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Promising Practices

SEED Project Narrative

Seeking Education, Empowerment and Development
Western Middle School     Louisville, Kentucky

Contact: Dawn Klemn, GEAR UP Kentucky Central Area Director, 502-852-2441 dmklem01@louisville.edu
Need: This program is working to increase parent interest and involvement within the school by increasing their knowledge of school programs, etc. The goal is to provide resources regarding educational success and student achievement to the families and community partners in the Portland area.
Background: SEED was created by a group of Western Middle School parents and other interested community partners after some parents attended a "mini" version of the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership (CIPL) developed by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. This four-day institute consisted of workshops focused on parent involvement, learning styles, core content, writing exercises, and collection of data, project preparation. Following training, the participants elected to continue meeting monthly, in order to carry out their project; the SEED Parenting Group was formed.
How will activities address students' needs?

By increasing parental knowledge through various workshops (e.g., health issues, individual graduation plans (IGP), different ways that children learn, the CATS assessment and how it differs from earlier assessments, Kentucky's Core Content and Academic Expectations, etc.) parents will become more aware of what their children are doing and will be more involved in homework, school activities supporting academic achievement, etc.

SEED Timeline (April 2004-May 2005)
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
Planning Meeting
Roll-out plan to Western/GUK/CIPL
Planning Meeting for Health Fair
Community Health Fair
Learning Styles for Portland Community
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Planning Meeting for Showcase
Community Showcase of Schools
IGP Training for SEED
IGP Training for Portland Community
Formation of IGP Committee
Planning for Expo
Scholarship/Community Service Expo
Planning/goal setting for following year
Likely impact on students:

By increasing their knowledge of the school and its programs, parents will be more aware of what their children are doing and student achievement will improve. Research shows that when parental involvement increases, student achievement improves as well.

Assessment Plan:

This year's culmination is an IGP Committee to work with and assist the Western MS staff to meaningfully and purposefully complete IGPs for every student. They will continue to monitor the IGP process throughout coming years and, if they should choose, continue to provide resources to continue SEED. The core group is also responsible for organizing at least five events and other workshops to provide parents and community partners with information needed to create an impact on student achievement.

Staffing/ Management:

Neighborhood House hosts all parent meetings and provides a Parent Liaison, a staff person from NH to assist with recruitment and retention of community parents and members for this group. Gear UP Kentucky (GUK) facilitates all meetings. The SEED group will work with the administrative staff and GUK Site Facilitators at Western Middle School to implement these projects.

Partners:

GEAR UP Kentucky
Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership
Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
Kentucky Department of Education
FIND (Council on Mental Retardation)
Portland Neighborhood House

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