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Descriptive Statements:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of school-home communication, factors that facilitate or impede communication, and methods of initiating and maintaining effective communication with all students' families.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for developing partnerships with families to support student learning and for encouraging and facilitating the involvement of parents/guardians in their children's education.
- Demonstrate knowledge of strategies for conducting effective conferences with parents/guardians, addressing the concerns of parents/guardians in various contexts, and interacting effectively and appropriately with all families.
- Apply knowledge of effective methods for establishing and maintaining supportive, collaborative relationships with professional colleagues in given school contexts.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for collaborating effectively with specialists and others in the school community to meet student needs and enhance student learning.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to develop partnerships with individuals, businesses, and institutions in the community and how to use community resources to expand and enrich student learning.
Sample Item:
As a new school year begins, a second-grade teacher is making plans to hold a conference with the parents/guardians of each student in their class. During each conference, the teacher will discuss broad goals and expectations for all students in the class. Which of the following additional teacher actions during the conferences would best help promote positive communication and a sense of partnership with parents/guardians?
- encouraging parents/guardians to share their own goals for their child's learning and development during the upcoming year as well as any concerns they may have
- providing a thorough review of the second-grade curriculum in each subject and giving parents/guardians time to ask questions about the content to be covered
- soliciting from parents/guardians pertinent information about home life that they believe may affect their child's learning and achievement in school
- sharing information with parents/guardians about the teacher's own personal and educational background and their professional credentials
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
A. Meaningful partnerships between teachers and families are established through consistent open and honest communication. Encouraging families to share goals and concerns about their child's learning and development at the beginning of the year conference sends a clear message to families that their input is valued and welcomed, and helps lay the foundation for future important conversations related to the student and their learning.
Descriptive Statements:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and components of the public education system, teacher roles in various educational contexts, and appropriate teacher interactions with students, parents/guardians, other educational professionals, and community members.
- Apply knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of students, teachers, and parents/guardians in various educational contexts.
- Apply knowledge of legal requirements for teachers in given situations, such as providing instruction to students with special needs, ensuring educational access for all students, maintaining the confidentiality of student records, and seeking copyright permission for use of instructional resource materials.
- Demonstrate knowledge of ethical guidelines for teachers and their application in various educational contexts, including school safety protocols.
- Demonstrate knowledge of various professional development opportunities and resources (e.g., professional organizations; research; action research; interactions with mentors, supervisors, and colleagues) and their use in enhancing professional knowledge, skills, and practice.
- Demonstrate knowledge of strategies for using reflection and self-assessment to identify teaching strengths and challenges and to improve professional practice as well as behaviors and beliefs associated with effective teaching (e.g., modeling love of learning, and open-mindedness; recognizing and addressing personal assumptions).
Sample Item:
A new teacher has asked their mentor to observe instruction during several lessons and provide feedback on their teaching. These observations are likely to be most beneficial if the new teacher takes which of the following actions before they occur?
- dentifying for the mentor specific aspects of their instruction, such as leading discussions, that they have particular concerns about
- explaining to their students ahead of time the purpose and intended outcomes of the observations
- providing the mentor with an overview of their students' current achievement levels, interests, and behavior patterns
- clarifying for the mentor key aspects of their own current philosophy of teaching and learning
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
A. One of the most helpful tools for the professional development of new teachers is mentorship by an experienced teacher. The mentor teacher observes and provides expert guidance to the new teacher. This guidance can be most impactful if the new teacher identifies a targeted area of focus for the mentor to provide feedback about when observing. This practice ensures that the mentor feedback will be tailored to the new teacher's area of focus and most useful to the new teacher with suggestions for immediate application in the classroom. Without providing a focus, the mentor will provide feedback on what they notice about the instruction, which may include areas that are not currently a priority for the new teacher.
Use the information below to complete the assignment that follows.
Imagine that you are a new elementary teacher. The principal asks you to serve on a faculty committee whose goal is to identify ways to build relationships between the school and the community. Results of a recent survey suggest that most teachers in the school do not use community resources to enhance teaching and learning in their classes while individuals and institutions in the community have little or no contact with the schools and are often unaware of school needs. In light of these survey results and continued challenges involving school funding and student performance, building relationships between the school and the community is a goal for the following year.
Write a response to other members of the committee describing your ideas about the issue of building relationships between the school and the community. Your response should:
- explain why building relationships between the school and the community is important;
- describe two steps school staff can take to build relationships between the school and the community; and
- explain why each step you describe would be effective in building relationships between the school and the community.
Sample Responses
Sample Strong Response (Show Sample Strong ResponseHide Sample Strong Response)
Research would support that when schools and community partners work together it fosters enriching benefits for academic and social development for students, strengthens support for families and ensures more engaged communities. Building strong relationships with all stakeholders is important in the sharing of resources to promote educational excellence.
School staff can initiate key steps to build relationships between the school and the community. Outreach to local community establishments to invite them into the school for school events is a good initial step. Nonprofit organizations such as Boys and Girls Club, faith-based institutions, community colleges and universities are likely to have visions and goals that align with those of the school.
This step is effective in building relationships between the school and community because hosting members of the community for classroom activities or school events like science fairs or performing arts allows them to see the school as welcoming and an asset of the community leading to a reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationship.
Another step that school staff can take to build relationships with community partners is to develop an educational programming needs assessment that community establishments could provide resources for. Community gardens may offer options for curricular activities on topics of nutrition or plant growth that are not as feasible on school grounds. Community recreation centers could provide additional field or gym space that the school needs for sporting events. These are just some examples that could result from a needs assessment. This is an effective way to not just help the school with funding challenges or improvement for student performance but will also bring more people to these community locations which increases awareness of community resources available.
Sample Weak Response (Show Sample Weak ResponseHide Sample Weak Response)
Building relationships between the school and community is important because schools provide educational services to the children of the community. Therefore, it is in the best interests of schools and communities to get along and work together to offer the best future path for the students served.
It would be a good step to tell students and their families to go to community sponsored fairs. Let them know that there will be freebies, fun demonstrations and things to do and learn with their families. All these things are a draw to get people out into the community and schools should support these events in any way they can.
It would also be a good idea to have more meetings between school personnel and community reps to keep each party accountable for their part in building healthy relationships. It needs to be stated that for this to work it must be a two way street. Educators can't always be the ones reaching out to the community organizations. This should be an exciting endeavor and once expectations are set and in place it can really equate to great partnership for schools and communities to take pride in.
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