It is a plan that describes how our school will provide opportunities to improve family engagement that will support student learning at school and at home. All students and their families are invited and encouraged to fully participate in the opportunities described in this plan. The school will provide information and as many opportunities as possible for the participation of all family members.

It is a written agreement that outlines how the school, the students, and the family will work together to ensure your child’s academic success. An effective School-Family Promise contains the following elements:

• Clear learning goals that are linked to the school’s improvement plan.
• Specific skills students will learn during the year.
• Strategies that staff, families, and students will use to improve student learning.
• Ways to extend learning at home.
• Methods teachers and family members will use to communicate about student progress.
• Opportunities for family members to observe and participate in the classroom.
• Jointly developed by families, school staff, students, community business partners, and other stakeholders during our Planning Meeting.
• Reviewed and revised throughout the year via www.mypaymentsplus.com for review at the start of the school year during Open House/Meet the teacher day. It will also be revised through meetings, workshops, and school-wide events such as parent-capacity activities. 

ENGAGING AND EMPOWERING FAMILIES WITH…

• Title I Program Information: Program information is available during the Title I Planning Meeting in the spring and Annual Parent Meetings in the fall, on the school website, and in the Parent Center.
• Curriculum Information: Knowing what your child is learning at school is important. We will keep you informed throughout the year about what your child is learning during parent meetings, conferences, eCLASS, and on our school website.
• Student Progress Monitoring: The Parent Portal is an online resource that allows families to view grades, attendance, schedules, assessment, and your child’s results, course history, and much more. Monitoring your child’s progress in school is an important way to be engaged.
• Parent Resources: We have many resources available for checkout to use at home with your child. We also host several parent workshops to empower you as you work with your child at home.
• Staff Training: We will train our staff to effectively communicate with you. Your input on how we train our staff is valuable.
• Communication: We will communicate, to the extent feasible, all information with you in a language and format you understand. Whenever possible, we will provide interpreters during parent workshops, and academic events. The translation is available for most documents.
• Transition Support: Entering a new school can be scary for both students and families. We will host events to make sure both you and your child are aware of what is expected and how you can prepare as your child transitions to a new school level, college, and career.

Paul Duke STEM High School will…

• Build parents’ capacity to support their children ‘s academic achievement by providing families with strategies to monitor students’ progress, workshops to help families plan for their student’s future, and regular communication around academic support and intervention options.
• Bring technology to parents. Demonstrate the use of eCLASS course pages & other online academic resources that parents may use to support students as they increase their literacy skills.

Dr. Jonathon Wetherington	May 23, 2024
Principal’s Signature	Date

As Students, we will…

• Attend school daily
• Communicate our needs and concerns to teachers, counselors, and parents
• Work collaboratively to solve problems
• Seek to be avid readers and writers

As Families, we will…

• Use the Parent Portal to monitor student academic progress
• Attend family workshops and events.
• Encourage students to earn college credit through AP exams and Dual Enrollment.

We promote two-way communication through:

• Parent Portal

• Parent-Teacher Conferences

• Contact via email/phone/eCLASS

• PDS Newsletter, ParentSquare, social media (School Website, Facebook, & Instagram)

 If you need interpretation and/or translation services, please contact:

Lucia Trevino (Parent Instructional Support Coordinator)

Lucia.Trevino@gcpsk12.org

470-323-3625

• Meet your Teacher Day

• Transition to Paul Duke STEM

• Parent-Teacher Conferences

• Family Workshops

• Fall and Spring Parent Expos

• Dual Enrollment Night and College Fairs

• STEM Night/ Science Fair

• Academic Awareness Night

• Title I Annual Parent Meeting

• Title I Planning Meeting

• Title I Draft Document Review

• Title I is a federal program designed to support school reform efforts to improve teaching and learning for all students.
• Title I programs are based on effective means of improving student achievement and include strategies to support family engagement.
• The Title I Office reserves at least one percent of the district’s allocation to fund family and community engagement programs. The use of these funds is based on suggestions gathered at our spring Planning Meetings from families and community members. Funds are distributed equally to all our Title I schools.
• Childcare and/or transportation may be provided for meetings and school events.

 

At Paul Duke STEM, our vision is for all students to be courageous, respectful, and

innovative leaders striving for excellence and contributing to ever-changing local and global communities.

Our Family Engagement Center has learning games, books, and many other resources available for families to checkout and use at home. Our Parent Outreach Liaison or Parent Instructional Coordinator is Olaya Dobbs. She is available to help you find resources, navigate the Parent Portal, connect with teachers, and learn about ways you can help your children at home.

Our Family Engagement Center is located in Room # 1.1.218 (across from the school store)

Hours of Operation: Monday thru Friday

6:30 am to 2:30 pm

 

Please contact Olaya Dobbs for additional information about our Family Engagement Center and resources available for check-out.

470-323-3625

Olaya.dobbs@gcpsk12.org

 

Parents are welcome to volunteer at Paul Duke STEM HS.

Visit the Parents Center to find out about volunteers

opportunities. Parents wishing to observe their students

in class should contact the teacher to schedule an

appointment. Teachers will respond to requests within

48 hours.

The Family and Community Engagement Plan and all other  Title I information are available on our school’s website https://www.gcpsk12.org/PaulDukeStemHS under the Title I Section. Families can also find paper copies of this Family and Community Engagement Plan in our Family Engagement Center.

New students to Paul Duke STEM High School will receive their documents at the time of registration. In addition, Title I documents may be mailed based on individual parent requests.

It is reviewed and revised at least annually during the Planning Meeting in the spring. All feedback forms from the Planning Meeting are submitted to the Office of Federal Programs for review.  Families who are not able to attend the Planning Meeting have the opportunity to review draft documents and provide input during the draft document review period.

• Communication will take place through the Trailblazer Newsletter (weekly newsletter); ParentSquare, social media, our school website; emails; and the GCPS Parent Portal. 

• The school may take the following actions to support parents:

  • Offer meetings at various times and in different formats.

  • May provide transportation and/or childcare as such services relate to parental involvement.

  • Provide opportunities for regular meetings requested by parents to participate in two-way communication

    relating to the education of their child. Call the Parent Center at: 470-323-3625 to schedule an appointment.

ENGAGING AND EMPOWERING FAMILIES WITH…

• • Title I Program Information: Program information is available during the Title I Planning Meeting in the spring and Annual Parent Meetings in the fall, on the school website, and in the Parent Center.
  • Curriculum Information: Knowing what your child is learning at school is important. We will keep you informed throughout the year about what your child is learning during parent meetings, conferences, eCLASS, and on our school website.
  • Student Progress Monitoring: The Parent Portal is an online resource that allows families to view grades, attendance, schedules, assessment, and your child’s results, course history, and much more. Monitoring your child’s progress in school is an important way to be engaged.
  • Parent Resources: We have many resources available for checkout to use at home with your child. We also host several parent workshops to empower you as you work with your child at home.
  • Staff Training: We will train our staff to effectively communicate with you. Your input on how we train our staff is valuable.
  • Communication: We will communicate, to the extent feasible, all information with you in a language and format you understand.  Whenever possible, we will provide interpreters during parent workshops, and academic events. Translation is available for most documents.
  • Transition Support: Entering a new school can be scary for both students and families. We will host events to make sure both you and your child are aware of what is expected and how you can prepare as your child transitions to a new school level, college, and career.

• Empathy: Cultural competence, staff and student wellbeing, educator diversity.
• Equity: Multi-tiered system of supports, opportunity and access, equitable resource allocation.
• Effectiveness: Results-Based evaluation system, talent management, educational return on investment.
• Excellence: Preferred education destination, post-secondary and workforce readiness, world-class communication and engagement.  

We will provide all students with high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment to meet high academic standards.

Our School's Local School Plan for Improvement Focuses on the following key goals/areas:

• Belonging and Wellbeing - 75% of students respond positively (Educational Effectiveness Survey)

• Supportive Culture
  •  Reduce chronically absent students.
  • Increase Proficient and Distinguished for GMAS
• Improve Post-secondary readiness
  • Pathways – CTE, Fine Arts, World Language.
  • Dual Enrollment.
• Faculty and staff purpose and belonging
  • Improve professional development (PD) and support for teachers.(Educational Effectiveness Survey (75% positive))

• Student progress toward graduation 
  • 90% 4-year graduation rate.
  • 90% 9th-grade on-track

• Strategies include: 
  • Improving and optimizing our Advisement Experience.
  • Incorporating Staff and Student Social Emotional Learning (SEL).
  • Engaging students with co-curricular and extracurricular clubs and activities.
  • Launching a Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) to improve behavior outcomes.
  • Demonstrate relevance to students learning the AKS through Project-Based Learning (PBL)