Parent Focus Groups were developed to help the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) at Vista Elementary better understand families’ needs and wishes. Vista Elementary’s ATP hosted a successful family night, Launching into STEM Night, at which students, families, and community partners worked together to engineer functioning catapults.

Kennewick, WA

Back row:  Lynn Huisingh, Erin Patterson (Co-Chair), Melissa Whitmore (Co-Chair), Karen Brutzman

Focus Groups

Parent Focus Groups were developed to help the ATP at Vista Elementary better understand families’ needs and wishes.  A few parents participated in an intensive session to share their thinking with the ATP.  Their suggestions reflected their own and other parents’ views.  This information framed the content of a PowerPoint presentation that was shared at ATP and staff meetings.  One topic concerned improving the way that parents receive information about student progress.  Participants in the Focus Groups reported that they would prefer to have information delivered to them, rather than having to go to the web-based student information portal to find it on their own.  Teachers told the ATP that the web system was underused by parents.  This dual challenge will be addressed and alternate solutions will be designed and tested.

Another topic for the Focus Groups was Make Your Day–a school-wide good-behavior program.  Currently parents receive a “blue slip” if their child does not meet expectations on a given day.   Participants expressed the desire to receive notification for positive—not just negative—behavior and accomplishments.  Beginning next school year, teachers will receive postcards and mailing labels to send a positive message home at least once during the school year to every student and parent.

Parents participating in the Focus Groups reported feeling empowered and valued as their suggestions were turned into actions.  The ATP and other faculty knew they were demonstrating openness to ideas and true partnerships with parents by conducting the Focus Groups.

Catapult Olympics—Launching into Stem Night

Vista Elementary’s Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) hosted a successful family night at which students, families, and community partners worked together to engineer functioning catapults.  Launching into STEM Night included students from a local community college’s engineering program.  Teachers, community college volunteers, and 4^th and 5^th grade students participated in hands-on STEM activities during the school day, then applied these engineering skills to design and test catapults with their families at the Catapult Olympics.

Teachers presented parents and students with information on STEM goals and design challenges, and, then, students were star-engineers for the night.  Students competed in three events.  They designed catapults to accurately shoot mini-marshmallows into a bowl at 2 feet.  Then, they had to redesign their catapults to accurately reach a bowl at 4 feet.   Finally, they redesigned the catapult to send the mini-marshmallows the longest distance, overall.

Launching into Stem Night is featured in Promising Partnership Practices 2015.