. 8 The beginning vears of students’ formal education are the most important and initial experiences often established patterns that determine a child's successor lack of success in school. With these facts in mind. Dallas Schools launched a dynamic plan for the 1975 76 school vear to develop an improved primary educational program within the district Project HELP Humanized I'xperiences in Learning with Parents. directed by Nps. Gloria Whitman, has already begun to build an adaptable model for improving learning, instruction. and positive parent inviovement inoall the district's elementary schools. The project was funded in June by the I nited States Office of Education and was begun in carly September. $63.800 was awarded to Dallas. Tt was one of only four written within the Com n-onwealth which were funded in the nationwide competition established by ES OF Through the scope of project activities for students, teachers, and parents, many of the good things that have happened for students in Dallas in past vears are being pooled. shared. and organized into a coordinated program for all K 2 Loungsters, school vrojects During the first half of the project vear. a group of 27 Dallas teachers are working “together in an in-service program. entitled HELP 1. inwhich they are outlining the scope and sequence of instruction for primary students. When their work is completed. Dallas will have developed a sequential listing of readiness, reading. speaking. listening. writing. and math <kills that can be taught to students at the primary level and a compilation of lear reinforce. and evaluate students’ learning performance. The scope and sequence of develop- rental learning skills will be used as the basis for determining what cach child has learned what skills he or she is ready to learn. and prescribes alternative learning actitities and instructional strategies that suits the child's learning pattern and needs During the second half of the school vear: teachers in each building will be refining the primary program scope and sequence and developing plans to im plement it in individual classrooms and buildings In this wav. the HELP. 1 in- Service activities will assist teachers and administrators to more effectively meet the individual needs of primary students bv providing them with the time. resources, and leadership fo coordinate their efforts. Teachers at other educational levels are very interested in the progress that is being made by HE LLP participants. By developing a neodel for improving the educational program at the primary level, it canbe adapted for use by teachers to coordinate instruction at other levels, so that students can progress at their own rates of speed and according to their own teach through twelth grade. The second major goal of Project HELP is to work directly with parents. Project activities are already in progress that will provide them with useful and accurate information about the school program and about child growth and € Irs development. Parents are meeting with staff members in small groups. planned to utilize group processes in helping them acquire supportive attitudes toward child behavior. and in discussing strategies and techniques helpful in becoming more participating in H.E 1. P11. in second in- a ® service course organized through Project HELP. are expanding their com- municating skills as they prepare for participation with parents in groups. Through Project 1.E.L.P. activities. during a H.E.I..P. I Workshop. Parents of Dallas students want to know what they can be doing to help their children meet success in school. They want to know about child growth and development and how they can be rore effective parents. They are interested in learning more about the educatioral programs of their youngsters and want to know the teachers in the district as real people. Dallas educators have expressed their interest in meeting and working with parents on an informal basis. They have requested opportunities to build bridges of open communication between parents and school people so that parents can become more actively and positively involved in the school lives of their youngsters. Through the current federally-funded program, Humanized Experiences in Learning with Parents, the Dallas School District has sponsored an autumn series of parent-teacher group workshops designed service Association executive director. to meet these and other related needs of our school community members. This initial series of six weekly H.E.L.P. at home workshops. which attracted the participation of 27 staff members from all educational levels is focused upon parent- teacher relationships to improve the primary instructional program. In late October letters of invitation were sent to parents of Dallas students who were enrolled in kindergarten through second grades in all of the elementary schools. In the next few days over three-fourths of the parents replied positively. 275 registered for one of the eleven groups slated in the elementary schools. An additional 300 parents indicated they were interested in participating at a later date. and that conflicting schedules and other problems had kept them from this first series of workshops. : According to Mrs. Gloria Whitman, Project H.E.L.P. Program Director, district teachers. administrators, and parer:.ts have been very enthusiastic about meeting informally together to assist their youngsters. ‘There is so much that parents and teachers can do together to help kids that can't be accomplished through report cards and interim reports.” she commented. She reported that parent-teacher groups are running smoothly, and. with a great deal of active interchange among group members. “We have a wide range of resources in each group to draw upon.” she noted. “Although each group represents parents of youngsters in our primary program. our parents and teachers have had the full range of parenting experiences. We have moms .and dads of one-month-olds and 20-year old college juniors participating in the same groups. We're learning many thing: from one another and from the approact we are taking to explore child growth anc development together.” The H.E.L.P. at home program i benefiting from the resources and aid o local community service agencies. Family Service Association and Luzerne County's Mental Health-Menta Retardation Service's Primary Prevention Program personnel are lending their expertise in communicatior skills and group dynamics to develop the H.E.L.P. At Home program. Dr. Richard Shipe, Coordinator of Dallas’ Advisory Curriculum anc Inservice Council, noted that the inservice plan, which is serving as the vehicle for staff members’ planning - anc implementation of the program, is the firs of its kind in the state. ‘‘Pennsylvaniz Department of Education personnel art very much interested in our progress witt H.E.L.P. At Home,” he stated. ‘They are looking to Dallas for leadership ir developing models - for involving community members in more schoo! Through inservice training teachers in Dallas are learning anc refining skills that they need to work mor effectively with adults in students’ lives.’ Following the conclusion of the firs H.E.L.P. At Home series the scope of the program will be expanded to include more and different opportunities for parents anc teachers to meet and work together tc benefit Dallas youngsters.
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