Sustaining Black History Month Beyond February

Shani Dowell, Possip CEO & Founder, shares ways to sustain Black History Month beyond February.

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Black History Month is coming to an end. Contrary to jokes, February wasn’t chosen because of its shortness. 

Still, since Black History is American history and world history, we want to sustain learning about it beyond the month of February.

Below we share some steps for sustaining the month.

1. 1. Use time during Black History Month to plan key activities and learning agendas for the year.  Here is a sample template to help get you started!
   2. Identify current Black history makers in your community: schools, educators, nonprofit leaders and learn how you can Support and engage with them throughout the year
   3. Learn your history and how it connects to Black History Month
   4. When you are on a trip or vacation identify Black history you can learn
   5. READ! 

What are you or your children’s natural curiosities?

Whatever they are, in this Google age there is learning to be done.

• • BLACK SOCCER HEROES
  • BLACK INVENTORS
  • BLACK DANCERS
  • TRANSFORMATIONAL BLACK WORLD LEADERS
  • BLACK PIANISTS

The beautiful thing is the more specific and niche the area of interest, the more illuminating the research and information can be.

And one of the benefits of exposure to new information or insights is it makes you more curious for all you don’t know!  It’s a bit like visiting a new country – it unlocks for you all this richness and dimension to the world that makes you see your own country in new and dynamic ways.

Learning your history 

As humans, we naturally care more about our own histories. Consider exploring your own history and how it connects to Black history.  This could be as straightforward about knowing the history of a town you grew up in – or about the history of the high school or college you attended to learn its history.

Learn or consider what your family may have been doing during key eras of Black progress. The reality is most people’s relatives were watching the Civil Rights movement and fights from the comforts of their home. But find out what conversation were being had, what was being learned and discussed, etc.

In short, sustaining Black history is a mindset.  Families and schools that are intentional about integrating Black history and present all year long do it in 100 ways – big and small.  These are just a few ideas to start – but you tell us!  What are some creative ways you want to sustain Black history?  Email us.  We’d love to hear!

 

Click here to read about 3 Black educators who shaped education!

The post Sustaining Black History Month Beyond February appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

January Family Trends 2023

Caitlin Churchill, Possip’s Community Director provides an overview of top family feedback trends from this past January!

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January family trends are in! A few new and notable trends in the top 10 for this month are (#4) extracurricular activities, (#8) school safety, and (#10) facilities/cleanliness. Similar to patterns from last year, happiness tends to dip as schools approach the end of the calendar year, from an average of 82% happiness in September to 80% happiness in October and now 77% happiness this November

through January. Over 41,000 families took the Possip Pulse Check in January, covering about 277 topics of importance. 

Below are the top 10 January family trends. 

#1 Teacher Feedback:

Teacher Feedback remains the top trend this winter. This trend is most often mentioned in feedback from elementary schools. Families comment on interactions between teachers and students. Hot comments are concentrated around interactions they perceive impacting their students’ emotional well-being and self-esteem. Medium and cool comments represent families asking for more structured or intentional classroom time and grading. 

#2 Curriculum Feedback:

Curriculum Feedback rises in ranks to trend #2. Families have asked for more rigorous curriculum, or resources to assist their students. In some cases, families are concerned about content they feel is not related to the subject at hand – particularly around social commentary. Possip Reporter and Tennessee AP teacher, Savannah Staley, has provided us with solutions for your curriculum! 

#3 Teacher Communication: 

Parents most appreciate consistent attempts to communicate about their student’s experience, as well as reasonable response times when they reach out for help. 

#4 Extracurricular Activities:

When families are asked in Pulse Checks what would help with attendance, Possip data shows they believe extracurricular activities, and a support person or mentor will help ensure attendance each day. Hear more 

#5 Academic Support:

Also rising in the ranks this month is Academic Support. Many families are asking for more support from teachers and increased tutoring opportunities. at home. Check out this highly read article from Possip on tutoring programs for your school. 

#6 Student Discipline: 

Comments on disciplinary practices may be on teachers’ responses to behavior, or on the families’ desire to improve behavior. Here are some tips for addressing bullying and restoring student relationships from Possip Reporter and Tennessee AP teacher, Savannah Staley. We also have a ton of resources on our blog to help you build out your anti-bullying programs.

#7 General School Communication Frequency: 

Similar to comments above, we hear families asking for more communication, communication with teachers, and more diplomacy in communication with administration. While frequency is tough and varies according to preferences, there seems to be a tendency to want more frequent personalized communication.  

#8 School Safety: 

Comments on school safety have progressively risen in 2023, thus far. In general families are asking for more supervision and transparency, and may share that their student has communicated not feeling safe. How safe and secure a student feels at school is a determining factor of whether they show up at school. Former Possip partner Catherine Cecere of Joffe Emergency Services shares advice on creating ecosystems of safety, “We at Joffe talk with schools about: how do we keep people safe and how do we make them feel safe? As you can imagine these have so much overlap, but they are not always the same thing.” Read more on creating school safety here! 

#9 Car Line Logistics:

Carline feedback persists even at this time of year! Most of the comments were about safety during carline, expediting the car line process, and the help of crosswalk guards. Possip reporter Virginia Williams provides tips for increasing efficiency, improving safety, and creating a better experience for everyone involved in school drop-off and pick-up. Possip also has some guidance on creating a car line number system. 

#10 Facilities & Cleanliness: 

We heard in November that families were asking for cleanliness specifically in cafeterias. Families will also comment on their student’s comfort in a learning environment due to factors like air conditioning, dedicated spaces, and cleanliness. We love this story from Superintendent Kayleigh Colombero, “Possip is really helping us get information we might not have otherwise heard. Things as simple as, my student comes home everyday and says the classrooms are too cold.  It really has an impact on their experience! We want to know that and be able to address those things! Read more from Kayleigh here. 

We share these top family trends in the hopes that they help you have the tools, information, and ideas to support your school.

Want to learn more about these trends? Reach out to Jennifer Kehl at jennifer@possip.com. 

 

Want to learn more about family and teacher needs? Join our live demo!

The post January Family Trends 2023 appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

How Possip Helps Share the Love!

Virginia Williams, Possip reporter with a background in Elementary Education & Special Education, shares ways to share the love in your community.

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It’s February!  Which means teachers are not only receiving thoughtful Valentines from their students, but they are also TIRED.  The rejuvenation they felt after winter break might be fading.  They may be looking desperately towards Spring Break.  Everyone is hopeful for warmer months and days with more sunlight.  Administrators, you can help share the love!Do not underestimate the power of a little positivity at this time of year. 

Below, we hope to share ways that Possip can support you as you seek to support your teachers and spread the love!

 

1) Know that families appreciate their teachers and teachers appreciate one another. 

These are facts!  We see evidence of this appreciation in every single report.  It is so easy to focus on the feedback we receive – the loudest voices are often the most critical.  But, if we are looking for it, the positives often far outweigh the negatives!  In each Possip report, take time to notice the highlighted praise comments at the top of the report.  Additionally, take time to read the rest of the praise comments bucketed into various categories.  Lastly, don’t overlook the percentage of families who answer ‘yes’ to your sentiment question.  These numbers can be so encouraging!

2) Share this praise with your staff! 

Once you’ve taken a moment to notice all the positive praise within your community, find a way to share it with your teachers.  Perhaps you send a weekly email listing specific shoutouts that have been shared.  You can create a bulletin board in a central location at your school, elevating positive comments or appreciation that has been mentioned by teachers or families.  Lastly, consider using Possip’s 360 product!

3) Give teachers a reason to continue sharing praise.

We all need something to look forward to and keep us motivated at this time of year.  Consider creating some opportunities for teachers to win prizes as a result of recognition.  For example, tell teachers that each week for the next 4 weeks, there will be a raffle!  Any teachers who receive a shoutout from a colleague will have their name entered into the raffle to win a $5 gift card or another incentive! 

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Possip can be an incredible tool for spreading love in your school community!  We hope that Pulse Checks, as well as the tips in this blog, will continue to help you support your school community as you look toward the end of the year. 

Remember, the positives are there; you just have to choose to focus on them! Share the love. 

You Can Read More About How Possip Works by Clicking Here!

The post How Possip Helps Share the Love! appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Using Community Feedback in School Improvement Projects, Event Recap

Educators from schools across the country gathered for a conversation between Possip’s Jordan Jones, Executive Directors Kathryn Procope and Kristin Scotchmer, Principal Corbet Houston, and education consultant Kerry Swarr to talk about using family feedback in school improvement projects and operations. Keep reading to hear from the panelist!

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Routine Pulse Checks are a way schools and districts engage their communities to learn the priorities of a diverse set of people. Through using routine feedback you can bring parents, staff or students to the table, and have their priorities top of mind when approaching school improvement. 

Possip data reveals that parents most often weigh in on improvement on school operations, even over academics, teacher interactions, and school culture. In 2021, parents used Possip to communicate about operations more than any other category – 45% of all praise and family feedback. This trend was true before 2021 and has persisted since.

Approximately half of all parent comments relate to improvement to operations. 

This makes sense.

In the operations category are situations that are most visible to parents and staff, that show up in their everyday school experiences. 

Here’s more from Kristin Scotchmer, Executive Director at Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School. She explains how her team used Possip’s Bonus Question to make decisions about healthy and safety policies, and serve Mundo Verde’s most vulnerable families.

“What I appreciate about the platform is the way families can respond in open-ended language. We asked a question and were able to… give families space to give us feedback on their underlying concerns. We were able to construct a policy and…elevate the voices of our most vulnerable families in that conversation.” 

Kristin Scotchmer

Executive Director at Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School

Interestingly, Possip’s data reviews that schools with lower happiness have more feedback on operations than schools with higher happiness. 

Our data shows that as happiness increases, feedback on operations decreases, and praise for operations improvement increases. 

Here’s a great clip from Kathryn Procope, Executive Director at Howard University Middle School, on how Possip feedback helped their team make decisions about improvement to car line procedures. In doing so, they reinforced trust with Howard University Middle School’s families and helped people feel empowered. 

“I think parents feel more empowered. This is giving them a way to hold us accountable. I feel like it’s given parents a sense of power and a sense of commitment to us and knowing that when they give us information we are taking their feedback seriously. It definitely elevated the trust level for us.”

Kathryn Procope

Executive Director at Howard University Middle School

Howard University Middle School partnered with Kerry Whitacre Swarr, Possip reporter and education equity consultant who is also working on her Ed.D. dissertation involving Possip, to develop a research-based protocol for using family feedback in school improvement projects – like the car line improvements Kathryn spoke about. Learn this protocol here.

Corbet Houston, Principal at Howard University Middle School, shared that it can be a scary thing to begin receiving feedback. Here’s how he understood the value once he saw the data, and how Kerry’s protocol helped him frame the feedback. 

“We don’t traditionally hear from a large portion of our parents. Once we got our first set of responses back from parents it was eye-opening. A lot of the parents who responded- their voices aren’t normally heard. It was also refreshing to sit and have a conversation about what questions make sense.”

Corbet Houston

Principal at Howard University Middle School​

Watch the Full Event Recording on YouTube by Clicking Here!

The post Using Community Feedback in School Improvement Projects, Event Recap  appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Possip Live Demo

Want to learn more about how Possip can help serve your communities? Join us and engage families, improve morale, and solve problems.

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How School Leaders in Washington DC Are Using Family Feedback in School Improvement Projects

Possip welcomes school leaders on February 2 at 11 AM CT / 12 PM ET to learn a research-based protocol for using family feedback in school improvement projects!

The post How School Leaders in Washington DC Are Using Family Feedback in School Improvement Projects appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.