Family Advocate System
The Family Advocate System brings families into the small learning communities (SLCs) and
bridges the gap between school and home. The system creates regular opportunities for
students, families and their family advocate - a teacher, administrator or other staff
member - to come together and clarify how each party can support a student's success.
How the Match Works
Staff members in an SLC serve as a family advocate for 15-17 students and their families.
At the secondary level, the relationships last the entire time the student is in the school.
What an Advocate Does
Advocates are responsible for:
- Checking in with every student individually once a week.
- Meeting regularly with their group of students.
- Meeting with every student and family together twice a year.
- Communicating at least monthly with every family through phone calls, e-mails or notes home to keep families up to date.
- Working with other staff in the SLC to support the student's goals, head off problems and deal with challenges that arise.
Advocates receive training and materials on how to use the weekly family advocate period
effectively. They also learn how to engage students and families in setting goals and
identifying action steps for each person to help the student achieve the goals. The advocate
uses a simple one-page action plan, which all parties sign at the family conferences, to track
progress. Advocates also receive data continuously on student performance and progress from
the district and SLC colleagues to monitor how each student is doing.
When They Do It
- When schools reorganize into small learning communities, they change their whole
approach to scheduling. With IRRE's help, they create at least one school-wide period
during which advocates meet with their students. With IRRE's support, district staff
also help schools develop more flexible time for family conferences. SLC staff spend
some of their common planning time in supporting their work as advocates.
Early Results
The Family Advocate System was not originally a required element of First Things First.
Thirteen secondary schools became the first ones to implement the system in 2001-2002.
Now, over 170 small learning communities in 40 schools have the system up and running.
After the first year, data from six schools told us:
- The number of families attending school conferences increased dramatically after
FAS began. Increases ranged from 70 percent in one middle school to 270 percent in a
high school over pre-FAS estimates of parental attendance.
- All three high schools more than doubled parent attendance.
Surveys of advocates, families and students in 21 small learning communities told us:
- Over 90 percent of families and 77 percent of students reported a positive
relationship with their advocate.
- Most students (64 percent), families (78 percent) and advocates (76 percent)
believed the system was helping the student succeed in school.
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