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Family Involvement that Supports Student Success
At UPCS, families are partners in their children’s education, with the principal sending the message to them that, “We can’t do this alone.” Parents feel comfortable and valued at the school; the principal’s office door is open to them at all times.
Communication about Academics: Family involvement at UPCS is streamlined to communicate the successes and challenges that their children encounter at the school. The principal, guidance counselor, and all teachers regularly call parents to report positive and negative activities. Whenever possible, the first contact between a teacher and family is to report good news. Teachers also call families to let them know about upcoming tests or projects to ensure that students spend time studying at home.
In addition formal structures are in place to ensure regular communication between the school and families, especially at the middle school level. Struggling students receive weekly progress reports about homework completion, behavior and upcoming assignments that each teacher fills out and parents sign and return.
When family meetings are scheduled, they are arranged so that all of a student’s core academic teachers are present. This enables the teachers, principal and family to jointly develop a plan for success for that student.
"Know Your School Night,” the school’s annual open house, typically draws over 80% of families who come to get to know or reconnect with their child’s teachers that year.
Building Trust: Open-Door Policy and Long-Term Family Relationships: Because of UPCS grade 7-12 design and sibling-preference policy, many families are part of the school community for a decade or more. Deep, trusting relationships develop between the families and the leadership and faculty of the school.
This trust is further enhanced by the open-door policy of the principal. More often than not, parents simply drop by the school rather than make an appointment. Whenever they do, the principal stops what she is doing to meet with them and address their concerns. In addition to the principal working with parents on their children’s performance in school, she also helps to connect them to other social service supports for their families including finding Section 8 housing, counseling, and health care services.
Building Community Support: UPCS is just one part of a larger neighborhood revitalization effort in Main South. UPCS works closely with Clark University, the local community development corporation, health centers, elementary schools, businesses, and other social service providers to ensure the needs of its students and families are met. UPCS was a founding partner in opening a school-based health center at the elementary school across the street. For many years, UPCS hosted an adult education program for parents and other neighborhood residents in the evenings. The August Academy program in the summer offers academic support to elementary school students which helps build UPCS' recruiting pool and supports its reputation in the community.
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