How we got 100% parent engagement and how it revolutionized our high school. This is a preview of a presentation by the author, which is available to schools and communities.

1. 100% Parent Engagement:
How We Got It. How It
Revolutionized Our School
A Workshop Preview
Presenter: William S Roulston
Presenter: William S Roulston

2. Granger High School Needed Help
 Ten years ago, only 10% of parents came
to parent conferences. The lack of
involvement showed in our results
 35% graduation rate
 Incoming freshmen had WASL scores of 2%
in reading and writing, 1% in math.
 Gang problems led to the highest reported
crime rate in the Yakima Valley

3. Then we had a drastic change
 We were:
 named the Model High School for Washington
State in 2004 & 2006
 named a National Showcase High School in
2007 & 2008
 Our graduation rate improved to 90%
 Our crime rate dropped to the lowest in the
Yakima Valley

4. Our Academic Achievement
Soared
Class of 2003 as 7t h
 Our incoming Gr ader s
freshmen in 1999 had
50
the scores shown at
40
right when they took
the WASL as 7th 30
graders. 20
 Advance the slide to 10 2.1 2.1
see their growth 0
Reading Writ ing

5. Our Academic Achievement
Class of 2003 WASL
 It’s hard to turn Per for m ance
around high school
50
students with chronic
40
failure syndrome, but
7t h
we began to make 30
20 grade
progress. 20 10t h
11 grade
 Advance slide to see 10
2.1 2.1
growth over time. 0
Reading Writ ing

6. Our Academic Achievement
Class of 2004 WASL
 This is the class of Per for m ance
2004
50
40 34
30 7t h
23 grade
20 10t h
10 grade
10 7
0
Reading Writ ing

7. Our Academic Achievement
Class of 2005 WASL
 This is the class of Per for m ance
2005. Notice that this
50
was the first class 38 37
40
who were tested as 4th 4t h
grade
graders. 30
7t h
20 15 grade
12
10
10 10t h
11
grade
0
Reading Writ ing

8. Our Academic Achievement
 The pattern over time became clear. Our
students continued to arrive with poor
skills. In the first two years of high school,
they drastically improved.

9. Turnaround School Performance on Washington
Assessment of Student Learning: Reading
Scores
100
Percent Meeting Standard
77 77
80 69
61
60 4th Grade
47
7th Grade
38 38
40 34 32
30 10th Grade
20 21 21
18 20
20 12 16 11
10 11 8
2
0
*2003 *2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
A comparison of reading scores between graduating
classes from 2003-2010

10. 4th, 7th & 10th Grade Writing Scores
100.0
90.0
Percent meeting standard
80.0
67 66 67
70.0
60.0 52 51
50.0
37
40.0 31
28
30.0 24 22
19 17 20 4th Grade
20.0 11
15
12
10.0
7 10 5 6 7th Grade
2 3
0.0 10th Grade
*2003 *2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
A comparison of Writing scores between
graduating classes 2003-2010

11. Our scores went even higher
 The previous charts show the
performance of our sophomores.
 As the WASL graduation requirement for
the class of 2008 approached, juniors and
seniors continued to improve until the last
couple of classes moved the percentage
meeting standard up to the 80-90% range
(including retakes)

12. Percentage of Class of 2008 meeting state
standards at the 4th, 7th, 10th & 12th grades.
100 89* 87*
4th Grade (2000)
Percent Meeting
80 69 67 7th Grade (2003)
Standard
10th Grade (2006)
60 12th Grade (2008)
40 30
21
20 6
17
0
Reading Writing
*this is the total percentage of students in the class w ho m et the proficiency
standards by passing the WASL in 2006, 2007 or 2008 and w ere thus eligible for a
high school diplom a if they had also m et credit requirem ents

13. Coincidence or Correlation?
•Beginning with the Spring 2002 conference and continuing
through Spring 0f 2008, 100% of parents attended
conferences twice a year.
•We did many things to improve, but engaged parents was
probably the most important.

14. Our Response to Parent
Engagement Was Systematic
 Couldn’t recruit better parents; had to make the
parents we had better.
 We had to use a holistic approach that dealt with
real-world problems our students faced.
 Bottom line: we had to build a
cooperative team between
teachers, students and parents that
would accept no excuses when it
came to better student
achievement.

15. It All Started With A Tragedy
 Our transformation was inspired by a
tragic event that our principal, Ricardo
LeBlanc-Esparza, experienced.
 The story of the mom who did her best
and how her best was not good enough.

16. Ricardo’s Revolutionary Idea
 Ricardo had a brilliant insight into how
impoverished & minority parents could
become more effective teammates,
partnering with our school to help their
students learn more.
 The story of what Ricardo’s parents did to
help him escape the cycle of poverty that
he grew up in.

17. The rest of the story
 The rest of the presentation details
 The way we changed our system
 The core beliefs that made it work
 How our practices were different from most
schools.

18. Different formats of this presentation
 This presentation can be given as
 A one-hour awareness overview to a school staff or
administrative teams
 A three-hour overview for awareness and exploration
of staff interest in further training
 An all-day workshop for schools to consider adopting
the model and begin the planning process
 A 30-60 minute speech to conferences, parent &
community groups or whole districts
 School & District-level consultation available on
how to replicate our systems.

19. About the Presenter
 Teacher English/Spanish/ESL grades 6-12
 Consultant/staff developer in Migrant Ed at ESD
105 in Yakima
 Developer of Second Shot Reading
 Trainer & classroom teacher at Granger High
School. Participated in the parent engagement
turnaround
 Co-author of Solution Tree Press book
Breaking the Poverty Barrier

20. For more information
 Contact Will Roulston
 willroulston@gmail.com
 732-595-7323