SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN

School and Community Relations Plan

School and Community Relations Plan

Westland high school is one of four high schools in South Western city schools, which is a large school district in suburban southwestern Franklin County outside of the major Columbus metropolitan area. After 2 years of being deemed an effective school, Westland was recently placed on Continuous Improvement status. Our OGT performance is usually 3rd or 4th out of four high schools in each of the five core content areas. The worst of our content areas (Science) has a less than 60% passage rate for sophomores taking the test. Our school has a 23% non-graduation rate, while 55% of our students take the ACT, and only 5% attempt the SAT. Our issues within the school seem to correlate with a lack of academic emphasis within the school and community. In addition to inadequate test performance, student attendance and discipline is a serious issue at the school.

My action plan for the school is centered on developing a sense of community within the school that extends outside of the school. Through interviews with the faculty, administration, and community at large, I was able to discern that there is a lack of a sense of community within the greater Galloway area, and this would be an area of necessitated growth. Additionally, there is a need to bridge the language barrier within the community. The Hispanic and Somali population are making up an ever-increasing percentage of our student body. With these types of students come the additional challenges of integrating their culture and values into the school in order to facilitate a comprehensive approach to positive school community relations. Ultimately, increasing student achievement at Westland High School will be most successfully impacted by increasing community involvement in order to increase the academic emphasis of the student's home lives.

While few would argue that home environment plays a significant role in student achievement, the effect that school based initiatives have on that environment is difficult to prove and under researched. However, one thing is apparent: parental involvement must be comprehensive and school guidance must be continual and multifaceted. My action plan would consist of three foundations: education, outreach, and resources. The education piece of the plan consists of informing parents of what we need and expect from them as parents. Many of our underperforming students have parents whom were never successful in school; thus, they need guidance in determining what strategies will set their students up for success later in life. The outreach portion of the program will utilize the members of the school in order to meet the community on their terms and seek out the aid of respected community members. The resource portion will delve into how we can provide a service to the community in order to foster trust and respect for the school.

Education of the parents and community of Galloway will be a critical method of increasing student achievement in my ...