-organized, funded and receive 100% full staff support.

Establish a PSHAP Planning Committee
- Principal
- District Curriculum Director
- Teacher leader (union, faculty senate, etc)
- Three or more parent leaders (PTA/PTO, CEE, Academic Booster Club, etc.)

Present a complete program plan to the school administrator and the school board for approval, before implementation, indicating administration and teacher leader participants.

Newport/Mesa Unified School District
Self-Managed Schools
Community Partnership

Note:

Someone on the school staff must give adequate time to this parent/student learning achievement program. Ideally, a full-time staff member at the district level will coordinate the school programs and supply the necessary supplies. Each school should plan on giving one staff member a half-reduced teaching load to coordinate the PSHAP program. Many studies show that an effective parent involvement program could be the most significant thing a school district or an individual school can do to raise assessment results.

Who Is Responsible for What?

Parents' Opportunities and Responsibilities

INTRODUCTION

Schools cannot attain high student achievement alone. Parents cannot do it alone. Students cannot do it all alone. The only proven method of achieving high success for all students is PARTNERSHIP between parents, students and the schools.

From great athletes to highly successful professional men and women, research confirms the most common connection to each one's success was their parents' total involvement in their schooling and their lives.

Some things successful parents must know and are directly responsible for are as follows:

Know the difference between teaching and training.

The school teaches a child what to study, how to study and the content of study.

It is inherent in training that you must first teach something and learn something before you can train a person to do it--and do it well.

Driving a car is a good example. You can teach laws, technical knowledge--all teaching!

The real purpose of all that teaching is to enable the student to be able to drive the car. That can only be done by actual training. You can teach without training, but you cannot train without teaching. You must know (from teaching) something before you can be trained. Schools teach--most training is left to parents.

Parents must consciously decide to become involved in the home--in all of their child's educational work.

Some prerequisites of the child's successful achievement:

Discuss and review the requirements of "high achievement" in the child's field of interest. A parent must make it clear to the child what they must know, to do well in high school, to enable them to get into the college of their choice.

Build a strong faith in a child to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong. Ethical and moral training must be constantly stressed in the home, the church and the school and be accepted as a family commitment.
Children must be taught that success is a conscious process from youth on. They must know what laziness produces failure, not success. Commitment to study is a MUST for success. Parents must teach and train a child in these principles if the child is expected to succeed.

Parents must guide their child to:

Take action--organize--sit down and study.

To fully accept the parent/child written contract and to be committed to doing well.

Know and clearly understand that they can achieve any goal, if they do all of the above and always believe in their ability to achieve through hard work.

Have a "right" motive--doing what is most liked and most drives the student--serving others? entrepreneur? etc., for example, a large income may be a result, but is usually a weak objective for happiness, if that is the chief and only motivational factor. Establishing a proper motive, is a parent's greatest opportunity.

Parents must constantly monitor their child's progress in all school work, and pay attention to all school correspondence. If the correspondence (notes) indicate problems at school, parents must immediately respond in a positive way. Some ways to monitor a child's school progress are:

Help the child to keep a separate record for all their homework assignments. Read the homework assignments--thoroughly--understand what is expected. Review this daily with your child (in all grades--K-12).

Help the child with homework only when a question arises. Do NOT do the homework for the child. This poor modeling of honesty, as well as a negative impact on the child's learning. Children pick up very subtle messages.

Parents are responsible to provide and teach discipline beyond punishment and require responsible self-management.

Discipline includes parental modeling and teaching. To achieve a loving peaceful home environment that is conducive to learning, limits must be set on each one's freedoms that may deny another's freedoms. That is parental discipline.

Self-discipline is when a child is told to study one or two hours a day at home-study and the child can do it anytime he pleases. He/she must self-discipline, to get it done before bedtime.

There is a wise old proverb that says:

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Discipline and training are the most important components of the parent/child relationship. It should be consistent, compassionate, with clear expectations, always relevant and forgiving (after the point is made). Discipline is a tough balancing act for all parents. No learning can successfully take place without it.

Parents are responsible to read to and with their younger children. Some advantages of reading aloud to your child are:

It stimulates a child's interest in reading about life.

It aids in a child's emotional development.

It stimulates imagination.

It improves language skills and vocabulary.

It educates, entertains, explains and inspires.

Ruth Love, former superintendent of Chicago's schools said:

"If we could get our parents to read to their pre-school children fifteen minutes a day, we could revolutionize our schools."

When reading aloud, be expressive, change your pace with the story, read slowly, discuss the story and have a regular daily reading time, if possible. Fathers should also read to their child. Bonding takes place very powerfully through reading together.

In reading, the key word for parents is PATIENCE. It does take time--and tedious repetition for most all children to read well.

Parents are responsible to provide a comfortable and quiet home environment for the child to study. Ideally, a desk with drawers and good lighting are helpful for maximum learning potential. The desk is a good investment as it can be used in all grades up to and including college. A quiet place to study is important.

Parents must control television time. Lots of television educational programming is useful, when carefully and appropriately (by age groups) selected. Those are the positive programs. However,

Television demands instant adulthood of children, showing violence, murder, rape and war. Much innocence is lost.

Television trains children to have a short attention span and allows no time for critical thinking--two vital components that must be developed for successful learning.

Parents should value the Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership, by attending the Fall and Spring Banquets and signing the parent/student contract. Monitoring a child's progress in school will become more important to parent and child when the child understands what his rewards at the Banquet will be.

In high schools, a system called Academic Letterman, similar to sports letters, could be started with the awarding of a school letter with academic symbols instead of only a football or basketball on the sweater and the letter on the sweater or jacket.

Students' Opportunities and Responsibilities

The students' responsibilities are partially outlined under the parental responsibility section. However, some things are entirely up to the student.

Some things to be discussed between a student and the parent are of great importance to the individual student's success and the entire "Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership" in each school, such as:

Every student must clearly understand why academic success will most often determine his success or failure in college and in our society. The type of job he/she will have will usually be determined by how well school success is achieved. A student's ability to do depends upon their ability to have first achieved in school.

Every student is responsible for discussing his/her contract with their parent or parents. A commitment to honor this agreement is necessary.

Every student must solve the television temptation problem and learn self-discipline.

The student must keep the parent totally and daily informed on homework and testing dates.

Ultimately, every student must become totally responsible for his/her own academic achievement. As self-discipline progress is made from K-9, every student on the "Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership" (PSHAP) program will be well-trained in all the basics of study and self-discipline, making the tenth through twelfth grades much easier and enabling each student to be capable of the ultimate student high achievement awards.

Our Schools' Opportunities and Responsibilities

Of all the help that it takes to make a student the highest possible achiever one can be, the school is the one commissioned by society to provide each child with the opportunity to learn and succeed.

No amount of various school reforms can take the place of a solid academic program in the basic subjects. Modern jobs demand a thorough knowledge of all basic subject areas. Only our schools can provide this.

The excellent publication, by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), called "Preparing Students for the 21st Century," by Donna Uchida, quotes the National Education Commission on Time and Learning (NECTL) saying,

"The report noted that an American student spends an average of five and one-half hours in six class periods each school day, but that half the time is devoted to non-academic classes and electives." (page 40, emphasis added)

Some of the pertinent recommendations the Commission made for schools are:

Reinvent schools around learning, not time.

Use students' time in new and better ways.

Provide additional academic time by reclaiming the school day for academic instruction. Students should receive at least 5.5 hours of core academic instructional time daily.

Keep schools open longer.

Give teachers the time they need.

Invest in technology.

Develop local action plans to transform schools.

Share the responsibility.

Donna Uchida further quotes Stephanie Pace Marshall, executive director of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy: "Schools must go back to the `basics' if students are to be prepared for the 21st century." She adds, "the basics are the principles of learning, the relationships of establishing a learning environment, and the principles of empowerment."

To make a long overdue partnership between parents and schools a reality, instead of a slogan, our district schools must get our parent/school program organized and let it become the central theme in all strategic planning.

To get started, our schools can do several things:

Establish a district policy with an unmistakable mandate for all schools to incorporate some form of a "Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership" program.

Assign a full-time district administrator to be responsible for its success in enrolling as many parents and students as possible in the program, using the awards system for each student and each school, as well as a district-wide competition. The competition for students is with themselves. There is no stigma, or external pressure.

Awards are for self-improvement.

Adopt a plan.

Organize the district committee.

Publish and distribute The Plan to all parents and their students to encourage participation in the "High Achievement Partnership."

Assign both the principal and vice principal to participate with each academic department head.

Seek out corporation and foundational support for this partnership program.

Organize the Banquets (with parental help and support)--Fall and Spring.

Establish a district policy to authorize granting `academic achievers' a school letter and to wear a letterman's jacket and academic school letter with symbols for each academic subject area awarded.

Make a public commitment to honor and permit parental involvement Reinforce this commitment by adoption of parent-friendly policies to demonstrate an openness and commitment to a "parent/school" partnership that is real and beyond reproach. Our district is committed to a community, parent, staff and business partnership.

Commit time in teachers' in-service training to train both teachers and administrators, and finally--STUDENTS. Include students in an all-day seminar with teachers. They are the most crucial players in the schools' high achievement program.

Strengthen technology and vocational education programs by designating them as academic subjects.

Develop a district/school commitment on the use of computer and media learning modules in all subject areas. This can start in second grade through twelfth grade. Our information world is more intense and basic to success than in all of history. Software learning packages should be available (as soon as available) to all students for check-out and home computer use. The district is aggressively studying these packages.

Develop a program to help parents to obtain home computers for study of school materials. National education funding and corporate support will be sought.

Develop a teacher/parent joint training seminar, once a year (Fall), that would be focused on what teachers can do to help parents with school work at home and at school; and to help parents to know exactly how to support the teacher and the school to maximize their students' achievement. CHARACTER EDUCATION CURRICULA would be included in this training.

Develop a first class CHARACTER EDUCATION, ethical development program for all grades, such as the one provided by:

CHARACTER EDUCATION INSTITUTE
8918 Tesoro Drive, Suite 575
San Antonio, TX 78217-6253
(210) 829-1727 or fax (210) 829-1729

PARENTS' TRAINING IN CHARACTER EDUCATION IS EQUALLY AS IMPORTANT AS THEIR STUDENTS' TRAINING

Conclusion

School reform is the cry from Washington, D.C. to every local school district.

The latest commissions and research projects on successful "RESTRUCTURING" of our schools point out that in our rush to reform our so-called 19th century education system, we have passed over the most obvious and pursued many ideas that promised us a magic bullet to quick success.

The most important of all the REFORM errors recently made was not creating any well-organized Parent/Student High Achievement Partnership program.

Students are people, like adults, and they need much support, inspiration and motivation to maintain school interest and attain success. In almost all cases, the parents or guardians are most able to provide these crucially important elements of success.

Teachers are overloaded today. Without parental help in assuring student attendance, respect for their teachers, discipline in class and academic partnership with their parents, the students cannot excel in higher achievement.

The successful schools of the 21st century will be those which utilize their most valuable asset--PARENTS--in a truly positive and helpful PARTNERSHIP

The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) has been one of the first national educational organizations to realize this asset of parental partnership. They are pioneering the NEW REFORM in education-- PARENT/SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP

Dr. Paul Houston, AASA Executive Director has laid out in clear language what it will take to fully prepare our students for fulfilling their dreams for a bright future.

Dr. Houston said, in a recent speech, "for schools to succeed, it's BACK-TO-THE-FUTURE!" He made it clear he meant back to the basic academic curriculum, enhanced by a new respect for the latest teaching technology and functional progress to assure parental participation. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley said, "The American family is the rock on which a solid education can and must be built."

Upon these simple but profound statements of proven truth, Mr. Riley and Dr. Houston are blazing the way for the only REFORM that can produce a world-class education for all American students. Our own "PARENT/STUDENT HIGH ACHIEVEMENT PARTNERSHIP" program for our district schools must succeed.

Note: The support documents on the following will soon be available:

Title I Guidelines to Follow for Funding

Parents' Responsibility

Students' Responsibility

The Schools' Responsibility

The Community Funding Program

Newport-Mesa Unified School District is committed to provide our district children, parents and community the very highest level of educational excellence in our nation. This is our ultimate challenge.

The Latest Aid in the Parent-School Connection

(Technology at its Best)

The Internet

The "missing link" between home and schools--communications--may finally be solved through a very practical technology called the INTERNET. For anyone using it regularly for the first time, the most common comment is "WOW--it's opened up a whole new world for me!"

And that is exactly what the "STUDENTS OF TOMORROW" program hopes to implement between parents and teachers (schools).

In Orange County, California, the County Department of Education is now designing and implementing a high-tech link between the county centralized computer system and the schools in all twenty-eight school districts.

Teachers make daily input into the County computer, through their in-class terminal giving the students assignments; daily homework; review and make up requirements; test scores; class grades; report cards; progress reports; student project due dates; teacher comments; attendance records; classroom presentations; and student Homework Help Hot Lines, are all available to each student and their parents with just a click on the Internet.

Sounds too good to be true, but this system is now in-place in many areas across the country.

How does it work, and how can a student's private records be carefully protected information that cannot be pirated by hackers?

How Does It Work

Instead of teachers recording all that information in their grade books, they punch it into their classroom computer, which is connected to the County centralized computer system and the Internet link.

That information is immediately available to parents as they get home from work at five or six o'clock. Within minutes a parent can access all this information on their home computer. This is the ultimate in school/parent communication. If a parent needs an in person consultation, with the teacher, the teacher's schedule is available to find an open time--all without a trip to the school or even a phone call!

No more students ditching school without parental knowledge, or forgetting homework, or mis-representing grades and progress. A student's progress toward the High Achievement Awards program is available at any moment for both child, parent and teacher.

Some Problems and Solutions

Confidentiality is a concern of all parties. Could a computer hacker get personal student data off the main computer? No, as long as the parent or student keeps the personal identification and access password (that only the parent has) confidential

If a parent still worries, the school can make that student's records inaccessible on the centralized computer.

The identification number and password system, however, would make the student's grades more secure than most credit cards, or bank accounts, would be, experts say.

Kent School District in Washington state has been running a similar system for two years, very successfully.

The major temporary problem is that parents without a home computer could not yet conveniently access this information that every parent wants to know about. They would have to get a campus appointment, tying up hours of school-time and parent-time.

Conclusion

The Internet is the new communication medium that promotes the longed for and long awaited two-way communication system between families and schools.

The Internet will soon be an extension of the school classroom.. Television has long been herald as that reality, but it's just now becoming on-line in a few areas.

The television connection to the Internet via the local cable hook-up holds great promise, also since almost ninety-five percent of all homes are said to have a television and only 40%-60% of (depending on areas) homes use home computers.

A very serious teacher training program must take place for the Internet's school-to-home information system to work efficiently.

Costs are often high! The Kent School District spent $6.8 million to pay for laying cable and wiring and establishing the local network. They now budget $30,000 annually to cover Internet costs.

Ideally, a school district could offer the Internet school-to-home link on both computer and television. That would cover almost every home access.

TECHNOLOGY OF THE FUTURE IS HERE TODAY